Their Virgin Neighbor (4 page)

Anna knew she was a bit odd in terms
of relationships, and it was due almost entirely to Grand’s
part-conservative, part-deeply feminist influence. But here she
was, twenty-seven years old, and still a virgin. She knew, was
aware of herself enough, to know that it was all a dangerous
combination. The grief. The lack of direction. Couple those with
the unfulfilled physical desires she’d battled for so long as she
waited for that elusive spark…she shook her head. Now more than
ever she needed to be careful with herself, with her
actions.

“
So
be
careful,” she muttered to
herself. “Be polite. Be nice. Leave it at that.”

“
You need a hand there,
Anna?”

Anna practically jumped out of her
skin at those words. She turned, coffee mugs in hand, to see Lee at
the doorway. He’d pushed his hair out of his eyes, and Anna was
once again struck by just how green they were.

“
I’m fine, thanks,” she
said quickly even as she hoped to holy hell that he had not heard
her mutterings.

“
Here,” he said. “I’ll
take this one.”

He leaned forward and took the pink
spotty mug, leaving a hand free for Anna to grab the yellow one. As
he took it, his long fingers brushed against the back of her hand.
Anna almost squeaked.

Almost as if he was aware of it, Lee
shot her a grin before moving back into the sitting room. Anna
followed, mugs in hand, her skin hotter than it had been when the
wall of warmth had hit.

Her heart was thudding in an
uncomfortable way. Her throat felt oddly dry. But more than that,
more than all the odd physical reactions Anna was having to these
two men, was something else entirely.

When Anna came to a halt in the
sitting room she realized exactly what it, that unfamiliar emotion,
was. Lee had taken the spot on the far end of her pink couch. Jack
was on the other end. That left only the middle for Anna to sit
in…right between them both.

It
was excitement, and somewhere, deep inside, buried beneath
the grief and the pain, Anna felt something stir…something that
seemed very much like a spark…

Chapter Four

The look on Anna’s face as she glanced
between him and Lee captivated Jack. It wasn’t the look he would
usually associate with an attractive woman when she set eyes on the
two of them. Those looks usually conveyed an interest coupled with
a clear desire. Anna’s look held something else entirely. If Jack
had to classify it, he would probably have said it was confusion.
And yet, underneath that there was something else…

“
This room is pretty
small,” he said. “No wonder you only have one couch.”

Anna nodded and looked around the
room. Jack wondered if she was considering where else she could
sit. Her gaze fixed on the chair next to her desk. It sat in the
little alcove just off from the window. She shot them both a tight,
little smile, before grabbing the back of the chair and turning it
around. She placed her mug of coffee on the desk and then turned to
face them.

Jack couldn’t help but grin at his
friend. They had taken either end of the couch in order to have
Anna sit between them, but she had seen through their ruse, and no
wonder, Jack could see the intelligence bubbling under the surface.
As well as being unbelievably cute, Anna it seemed, was also
smart.

“
It is a little small,”
she said. “But I like it. The town house I have in the city has
oodles of space. We never used most of the rooms.”

We
. Her casual use of the word had Jack trying to recall
everything Sally had told them about Anna. She’d said her friend
was spending the winter outside of the city to get over a
bereavement, but Jack could not remember asking who she was
grieving for. He wished he had now because if she was grieving for
a husband he had no business thinking the thoughts that were now
racing through his mind. And yet…how exactly could he broach the
subject without being insensitive? She wore no ring, but that
didn’t mean anything. The only way to know for sure was to ask.
Only, it was not a territory Jack was comfortable with and it was
not one he had expected when he’d cajoled Lee into making this
trip. Anna was so much younger than he’d expected. She was in her
mid-twenties, at most. Her hair was a beautiful honey shade, and
she had eyes the color of chocolate. They were wide, expressive,
and filled with a pain that Jack recognized well. If he could go
back in time and catch sight of both himself, and Lee, when they
arrived home, he knew their eyes would have looked pretty much the
same. Losing your entire friendship group in a roadside bomb would
do that to a man.

Grief.

Jack and Lee were intimately
acquainted with it. It had brought them to this place, out here in
the middle of nowhere, finding peace in the simple things, and
slowly coming to terms with the fact that they were alive when
their friends were dead.

Would this place help Anna too? Jack
did not know and he wasn’t sure how to ask, or even what to say.
Lee saved him from working it out. Always the smoother of the two
he jumped straight in with the small talk.

“
You make perfect
coffee.”

Anna smiled, obviously pleased with
the idea of small talk. “Thank you,” she said. “But I can’t take
credit. It’s the machine. I bought it a few years ago and no matter
how many newer versions they bring out I will not trade this one
in.”

Lee nodded and took another sip. “It’s
exactly how I like my first coffee of the day. Sat up in bed, a
warm mug in my hand...”

Jack wanted to groan. Seemed that his
friend, smooth or not, was thinking along exactly the same lines
that he was. Hardly a surprise. Anna was too pretty not to rouse
both their interest.

“
I…”

“
Do you like it here,
Anna?” Jack asked.

She turned to him with something that
looked suspiciously like relief. It was then that Jack realized.
Whether she knew it or not, Anna was aware of their
interest.

“
Absolutely,” she said.
“It’s so beautiful. When I imagined leaving the city this was the
exact sort of place I wanted to come to.”

“
Why?” The word left his
lips before Jack could stop it. He silently cursed his lack of tact
even as he felt pleased that the question was now out there. Anna
could chose to answer it or not, but at least they would all be
clear on the situation.

