The Man Next Door

by Gina Wilkins

  “Oh. You know. Around.”

  She laughed huskily, and he remembered just how that laugh sounded in a dark, steamy room. “Yeah. Me, too. So, maybe we’ll end up in the same place again sometime soon?”

  “Yeah, maybe we will.” He knew it would only take a word from him for that “sometime soon” to be that very night. If he’d had any sense at all, he’d have said that word right then, before she found someone else to have fun with that evening. But instead he made a lame excuse about wanting something to drink, and he wandered off to the bar, leaving Mike to entertain the women on his own.

  Dani had just finished an assignment for a Monday-morning class when someone rapped on her door Sunday afternoon. Closing her notebook, she crossed the room and looked through the peephole, thinking her caller might be Mrs. Parsons.

  Seeing Teague in the hallway instead elicited her usual reaction; she ran a quick hand through her hair and glanced down to check that her chocolate-colored top and khaki pants were reasonably neat. For some reason Teague always made her conscious of her appearance, though she’d tried to put less emphasis on that during the past year.

  She opened the door. “Are you hungry again?”

  He chuckled. “No. Bored.”

  “And what am I supposed to do about that?”

  He gave her an enticing look similar to the one that had earned him a cup of hot chocolate and a sandwich just over a week earlier. “I thought maybe you’d like to go see a movie with me.”

  “Oh. I—”

  “It’s not a date,” he assured her. “I won’t be making any moves on you during the movie or afterward. I won’t even buy you popcorn, if that makes you feel any better. I just hate going to movies by myself and all my other friends already have plans.”

  It was hardly the most flattering invitation she had ever received—and yet it had the result of making her feel relatively comfortable about accepting. If Teague really didn’t see this as a date, or a preliminary to anything of the sort, then there was no real reason she should turn him down, right? If her own imagination got away with her during the evening—well, that was a problem she would deal with at the time.

  “Okay,” she said, because she could use a couple of hours of relaxation herself. “What movie do you want to see?”

  He looked both pleased and a bit surprised that she’d accepted so easily.

  “Just as friends,” she reminded him.

  Holding up a hand in an I-swear gesture, he nodded. “I hope you like action movies. I don’t do tear-jerkers.”

  “Neither do I. Give me an action movie any day.”

  His smile widened. “My kind of friend. How does the latest superhero film sound to you?”

  “From what I’ve heard, it’s got enough eye candy to keep us both entertained. Let me get my bag.”

  She heard him chuckle as she turned away, and if there was a hint of smugness in the sound, she chose to ignore it.

  Chapter Four

  “Wow. I hope I never do anything to annoy you.”

  Snapping his seat belt, Teague looked at Dani in surprise. “Why do you say that?”

  Strapped into her own seat, she exaggerated a shiver. “The look you gave that woman over the back of your seat. I could almost feel the cold waves coming off you. It’s no wonder she got up and nearly fell over herself trying to move to another part of the theater.”

  “She was kicking my seat. And text messaging through the first ten minutes of the movie. All that beeping wasn’t driving you crazy?”

  “Well, yes. And she was kicking my seat, too. I’m glad you got her to move. I’m just impressed that you did so without saying a word. All you had to do was turn and look at her and she bolted. Do they teach you that glower in FBI training?”

  He laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just glared at her the same way anyone else would. She got the message that she was annoying us, so she moved. Which made it much easier to concentrate on the movie after that—not that there was much plot to keep up with,” he added wryly.

  “No. But it was entertaining, anyway,” she agreed. She didn’t bother to argue with his assertion that he didn’t look any more dangerous than anyone else. But he was wrong. As charming and friendly as Teague could be, when he turned serious, there was a definite air of danger around him.

  They talked about the movie for a couple more minutes, and then Teague asked, “Are you hungry? Because I could go for a burger.”

  “Yeah, sure. A burger sounds good.”

