Lovely Neighbor Read online Alexa Riley (Lovely #1)

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Contemporary, Romance Tags Authors: Series: Lovely Series by Alexa Riley
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Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
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“You've been talking about me, sweetness?” Johnny winks at Grams and I’ve never met anyone that’s a bigger flirt than her. I wish I had a little bit of that in me. Instead I stand in shock whenever I see a handsome man. Exhibit A was this very morning.

“I’m trying to talk my granddaughter into moving here. What better way than with pie?”

“All right. How about you two take a seat and I’ll bring you some samples out.”

“That would be perfect.” Grams smiles at him. I notice her cheeks are a little pinker than normal. Grams is a flirt but no one ever turns her eye and it’s always in good fun. I keep thinking one day she’s going to fall face first into a man before she knows what’s happening.

We take a seat in the back corner and Johnny comes out a moment later with iced teas. Clearly he knows what Grams wants, because when I take a sip it’s as sweet as she likes it.

“So how are you feeling today?”

“Okay, actually. The building here makes me feel safe. I mean, it’s only us on that floor and there’s a doorman.” It’s not like my apartment, where people can come and go, and I never thought about how dangerous that could be for a single woman. “I think what keeps getting to me is what if I’d been home.” I try not to cry thinking about it because it kept me up most of the night. Grams reaches out and squeezes my hand. “How long would it have taken for someone to realize I was missing or to come looking for me?”

“Oh Erin.” Grams stands up and wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. “I never want you to think like that. If you don’t move out here then I’m going to have to move out there.” I shake my head no because that’s silly. She has a whole life here and there’s no way I’d ask her to give that up.

“I’m going to move here,” I reassure her.

“Pie!” Johnny calls as he carries a tray filled with more pie than we’ll ever be able to eat. Those don’t look like samples. They are full-on slices of every kind of pie you can think of.

“You’re so good.” Grams sits back down as Johnny places the tray on the table then hands us both a fork.

“Can I get you ladies anything else?”

“I think we’re good.” Grams pushes the tray closer to me.

“Thank you.” I smile up at Johnny, who is looking down at Grams, quite smitten.

“Anytime.” He walks back behind the counter and goes back to work.

“Try this one. It’s coconut,” Grams says, holding it out.

“Oh god, that’s good.” Coconut is my absolute favorite.

“See, you can come get this anytime you want.”

“That sounds dangerous,” I laugh while taking another bite. “You know Johnny seems sweet on you.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her.

“I can’t blame him, I’m a catch.” Grams shrugs, taking a bite of the apple cobbler. “What about your love life? Let's talk about that.” Always back to that.

“Well, since I’m moving I don’t have one.”

“So it’s official?” Grams’ eyes light up with excitement.

“Yes, I should have done it forever ago. I just have to find a place first.”

“We should see if there is something in my building.”

“I’m not sure I can afford your building. It’s really nice and Devin’s place is crazy fancy. I’m scared I’m going to break something in there.”

“Good, maybe it will look like someone actually lives there and liven the place up.”

I bite my lip wondering if I can get away with asking some questions without Grams realizing what I’m doing. I didn’t tell her about Devin popping in this morning or his talk about us having dinner tonight. It’s all still a little shocking. There really was a crazy-hot man asking me to have dinner with him as I stood there practically naked.

“Is he really never there? Seems like such a waste.” The place is beautiful. I’d never want to leave it.

“He’s a workaholic.”

“A lawyer, right?” He looked like one in his suit that screamed power and authority. Then he opened his mouth and was adorable as can be. Not to mention sexy. It took everything in me not to laugh when he was going on about sleeping naked then tried to backtrack. Let's not forget that one dimple either. It made me weak in the knees. He has a lot going on, all of which work for me.

“Yep, a fancy one too. You know he owns the building so he could easily get you a place. He might even give you a deal.” She pushes another piece of pie over to me. I’m not sure how much more I can eat.

“I’m not going to try and negotiate the price of an apartment,” I laugh. Plus, we kind of have a date tonight and that would make it extra weird. Or maybe it’s not a date at all. We both have to eat and maybe he was just being nice.


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