“
Excuse me?”

“
Why out here in the
middle of nowhere?”

“
He’s right,” Lee said.
“You seem pretty young to be shutting yourself away.”

Anna frowned. “I’m not that
young.”

“
Exactly how old are
you?”

She didn’t tell Lee to mind his own
business, though she would have been well within her rights to do
so. “I’m twenty-seven.”

Lee grinned and took another swig of
his drink. “You barely look it.”

“
I’ll take that as a
compliment.”

“
Do.”

Silence settled between them for a
moment, but it was not an uncomfortable silence. Instead, it felt
to Jack more like a pause. He leaned forward, his elbows on his
knees, and locked eyes with Anna. Hers widened, she looked away
almost immediately, pretending interest in her coffee
mug.

Yes, she was interested.

So was he.

“
So, Anna,” he asked
because he’d started now and there was no point in going back. “Why
the middle of nowhere?”

“
I wanted to get away from
the city,” she said. “It was too…” She placed her mug back on the
desk and frowned. That echo of pain was back and suddenly Jack felt
bad about pushing her for answers.

He shot Lee a look. His friend nodded.
He knew exactly what Jack was thinking, didn’t need to be
told.

“
I spent the past twelve
months nursing Grand.”

Anna’s words came out of nowhere. Both
men whipped around to look at her.

“
Grand?” Lee
asked.

She smiled. It was a sad smile. “My
grandmother.”

Was it wrong that Jack’s heart seemed
to clench? Probably, but there was no help to be had for that. Anna
wasn’t grieving over a husband and that realization gave him an
immense sense of relief. It was then that he realized just how
attracted he was to her. Odd considering they had only just met,
and it usually took longer for Jack to know whether he wanted a
woman or not.

Anna defied his
expectations.

With her he just
knew
. There was no
thinking about it. No considering what exactly about her was making
him feel this way. He wanted her. That was simply a
fact.

“
She passed on several
weeks ago,” Anna added, her voice low. “And being in the same
house…”

“
It was difficult?” Lee
asked.

“
It was
painful
,” Anna said.
“She raised me from a baby. My mom died when I was just a few
months old. Grand was my only family. Practically my mom more than
anything.” She paused. “That was why I called her Grand. When I was
little I called her mom thinking that was what she was. But one day
she told me that my mom was in heaven and we’d need to think up a
new name.” She smiled. “If you’d met her you’d know why ‘Grand’ was
perfect. She was a hell of a woman.”

“
You loved her a great
deal,” Jack said.

“
Yes.” Anna took a sip of
her coffee. “Which is why being out here is necessary right now. I
was…struggling…in the city. I thought a winter away from it all,
from the well meaning friends, and the sympathy.” She pulled a
face. “I know it sounds mean but I couldn’t bear it. I want time by
myself. Time to just be.”

“
We know that feeling
well,” Lee said.

Jack frowned at his friend. Though
their families knew a little about what had happened when the
roadside bomb had detonated they never talked about it, so for Lee
to do so now, with a woman they had just met…

“
We came out here
originally for pretty much the same reasons,” Lee added. “I was
passing this way on my bike, just wandering, and I saw this place
for sale. We pooled our money and bought it a couple of weeks
later. Spent months getting it in order.”

“
It still isn’t in order,”
Jack said and the relief in his voice was due to the fact that Lee
had stopped his explanation at only the barest of
details.

“
So…are you a
couple?”

Lee started. “A couple? Heck, no.
Jack’s never been my type.”

Anna shifted on her seat. “I’m sorry,
I just assumed…”

“
We pooled our resources
because it made sense,” Jack explained. “We’ve been friends for
years, and we had no problem living with each other.”

“
So it’s just the two of
you?” she asked.

Jack nodded. “In the main.”

“
The main?”

“
We have the odd
visitor.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh…”

“
Family mostly,” he added
because it seemed that Anna was thinking something else. “In fact,
they usually end up staying here, but brutal winters take their
toll on the place. It’ll help you being here. Give us less to do to
get it in order for the summer.”

“
I’m happy to do any odd
jobs that need looking at,” she said quickly. “It’s a shame I
didn’t choose the summer. It would have been a pleasure to put some
order into the garden.”

“
You’d regret it. The
garden is wild in the heat.”

“
There’s a lot out here
that’s wild,” Lee said and even Jack picked up on exactly what his
meaning was. “This place brings it out in you.”

Chapter
Five

That blush on sweet Anna’s face was
doing something to Lee that he didn’t want to look at too closely.
Not now at any rate. Later, when he was back in his studio, he
would probably put something down on paper. The sweep of her jaw,
the way her brow furrowed when he said something that shook her up.
Now though, well, now he was content to simply look at her, because
Anna was sure something to look at. Lee hadn’t been sure what to
expect when they’d arrived at the cottage. It had been empty, and
he had been all for simply carrying on driving back to the
farmhouse. But Jack had pointed out Anna’s car, an odd little
hatchback in a vibrant blue, and suggested they wait.

“
Where could she possibly
be without wheels?” he’d asked.

Lee had stayed only because he didn’t
much fancy walking home. He was so fucking glad he had. Anna was
stunning. There was simply no other word for it. Lee wanted to run
his fingers through her golden hair, kiss the frown from her plump
little lips, hell, he could spend all night looking into those big,
brown eyes of hers.

He wanted her.

And unless he was much mistaken she
was thinking along the same lines. Whether it was him or Jack he
wasn’t sure, but there was interest there, whether she knew it or
not.