  He chose a locally owned restaurant that he swore made the best burgers in town. Since she’d never eaten there, she told him she would judge that after she’d had one.

  “I like the pepper jack burger, myself,” he advised as they slid into a booth. “With seasoned fries on the side.”

  “Hey, Teague.” A chubby bottle-blonde set a large glass of iced tea in front of him with a flirty smile. “Where’ve you been?”

  “Around. You’re looking good, Annie.”

  She patted his cheek. “Sweet talker. What can I get you to drink, hon?”

  Realizing the server was talking to her now, Dani replied, “I’ll have the tea, thank you.”

  “Coming right up.” Leaving a menu with Dani, Annie sashayed away.

  Dani looked at the selection of burgers and other casual food on the laminated menu. “Not a lot of low-cal options here.”

  “No. That’s not why people come here. Everyone deserves to be bad every once in a while, don’t you think?”

  She wondered if he was only talking about food, then decided she was trying too hard to read between his lines. “I suppose so. I’ll have the mushroom Swiss burger.”

  “Good choice. The onion rings are superb here. They make them with sweet onions and serve them with ranch dip.”

  Sighing as she thought of how many salads she was going to have to eat to make up for this meal, Dani said, “Then I’ll have to order them.”

  “Good. You can have some of my fries and I’ll take some of your rings. That way we get the best of both.”

  Setting the menu aside, she nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

  She was actually having a good time, she decided as they chatted a bit more about the lightweight film, of which the special effects had been the only particularly notable feature. It was nice being out with a man who seemed to want nothing from her but companionship. Friendship.

  She was under no pressure to try to impress him or please him. If, for some reason, he decided not to ask her to join him for another outing, she wouldn’t have to interpret it to mean that something was lacking in her.

  She wouldn’t date him, because he was just the kind of man who just might make her return to those unhealthy habits—but she could be his friend. She was taking a bit of a risk in letting him get even that close.

  Since she couldn’t deny the attraction she felt for him, she would have to be very careful.

  No problem, she assured herself, and then crossed her fingers beneath the table.

  During the next few days, Teague came to some very interesting conclusions about Dani. Her trust issues went even deeper than he had originally realized, and he had an uncomfortable suspicion that her wariness was based on experience. Had some jerk hurt her…? Physically, in addition to emotionally?

  She’d told him once in passing that she’d taken six months of self-defense classes when she’d first moved to the area, stopping only when her schedule had gotten too hectic. Even that fit into the pattern of a woman who had learned the hard way that she had to prepare to defend herself.

  That would explain her preference now for dating men she could so easily control, he mused. And the way she got all prickly when it seemed that anyone was getting a bit too bossy, the way she had when he had made a comment one evening in the elevator that she should be careful when coming in by herself late at night. She had informed him in no uncertain terms that she was fully capable of watching out for herself.

 
; They had been together a couple more times since their movie outing. Once to share a pizza and watch a football game on TV. Another time to play a board game with Mrs. Parsons, who had been so pleased at having company that she’d giggled like a schoolgirl all evening.

  He and Dani talked quite easily, now that he’d convinced her he thought of her only as a friend. Their conversation consisted mostly of small talk and teasing. He kidded her about being high maintenance and dating guys she could lead around by the nose—to which she cheerfully admitted. She ribbed him about his job as an agent and made good-natured “007” jokes at his expense.

  Anytime the subject got a bit too close to her past relationships, she cut him off abruptly. She asked very few questions about his own past, maybe so as not to encourage him to inquire about hers.

  He tapped on her door on a Wednesday afternoon a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. She opened it with a distracted expression that, along with her ultracasual sweatshirt and grubby jeans, told him she’d been studying.

  “Test tomorrow?” he asked, recognizing the look by now.

  She nodded. “Big one.”

  “I won’t keep you, then. I just wanted to give you this.”

  She lifted her eyebrows in question when he pressed a brown paper bag into her hand. “What is it?”

  “Two bananas and a pear.”

