Finding Faith (4 page)

“Oh, God. This can’t be happening,” he managed to say the words, but hadn’t really been aware of his actions. He then heard a keening wail that shattered his soul and it took a few seconds for him to realize it was coming from him. The sound was coming from inside of his soul and unbeknownst to him, had echoed across the entire 10th floor executive suite.
 

Heather had been his rock, the person who had gotten him through the difficult years of serving in the U.S. Army and the three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all they had been through, and finally deciding to live their lives and raise a family, he was being told that someone had killed his wife at a stoplight in Alexandria, Virginia. She was never coming home again.
 

Blinking back to the present, Cooper knew that his gut feeling that day had been right. Only thing was, it hadn’t been the stuff his dreams had been made of.
 

It had been the start of a nightmare.
 

Over time, he had learned to understand and interpret those feelings better and he knew that today, the feeling he had when looking over at his neighbor’s house, had been new. Different. Unlike anything he had felt before. That scared him, but not in the way one would think.
 

It actually gave him hope. It meant there was a whole new experience in front of him. Life was throwing him a curveball. All he had to do was decide if he was going to strike out or swing for the fences. With one last look, he decided to just go with it and let life happen.
 

 

Faith was nervous. She had spent the morning talking to herself like a loon and making up several reasons to not go and meet her new neighbors. Four casseroles later, three of which had already been thrown in the garbage after being deemed not good enough to serve to the dogs, so surely not good enough for her new neighbors. If she were thinking clearly, she would have remembered that she fully expected this man to be happily married. But for some reason, she couldn’t stop the insane thoughts running through her head. Thinking clearly was not on the menu today.
 

So, here she stood. On her neighbor's doorstep, frozen in fear and with a healthy dose of embarrassment that she had dressed to impress a man who would probably have no interest in her.
 

“Damn, Denise, your fucking timing is impeccable.” She knew those thoughts and insecurities were creeping in based on her ex-friend’s cruel words, but she was determined to move forward. “Get it together, girl. Don’t just stand out here staring at the damn door. Knock!”
 

Without waiting another second, she gave three strong raps on the front door. Her neighbor’s truck was parked in the garage. She noticed it as she walked over. Maybe he saw her looking out her window yesterday and already decided that she wasn’t worth getting to know in the first place. Especially if she had to gawk at people from the confines of her home. With no answer to her first knock, she decided to give up and try this another day.
 

Just as she started to turn around and head back home, she was hit with a sense of sadness. Not because there was no answer to her knock, but the one time she had forced herself do something brave, it hadn’t worked.
 

Did she expect anything to come from taking a casserole to her neighbor? No, not really. But the sadness was still there, no doubt stemming from the questions she had asked herself many times over during these past few days.
 

Mainly, would there ever be a man who would stimulate both her mind and her body at the same time? Someone that she wanted, someone she chose, and not just the guy who wanted to pursue her for the sake of experiencing what it was like to sleep with a thick girl.
 

Her sexual drought wasn't because there hadn't been opportunities for her, or because men had no interest in her. It was that she hadn’t yet met the one man who made her want more than just sex.
 

That was until she saw her neighbor standing on the front lawn of his new home in jeans and a t-shirt, laughing at the antics of two little girls and treating women in his life, old and young, with respect and care.
 

As she took her first step toward freedom—and her empty home—she heard the door swing open behind her. For just a smidgen of a second, she almost kept going. This was so stupid. It was probably his wife and Faith would look like a fool.
 

Regret began to spread through her like a wildfire, and then she turned around. As she came face-to-face with the man standing in front her, covered in sweat and dust from no doubt
getting his home in order, her inner diva finally chose to show up to the party. Throwing caution to wind, she leapt into the storm and prayed she would come out alive and whole on the other side.
 

Finding her voice, she pushed the casserole dish in his direction. Forcing him to grab the warm dish with both hands, “Hi. I’m your next door neighbor, Faith Douglas.”
 

“Um, hello, Faith, I’m Cooper Branson.”
 

“I’m Madison!”
 

Looking down, she noticed his daughter peeking through his arm and the door. Wide, blue eyes staring up at the strange lady standing at their door. Leaning over so that she was on closer eye-level with the curious child, she held out her hand to shake, “It’s very nice to meet you, little Madison. Welcome to the neighborhood.” Surprised when she stuck out her little hand to grab Faith’s, she gave it two quick up-and-down motions. Giving her a smile, she was already enamored with the precocious child. Faith released her tiny hand and stood back up to take in the up-close and personal view of her father.
 

The smile on his face was something to behold. And he had dimples. Well, damn. ‘Could this man get any fucking better?’ was the first thought that floated through her mind. Still, she hadn’t seen the wife, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t around somewhere.
 

Within moments of that thought, her neighbor must have thought of something that changed his entire mood. His eyebrows turned down and his brow furrowed in a look of annoyance. Looking at both Madison and Faith, he was not happy about something. Uh oh, had she stepped over some pre-determined line?
 

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that I live in next house over. I’m very close in case you need anything.” Okay…this was not turning out the way she expected. “Is your wife home?”
 

“I don’t have a wife.”
 

Elation spread through her at his words.
 

