Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
She stared at his hand, dumbfounded. She’d thought he was here doing a job.
Axel pulled his hand back after a second and looked at it. “Sorry. I’m all sweaty and gross. You probably don’t want to shake my hand.”
That hadn’t been it. She’d just been startled and slow to react, but she reminded herself she was here to complain, not make pleasantries. However, now that she knew the man was actually her neighbor, she needed to rein in her frustration. It wouldn’t do to piss him off. Be polite, but firm, she told herself.
“What are you doing?” she blurted.
He smiled again. He was ruggedly handsome, darn it. And tall. So tall. Maybe six-four. And built. Big, but fit. Nicoya’s nether regions took notice. His smile was heart-stopping. And he had a sexy beard that was well groomed. He was tan, and she found herself wondering if his chest was tan too. Maybe he had one of those farmer’s tans—if he worked outside a lot.
His voice jolted her back to the issue at hand as he pointed at the tree. “Planting that cherry blossom tree. It’s partially mature. It will still take several years for it to fully mature, but it will smell so lovely when it blooms.”
She blinked several times. His voice was mesmerizing, and he was incredibly passionate about his tree. She put her hands on her hips and stood to her full height of five-ten. Ordinarily that was intimidating to people, but this man was much taller than her and looked a bit too laidback to be intimidated.
“Something wrong?” he asked. “You don’t like cherry blossoms?” Was he smirking?
“I like cherry blossoms just fine.” In fact, it sounded lovely. “But you’re on my property.”
He jerked his head down to the ground and glanced around. “I thought I was on my property. I have the survey. Did I misread it?”
“Yes. Apparently.” She pointed at an electrical post at the edge of their properties. “You’re about two feet onto my property.”
His shoulders dropped in defeat as he took a step back and reached into his back pocket. “Darn. I hope you’re wrong. The cherry blossom needs a lot of direct sunlight. If I move much closer to my house, it will get too much shade from the roof.”
Axel pulled a folded paper out of his pocket and slowly unfolded it. It was covered in dirt, but he smoothed it open and held it up. Good grief, was that the land survey? Who carried a land survey around in their pocket?
“Shoot. You’re right. I miscalculated.” He lifted his face and grinned at her, his eyes twinkling before he winked. “You won’t tell anyone my mistake, will you? No one in town will hire me to landscape their properties if they think I can’t do simple math.”
She swallowed hard over the lump in her throat. She was supposed to be mad at this man. Darn him. He made that impossible. Why did he have to be so easygoing and kind?
“You work for Bark and Branches?” she asked, fully realizing he was both the homeowner and the landscaper. Duh.
“I’m the new manager of the local store. Transferred here to take this promotion. This looks like an amazing town. I’m in love with it already. The people are so nice. The downtown area is like stepping back in time the way the shops are so popular and people congregate there.”
She nodded slowly. He was right. And he was ruining her mad.
While he spoke, he’d already started pushing the dirt back into the hole. “I’m so sorry about this. I’ll replace the grass I messed up.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I bet if I go back a few yards and over a few, I’ll still get plenty of sun.”
Her mouth was dry. Her panties were not. “Thanks for moving it into your lawn.”
He shifted his attention back to her. “The wind will blow some blossoms your way during the spring. I hope you don’t hate pink flowers. Do you?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Now that I think about it, it would have been polite to ask if it would annoy you beforehand. I’m not used to living with neighbors.” He palmed his forehead, getting dirt on his face. Dirt she wanted to wipe off. She might even have to rise onto her tiptoes to reach his forehead, and wouldn’t that be heavenly. For once, she would feel small. Few people made her feel small.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name,” he stated.
“Oh, uh, Nicoya. Nicoya Stevens.”
“Are you one of those women who hate pink?” He looked more serious now.
“No.” She cleared her throat. “No. I’m sure the tree will be lovely.”
“Oh, good. Again, I’m sorry for the mistake. And for not checking with you in general before I planted a cherry blossom tree. That was insensitive. I’ll get your lawn set straight and then get this planted in mine.”