  She laughed in surprise. “Um…okay. So, why?”

  “Because I’m going to be extremely busy for the next few weeks and I’m not sure I’ll be home to eat them before they go bad. I’d hate to see them go to waste.”

  “Trust me,” she said. “They won’t go to waste.”

  “Good. I hope you enjoy them.”

  “You want to come in for a few minutes? I can make hot chocolate.”

  He shook his head with regret. “As tempting as that sounds, I have to pass. I’ve got to work tonight.”

  “Work? That’s what you’re going to be doing for the next few weeks? I thought maybe you were finally getting away for that vacation you’ve been talking about taking.”

  “I wish,” he muttered, thinking of the unsavory assignment he was about to dive into.

  She searched his face, then spoke lightly, “Do I have to warn you again to be careful?”

  “Probably not a bad idea.”

  “Then I will,” she said, her smile just a little strained now. “Be careful, okay? I don’t have that many friends around here.”

  “How about a friendly kiss on the cheek? For luck?”

  She shook a finger at him, but then placed a soft kiss on the cheek he offered hopefully. Her lips were as warm and inviting as he’d always imagined them to be. It was all he could do not to turn his head just that couple of inches required to make their mouths meet. Instead he managed a casual smile when she drew back. “That ought to do it. Thanks.”

  Her cheeks were just a bit pink when she said somewhat gruffly, “Just take care of yourself, okay? I’ll give you a rain check on that cup of hot chocolate.”

  “I’ll take you up on that,” he promised. “See you, Dani.”

  He was aware that she watched him walk away for a few moments before she closed her door. He hoped it wasn’t too obvious how hard it was for him to leave her.

  They were making pretty good progress in getting closer. He wouldn’t want to scare her off now.

  Dani was rather surprised, and a bit dismayed, by how much she missed Teague during the next couple of weeks. She found herself looking almost constantly toward his apartment door, wondering how he was, when he would be back, whether he was in any danger.

  He probably was, she thought somberly. His was not a safe, sedate career. She could tell when he’d told her he’d be gone for a while that it wasn’t an assignment he was looking forward to. She’d learned to read him at least that well.

  Mrs. Parsons left a week before Thanksgiving for a long visit with her son in Arizona. She would return the first week of January. She had confided in Dani that she was excited about the trip, but a bit nervous, as well.

  It would be the longest period she had spent with her son and his wife, and she hoped they would all get along well. She suspected that her son would use the opportunity to try to convince her to move there permanently to be closer to him, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about leaving the state where she’d resided for more than fifty years. She had lived in her apartment since her husband had died five years earlier, and she was comfortable there, content for the most part. She didn’t know if she would like living in Arizona.

  Dani reminded her that this visit would be a good time for all of Mrs. Parsons’s family to decide if they wanted to live that close together. “You’re a competent adult,” she had reminded the older woman. “Ultimately, it’s your choice whether you move there or stay here.”

  Looking reassured, Mrs. Parsons departed for her vacation, leaving a quiet apartment wing behind her, since Hannah was taking tests and rarely surfaced from her studies. Which made Dani miss Teague all the more.

  Her sister, Rachel, called on Friday, the day after Mrs. Parsons left. “You’re still coming for Thanksgiving, right?”

  “Of course I’m still coming,” Dani replied with mild exasperation. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “You did cancel out the last time you said you’d come home,” Rachel reminded her.

  “I told you, I had a big assignment I had to finish and I couldn’t get away that week. I’ll be home next week. And again for Christmas, for that matter.”

  “Good. We miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  “Enough to move back home? You can always finish your degree here.”

  “Don’t start, Rachel. I like it here. Things are going well for me here. As much as I love you all, I need to be here, on my own, for a while. I’m not saying I’ll never move back to Georgia, but for now this is where I need to be.”

  Rachel, who had never lived more than an hour’s drive from the house where she and her siblings had grown up, sighed lightly through the phone lines. “I was pretty sure you’d say that, but it was worth a shot. So, how are your classes going?”