“My mommy died when I was a baby,” she heard the little girl say as she entered he conversation.
 

Well, shit. Dread stomped on that elation, jumping up and down on it like it was a bug in a pristine kitchen.
 

 She looked at her neighbor with a touch of sadness, shock, and true awe. He was a tall, sexy, widower raising a precocious little girl. If it weren’t so sad, it would be the stuff of romance novels.
 

His only response to his daughter’s statement was to continue looking at her with his piercing ice blue gaze, never taking his eyes from her face. Not even for a second.
 

Adjusting his position and placing the casserole dish on a side table sitting next to the door, he lifted one hand to leisurely rest one his lean hip, a slight smile tilting his lips on one side. “Well, with that cheery opening, thank you for the casserole, Mrs. Douglas.”
 

“Well, I know what it’s like to move into a new home and have to unpack and then get all of your food unpacked. Then if you don’t want to order pizza, the only other choices aren’t very good. So, I figured I would do something nice for you and your family. I’m sorry...I didn’t know you weren’t married. I just thought your wife wasn’t with you when you moved in yesterday…”
 

Trailing off, her eyes began to nervously drift away from his face. Her gaze soon landed on his chest and arms, his white t-shirt was form-fitting and fit his toned form perfectly. Unable to stop her eyes from shifting downward, she stopped briefly at the unmistakable bulge in his well-worn jeans. Positive that her mouth dropped open just a fraction, the clear and distinct outline of his package was very visible.
 

The way his jeans fit his lower torso, riding low on his hips made her think some very naughty, dirty, “not to be discussed in the daytime” thoughts about her new neighbor. Getting this far, there was no way in hell she was stopping now. Go big or go home was her new motto, so she was taking this to the endgame.
 

Glancing down at his feet, she guessed that he must have worn size thirteen, easily. With that realization, she must have made a noise as the limitless possibilities began to run through her mind. Just as she was starting to forget why she was even standing here, her new neighbor, whom she had known for all of two minutes, cleared his throat. Quickly lifting her gaze back up to his face, she felt her face turn hot in embarrassment. To be caught openly ogling the man while he stood in his front door was so inappropriate. This was totally not like her.
 

Tilting his head, his eyes crinkled up at her and his nose flared out. Not in anger, but maybe in frustration and annoyance. Maybe he was used to this and women undressed him in public all the time.
 

“Find something interesting, Mrs. Douglas?” Damn, now that was distinctly unfriendly. Although her skin had a beautiful pecan hue, she was positive the red flush of embarrassment and mortification was coming through quite clearly.
 

Could it be called sexual harassment if she was only enjoying the scenery? Okay, fine! She was way out of line and if a man had done the same thing to her, she would be downright pissed right now. Knowing she was the one in the wrong, she nodded her head once, acknowledging her error. Forcing her eyes back to his face, she realized this actually didn’t help very much at all. He was just yummy goodness from his head to his toes.
 

“It’s Ms.”
 

“Excuse me?” His voice had not softened one bit and that’s when she realized that this must be his normal tone of voice.
 

Two seconds later, some pesky butterflies took up residence in her stomach.
 

Finding her voice again, she continued, “I was just saying that I’m a Ms. I’m not married. Not that it matters or anything. I mean, it would matter. Because if I were married, my husband would be here with me and I never would have looked at you like you were a popsicle on a hot summer day.”
 

Her eyes widened and her brain began to short-circuit. Oh My God! “I mean...hell, you know what I mean. I’m sorry.” Looking behind her, she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide her head like an ostrich. “How about we start over. I’ll take my casserole back to the house, take my foot out of my mouth, wait five minutes and try it again.”
 

After a few seconds, a burst of laughter came out of his mouth. She watched a change come over him and he seemed to transform into another person right in front of her eyes. If she thought he was sexy before, that was nothing compared to seeing him with a smile on his face
and his eyes crinkled up in laughter. Opening the door wider, the smile remained on his face as he motioned for her to come in.
 

“Don’t worry about it, Ms. Douglas. Come on in. I’m pretty much done for the day and your dish will come in handy.” Stepping to the side, he allowed her space to step through the door and into his home.
 

“Faith.” She said as she moved further into his home.
 

“Excuse me? I didn’t catch that.” Clicking the door closed, he picked up the dish from the table he had placed it on earlier, and turned toward the back of the house. As he began walking in the direction of the kitchen, she turned in the same direction and began following him.
 

Bad move. She caught her first glimpse of his powerful, confident walk, and it just completed the whole picture. If she weren’t such a good girl, and his daughter wasn’t peeking around corners trying to take in the scene, she would climb his fine ass like a tree in the jungle and change her name to Jane.
 

“Ms. Douglas, are you distracted again?”
 

Looking up at the back of his head, she wondered how the hell he knew she was looking at his firm behind and drooling over thoughts about the motion in his ocean. “Huh? Say what?”
 

Stopping to turn around and look at her, he had a smirk on his face, “That’s what I asked you. You said something and then went silent on me.”
 

Thinking quickly, she tried to recall what the hell they were talking about. Oh, her name! The man had made her forget her own name and they weren’t even naked and rolling around on the floor doing naughty, adult things to each other? Now that was a feat. “Faith. Please, call me Faith.”