“That’s half the appeal,” Chloe says, her eyes fixed on Blake.

Rebecca turns up her nose in disgust. “Not appealing to me at all.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Taryn throw her arms around Henley’s neck, and I feel my hackles rise. Henley unpeels himself from her grip, and his eyes come to me. Ugh, he knows it annoys me when she touches him.

“What’s your brother’s story?” Rebecca asks. “Married or . . . ?”

“He had a girlfriend for years, and she was killed in a car accident three years ago.”

Her face falls. “Oh no.”

Henley hits his glass with a spoon, and everyone quiets down. “Dinner is just about ready, guys, but before we head out back to eat, I have something I want to say.”

Everyone falls silent as we wait for his smart-ass joke.

“I just . . .” He pauses as if collecting his thoughts.

“You what?” Blake says impatiently.

“I wanted to tell you . . .” His eyes come to meet mine.

What is he doing?

“So a few months ago I got a new neighbor.” He raises his beer to me. “And I didn’t realize how much I was in dire need of . . .” He tips his head to the side. “Her friendship.”

“I thought you hated each other,” Antony says. Everyone chuckles.

“We did,” he agrees. “What you don’t know is that Juliet and I already knew each other before she moved in. In fact, years ago we went on a date.”

“Oh no,” Taryn sighs. “Where is this going?”

Rebecca, Chloe, and I get the giggles.

“Spit it out,” Blake says.

“What I’m trying to say is that Juliet and I are . . .” His eyes float over to meet mine, and I smile at my beautiful man. “I’m very happy and extremely blessed.”

“For fuck’s sake, spit it out,” Blake sighs. Everyone chuckles once more.

“Juliet and I are together.” He holds his arm out for me, and I walk over and join him. His arm slinks around my shoulders, and he kisses my temple.

“Like together, together?” Taryn gasps, horrified.

“Yeah.” Henley smiles proudly down over at me. “Together, together, and you don’t know what a relief it is to finally fess up to you all.”

Carol bursts out laughing. “This is a joke, right?”

“What?”

“You honestly think we didn’t know?”

“Wait . . .” Taryn frowns as she looks around. “You all knew about this?”

“Of course we knew. It’s so obvious. You jump the fence every night.” Carol taps her nose.

“Oh.” Henley laughs. “Neighborhood watch . . . right.”

Henley kisses me softly, and everyone cheers. His eyes twinkle with a certain something. “Let’s eat. Dinner is served.”

He grabs my hand, and we walk out into the backyard with everyone behind us. “What the hell?” Henley yells.

My eyes widen in horror as I look around. “Oh no.”

The food is everywhere, muddy footprints are on the white tablecloth, and Barry is sitting up on the white couch eating a whole cooked chicken.

“Barry,” I cry. “What did you do?”

Henley looks around and assesses the damage and inhales deeply before saying anything. “Who wants pizza?”

Three months later . . .

Henley

I walk down the street with Blake and Antony. It’s Tuesday, and we’re on our way to lunch.

“You should just go for it,” Antony says.

“I can’t just fucking go for it,” Blake snaps. “She’s not even divorced yet. The bed hasn’t even gone cold.”

I roll my eyes, unimpressed with Blake’s obsession with Rebecca. “Do me a favor and never go for it.”

“Why?” he snaps.

“Because she is Juliet’s friend, and we live on the same street, and we all know that you will completely fuck this up and I will never hear the end of it.”

“That’s a very good point,” Antony agrees.

Blake rolls his eyes. “I just want one night.”

“You can’t fucking have it. Find someone else to lust over. Rebecca is off limits to you. Permanently.” We pass a jewelry store, and I stop and peer in. Blake and Antony keep walking, turn to see what I’m looking at, and walk back. Blake puts his hands into his suit pockets as he looks in at the jewelry through the window. “What are we looking at here?”

“Engagement rings.”

“Why?” His eyes widen.

“I’m going to ask Juliet to marry me.”

“Again, why?” He winces, horrified.

“Fuck me.” Antony drags his hand down his face. “You’ve been with her for two fucking minutes. Calm down.”

“Right?” Blake agrees. “Why would you want to get married?”

“Because I love her. It’s been the best three months of my life. I’ve thought long and hard about this. I want her as my wife.”

Juliet and I are inseparable.

Blake grabs my arm and pulls me away from the window. “It’s too soon. I’m not letting you act fucking crazy. If in twelve months you still want to do it, be my guest. You don’t ask someone to marry you after twelve fucking weeks.”

We trudge down the street. “If I want to do it, I’m doing it.”

“In twelve months,” he snaps.

“Just concentrate on not sleeping with Rebecca,” I fire back. “Stay out of my business.”

“She’s concentrating on that enough for the two of us,” he replies flatly.

“She seriously has zero interest in you,” Antony adds.

“I’m aware.” Blake sighs. “Dumb. Doesn’t she know what she’s missing out on?”

“Clearly not,” Antony mutters.

We walk into the restaurant and wait to be served. A sexy voice sounds from the left. “Blake.” We turn to see a red-hot brunette. She’s wearing a skintight dress that leaves nothing to the imagination.

“Hey, Cleo.” He smiles; he kisses her cheek. “You’re looking fucking amazing.” He holds her hand up as his eyes drop down her body so he can inspect her properly. “When are we catching up?”

“Tonight?” She smiles sexily.

“Sounds perfect.”

She saunters off, and we all stare after her.

Wow.

“Weren’t you just telling us that you want Rebecca?” I raise my eyebrow.

“I believe that’s true,” Antony replies.

Blake rolls his eyes. “A man’s not a camel. I need to feed the beast. I’m here for a good time, not a long time.”

I chuckle at his answer. Typical Blake Grayson.

2:46 a.m.

The phone buzzes on the nightstand, and half-asleep, I glance over.

Who would be calling me at this time of night?

Nursing home.

What?

I snatch it up and walk out of the room. I close the door behind me so that I don’t wake Juliet. “Hello.”

“Hello, is that you, Henley?” Her voice is calm and unwavering.

“What’s wrong?” I snap.

“Unfortunately, your father has had a fall and taken a turn for the worse. We are not sure if he had a spell first that caused him to fall out of bed or if he fell out of bed and that set off the events. He’s hit his head rather badly, and the ambulance is here. They are taking him to the emergency room.”

“Do you think he needs stitches in his head?” I ask as I walk downstairs.

“Henley, he’s unconscious.”