Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2

A Wardham Novel

by

Zoe York

http://www.zoeyork.com/

Copyright © 2013 Zoe York

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0991973651 (RRKY)

Karen is the heart of Wardham. She runs her parents' grocery store, organizes community events, and is friends with everyone from the smallest toddler to the oldest citizen. Her hot new
neighbour bucks that trend, but once she finally gets his attention, she gets more than she bargained for.

Intense and private, Paul has recently moved to Wardham for a more family friendly job, leaving behind a career as a homicide detective in the city. He only has his ten year old daughter a few nights a week, and he doesn't want any distractions or drama while he tries to repair their relationship.

But Karen is right next door, and everywhere he goes. His resolve to keep his distance only lasts until the community protests a decision Karen makes, and it's clear she needs a true friend in her corner.

can’t help but love gruff men in uniform

For my husband, the gruffest of them all

It was a shame the guy next door was so rude. If he smiled, he’d probably be drop-dead gorgeous. If he smiled, that might mean she finally had his attention.

Karen peeked out the corner of her eye at the post-war bungalow on the other side of her driveway.
The
shared
driveway. A mirror image of her house, with dark red brick and pretty white trim. A wide front porch—his was bare, except for a broom. Hers had her beloved bicycle in a place of honour, and a comfortable wicker conversation set decorated with navy cushions.

Between their houses sat his sensible four door sedan. Now it was awkward.
Should have told him the first time
.

She’d come home from work three weeks ago to find the house next to hers no longer vacant.
Her standard welcome-to-the-street spiel had died on her lips as the new resident jogged out the door and straight past her, as if she hadn’t been standing next to his front walk. Technically on the sidewalk, but her intent to greet him had been clear.
Hadn’t it?

That was followed by two more
non-meetings, which chafed her because she liked to be known as a friendly person. Forcing her neighbour to have a conversation crossed a line into needy. She’d been looking for a natural opening to a conversation. Now she needed to make it happen.

April was around the corner, and her Camaro was calling to be let loose on the road. As soon as the last threat of snow passed, she’d need to use the shared driveway to get 304 horsepower of Victory Red awesomeness onto the roads.
Hard to do with his fuel-efficient safetymobile in the way.

So she was killing time in her front yard, pretending to tidy her flower beds
, planning the best way to ambush a stranger. Not her finest moment.

Since he’d been home all day, he was probably going to leave soon. He
worked shifts, leaving either early in the morning or around dinner time, and was often gone for the better part of a day.

She
felt like a stalker, but really, he hadn’t left her any choice. And it’s not like she’d gone through his mail or trash. She really didn’t know anything about him except for his schedule and where he parked.
And that he had single-handedly increased the hot quotient of Wardham by 1000%.
She didn’t even know how old he was, although she guessed around her age, maybe a little bit older. No way would a guy in his twenties drive that car.

Two bags of twigs later,
because pretending to work had turned into actually gardening, his front door opened. She stood, stretching her back before moving to intercept him before he could get to his car. “Hi! You must be my new neighbour.” She offered her hand before remembering she was covered in dirt, and quickly converted the gesture to a wave. “Karen Miller.”

He nodded, and stepped around her to put his duffle bag in the trunk.

“So, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, if you can spare a second?”

Another
nod, and a raised eyebrow.

Karen paused a beat,
then continued. “The driveway. It’s actually a shared lane.”

He glanced between their houses, then to his car, and finally back to her. He
might not be big on words, but he wasn’t shy about looking at her. He didn’t seem shy at all, actually. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about his appraisal seemed like a power play.

She bristled. “Look, your landlord should have explained this, and I’m sorry, but my car is in
—”

“I bought it.” His voice was quiet and calm, the opposite of his gaze
. An unsettling combination.

“I’m sorry?”

“The house. I don’t have a landlord.”

“It wasn’t for sale. I’d have seen a sign.” It didn’t
matter, but something made her want to argue the point just because.

“Private sale.”

“Well, okay, then your agent should have told you. It’s a shared drive. My car is in the garage, and I’ll need to—”

“My garage is full of junk.”

So? “I need—”

“I’m busy until the weekend, but I can clear it out on Saturday. Sorry about the inconvenience.” And with that, he turned to get into his car.

She knew she should let it go, but his quiet tone and half-listening had frayed her nerves. “You know, the interrupting is really rude.”

Paul let his lips twitch slightly before he turned to face his feisty neighbour. He hadn’t meant to be rude, but he could see how she’d interpret his words that way. “That wasn’t my intention, I apologize.” He leaned back against his car. He had a few minutes before he had to leave, and this might be fun. “I’m out of practice on being neighbourly.”

She
relaxed and slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, streaking dirt across her left hip. A curvy, round hip he had no business noticing, but she was right in front of him. With him slouched back against the car, they were almost the same height. He liked that she was tall. Too bad he wasn’t interested in dating, or any other recreational activities, because there was a lot to like about this woman. Her sass, for one. Yeah, he really liked that. He grinned, and she rewarded him with a smile that bordered on sheepish.

“I’m sorry
, too. You’re obviously on your way somewhere, and I’ve just tossed this information at you.”

