His to Cherish by Stacey Lynn Page B

later, not to give her details about whatever it was she expected to hear from me, but to check her forehead for a fever—to see if she was coherent and making sense. Maybe she was stressed. I’d never seen her on a weekend at her store. Perhaps she lost it on Sunday mornings from the extra business.
    Who knew?
    I waved goodbye, listened to her clap her hands happily as I left, and got into my car.
    I didn’t eat my bagel in the car because I wanted to heat it up in the microwave when I got home. I was still frowning, concerned about my neighbor’s mental stability, when I pulled into my drive.
    I was so concerned, replaying the conversation in my head, that I almost missed it.
    I had no idea how I could miss the enormous black truck parked in front of my house, but I didn’t see it until after I had turned in to my driveway, raised my garage door, parked inside, and glanced in my rearview mirror.
    My hand froze at my visor, seconds away from pushing the garage door opener and shutting the garage door, when my breath hitched as a scream bubbled up in my throat.
    Aidan walked around the corner of my garage and appeared in my rearview mirror, blocking my view of his truck. He crossed his arms over his chest, like a sentry, just like when he’d stood next to me the first time I met him.
    He was blocking my garage door sensor. There was no way my garage would close if there was a six-foot-four, incredibly attractive man blocking the signal.
    He planned it. I realized it when I continued to stare at him in my mirror and he slowly cocked one eyebrow. One side of his lips rose to a smirk as he silently challenged me to escape from him.
    I pulled my gaze from his and looked down at my lap while I muttered, “What the hell does he want now?”
    There was only one way to find out.

Chapter 7
    I climbed out of my car, taking care not to spill my coffee all over my lap as I dragged my shaking limbs out of the driver’s seat.
    “Hey,” I said lamely, and shut the car door.
    Aidan licked his lips and his hands fell to his sides. With a nod of his head, he said, “Come on. Something I want to show you.”
    Really? He’d avoided me for a week, acted like a jerk the last time I saw him, and he thought he could just boss me around? I didn’t think so. “Typically when you haven’t seen someone in a week the polite thing to say first is ‘hello.’ ”
    He silenced me with a look that chilled me to my bones.
    It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t even upset or sad. It was something completely different and something I had
never
seen directed at me from anyone.
    I gulped, and found myself walking toward him when he turned and began heading toward my fence. He pulled open the gate and walked through like it was
his
house.
    “Um,” I said. What was happening? My fingertips dug into the cardboard coffee cup when he turned back to me, this time holding out a hand, gesturing for me to walk through the gate into my own backyard.
    “Just wait.”
    I glanced from the gate to Aidan, whose other hand was gripping the top of the wooden fence. He shifted on his feet, and I hated how I wanted to reach out and soothe away all the grief that was buried in the lines across his forehead and the purple bags under his eyes.
    It all seemed permanently etched into his features and my heart clenched with hurt for him, despite being angry at how he’d treated me and confused as to what was going on.
    I blew out a breath, trying to stem the odd sensation in my chest. Little flutters of hope were pointless.
    Across from me, I saw Kate’s house and recalled the odd way she spoke to me, ushering me out of her shop. I frowned and a dozen questions came to mind.
    Instead of voicing them, I licked my lips before nodding. I wasn’t only confused about why he was there, I was also curious.
    “Okay.”
    Aidan watched me as I brought my eyes to his. I blinked, almost blinded by the sudden brightness in them. It was new. And different.
    I liked it. A lot.
    The