  “I have all A’s, if I can just keep it that way through finals next month.”

  “I’m sure you will. And I’m proud of you. Are your piano lessons still going well?”

  “I have as many students as I can take right now. A waiting list for more. Several area teachers have retired lately, and I’ve been getting their ‘orphaned’ students. I have a few who are really talented. And even more who couldn’t find a tune if I personally placed their fingers on the keys.”

  Rachel laughed. “Now you sound like Mrs. McNeal. She said very similar things about me, as I recall.”

  “You weren’t that bad. You just preferred art and decorating to playing piano. Mother had to force you to practice.”

  “She tried. For ten years, until I finally refused to take any more lessons. You were always the one with the real musical talent. Do you ever sing solos anymore?”

  “Only in the shower.” Dani quickly changed the subject. “How’s Mark?”

  “He’s great. We’re driving to Alabama the day after Thanksgiving to spend the weekend with his family. Everyone’s going to be there. Speaking of which, have you seen Joel and Nic lately?”

  Rachel’s pediatrician brother-in-law, Joel Brannon, and his police officer wife, Nic, lived less than an hour’s drive from Dani’s apartment building. Dani and Nic had gotten along very well during Rachel and Mark’s wedding festivities, slipping away from the family chaos a couple of times to sip coffee and talk. It was during one of those chats that Dani had confided her intention to move away from her hometown for a fresh start. Nic had suggested that Dani look into the university at Little Rock, and here she had landed.

  “I had dinner with them a couple of weeks ago. It’s really funny seeing Nic pregnant. All tough and radiant at the same time.”

  “I can’t wait to see her next week. How’s everything else going wit
h you? Have you made any new friends?”

  Dani suspected that her sister was really asking if she was dating anyone. Rachel had expressed concern that Dani would let her painful experience with Kurt destroy her trust in all men. She’d spoken from experience, since Rachel had survived a couple of bad relationships herself, including a divorce, before she’d met and fallen in love with Mark.

  She wouldn’t say she’d been soured on all men, Dani thought solemnly. She knew there were plenty of decent guys out there. She knew quite a few of them. She just no longer trusted her own instincts about telling the good ones from the bad.

  “I’ve gotten to know some of my neighbors,” she said lightly. “An older woman, Mrs. Parsons, who reminds me a little of Grandma. And Teague, an FBI agent, and Hannah, a first-year med student. She lives directly across the hall from me. She seems nice, if a bit overwhelmed by her studies. It seems that I’m destined to be surrounded by doctors, doesn’t it?”

  Typically, Rachel zeroed in on the one significant name amid all the babbling. “Tell me about the FBI agent. Teague, you said?”

  “Mmm. Seems like a nice enough guy, but he’s gone a lot. Apparently FBI agents put in some pretty long hours.”

  “Is he cute?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “He sounds cute. The way you talk about him, I mean.”

  Dani sighed in exasperation. “I’ve barely mentioned him.”

  “Mmm.”

  “If you’re testing me to see if I really have learned to take care of myself without having a man in my life, you can rest assured that I’ve got an A in that subject, too,” Dani said flatly. “I’m not involved with anyone, and I don’t intend to be anytime soon. So let’s leave it at that, shall we?”

  “I wasn’t trying to…I’m sorry, Dani, I was only teasing.”

  So maybe Dani had overreacted a little. She did that sometimes when she was reminded of the woman she used to be. “Sorry. Long day. I’ll see you next week, okay? I’m really looking forward to the visit.”

  “So am I.”

  It had been the truth, Dani assured herself when she hung up the phone a few minutes later. She was looking forward to seeing her family again after several months of separation. And yet, a part of her was as nervous as Mrs. Parsons had been about her long visit with her son. Though it might have been foolish, she couldn’t help worrying that being home again would set her back in her efforts to move forward with her life. To put the past behind her and become the new, improved Dani Madison.