“It’s okay, I’ve got a minute. Why hasn’t this come up before?” He knew that she walked or biked to work, although he hadn’t figured out where that was. In a few more weeks, he’d probably know a lot more about her, and most of the other citizens of Wardham, but right now he was still commuting to the city.

“I don’t drive much in the winter.”

That explained the bicycle.
Maybe she wasn’t comfortable in the snow. “Do you have people who can pick you up when it’s really cold?”

“What?” She wrinkled her brow, which was really cute, even for someone who was afraid of driving. Paul didn’t usually have time for that kind of weakness, but he’d probably make an exception for his new
neighbour. When a look of horror crossed her face, he realized belatedly that he probably wasn’t going to get a chance to offer his assistance. “You think I’m afraid of snow? Or driving in general?”

Instead of being offended, she burst out in a beautiful pe
al of laughter that expanded until it encompassed him and he was chuckling along with her. “No? That’s not...?”

“No.” She smiled and leaned forward, as if to share a conspiratorial secret. “I drive a Camaro. It’s my baby, and I have snow tires, but really, it’s not built for winter driving.”

Oh crap. Paul could see an entirely different encounter in their near future. Instead of offering to help with her errands, he was going to be writing her speeding tickets. “It’s not?”

“Of course not.
Some people love that thrill, rear-wheel drive, you know, but I’m all about the straight up speed. Dry road, warm summer day.”

Damn. “Listen, Karen...”

“Yeah?” Her smile was wide and happy, and about to disappear.

“I need to finish introducing myself.”

“Why? What are you, a cop or something?”

“Yes.”

She blinked once, and twice, then her eyes got big and round and her hand slapped over her mouth. “Oh shit!”

He was about to apologize, for what he wasn’t sure, when she started laughing again. He was quickly figuring out that she did that a lot. He liked it.
Which was as good a reason as any to make his goodbyes and escape.

She breathed a contented sigh and stepped back, as if she sensed he needed to leave. He liked that too. “Okay,
Constable. I look forward to sharing the driveway, and the roads around Wardham, with you, at a reasonable and posted speed.”

His lips quirked and he nodded brusquely to cover up.
He had the funny feeling that Karen Miller could quickly get under his skin, and giving her any opening was just asking for trouble. Good trouble, but he wasn’t in the market for that, or anything else. “Sounds good. I’ll get the garage cleared out on the weekend.”

He watched her saunter back up her front steps and lean over to collect gardening gear. His gaze lingered on her ass, until he forced himself to get in the car and drive away.

***

“There’s a new sheriff in town.”

Karen’s best friend Carrie glanced up from behind the espresso machine. “Did we have an old sheriff?”

“You know what I mean.”

“You have gossip about the new guy at the Wardham detachment?”

“Maybe.
What do you know?” Karen slid onto a barstool. A Bun In The Oven didn’t have tables, but three stools lived in front of the espresso bar for just these kinds of conversations.

Carrie laughed. “Not much, other than the position has been filled and the new person’s going to start in a couple of weeks. He works in Windsor right now.”

That would explain the weird hours. “The new person is Hot Neighbour.”

“The rude guy?”

Karen shrugged. “He’s a bit brusque, but I wouldn’t say he’s rude.”

“You said he was rude yesterday. And twice last week.”

“That was before I actually talked to him.”

Carrie cocked an eyebrow.

“I stopped him today and asked him to start parking in his garage.”

“Did you explain it was because of your
need for speed
?” Her friend giggled at the thought. It was true, though. In the summer, as often as she could find time, Karen headed out along the lake with the windows down. Alone with the wind and her music, it was hard to be 100% mindful of the speed limit.

“It came up. Before I knew he was a cop. It’s not like I’m a criminal.”

“No, but you like to drive fast enough that he’d need to pull you over. Of course, maybe that would be okay. Maybe he’d get you to step out of the car so he could frisk you.”

“For a traffic stop?
You’ve got issues.” Although Karen couldn’t deny that she’d enjoy being patted down by Paul. And interrogated. She shivered at the image of him leaning over a table at her, pinning her down with an inscrutable gaze.

Her friend pushed a latte and
an orange cranberry biscotti across the bar. Fancy coffee still felt like a special treat in their sleepy little town. Karen grinned and dunked the hard biscuit. “Mmmmm. Oh my god, this is so good.” She slurped a drip of coffee from her fingertips and waved off the previous conversation. “Do we have anything to discuss before the meeting tonight?”

Carrie nodded vigorously. “Oh yes! Apparently, the funding for the new community
centre is going to be approved, so we should push for agreement on what the business association is going to lobby for in terms of sponsorship and space usage. I’d love to have a chance to bid for Bun to have a coffee bar there.”

“Are you ready to expand already?” Karen knew that her friend loved running her coffee shop/bakery, but she knew from first-hand experience that being an owner/operator of a store was a huge
endeavour. Bun had only been open for a bit more than year.

“The
centre isn’t going to open next week. It’ll probably be a year or two before any plans need to be implemented. And there wouldn’t be any food prep there, just drinks, muffins, scones, and the like.”