My Beautiful Neighbor (The Greene Family Book 1) by Piper Rayne (phonics reading books TXT) 📕

the story of when Marla and Hank got together when a big body sits down on a stool next to me.

I look over. “Cade! Are you painting?”

His gaze scours the table, but I go back to my project, dipping my brush into the yellow.

“Sure.” He snatches a lily from a nearby table and grabs a paintbrush.

“Thought you were tending bar?” Adam asks.

“I’m done. Saw you four and figured I’d join in.”

“Where’s Jed?” Xavier asks.

“He’s still at the bar. You know anything artsy isn’t his thing.”

They all nod in agreement.

“Why not?” I ask.

Cade groans. “He’s stubborn. Just doesn’t do shit he doesn’t want to.”

“Oh, that’s sad. I mean, I think you learn a lot from doing shit you wouldn’t otherwise do.” They all laugh. “What?”

“You swore. You look like the type who wouldn’t swear.” Clara giggles again.

“Do you guys think I’m some goody-two-shoes?” I guess that’s better than bitch though.

“We don’t know much about you. Why don’t you tell us some stuff?” Xavier asks.

Cade’s eyes flash to mine, as though he wants information on me too. I guess it’s true that I already know so much about him and he knows nothing about me.

“Not a lot to say. I’m from Connecticut. I graduated from Boston University with a business degree. My dad is an investor and my mom stayed at home. I have no sib—”

Clara and I look at one another.

“I didn’t grow up with a sibling, although I have a sister now.” I smile at Clara and she returns it.

“I heard she’s awesome,” Xavier says, and Clara’s cheeks grow pink.

“That’s about it,” I say with a shrug.

“All the bullet points,” Cade says. There’s something in his voice I’m not sure I understand.

“Yeah,” I say in a low voice, concentrating on painting.

Xavier and Clara go up to hand their pieces to Theo, who runs Fired Up, and get sidetracked talking to someone. Adam gets up a few minutes later. I have no idea how they finished so fast.

Cade puts down his pottery piece and my stomach churns since I know he’s going to say something to me. “I had a lot of fun the other week, at Northern Lights.”

“Yeah? You like hanging out with the older crowd?” I laugh in an attempt to appear like I’m not concerned about what he might say.

“Can you answer a question?” His voice is tight for some reason.

“Depends.” I continue to work on my ceramic, not wanting to meet the intensity of his eyes.

“Why are you on a date with my brother?”

I glance over, blinking. Surely he’s not jealous of his brother who is technically still married to a woman he’s clearly still in love with? Not to mention—why would Cade be jealous of anyone?

“I’m not on a date. I asked Adam along to get him out of the house and interacting with people. He seemed like he could use it.”

Cade stares at me for a moment then eyes my piece of pottery. I continue painting, self-conscious since he’s staring at me so intently. I put my paintbrush in the water and hold my ceramic to the real flower to see if it resembles it at all, and I imagine Cade takes the lily from my hand, then grabs my free hand and tugs me up from the chair.

“What are you doing?” I ask as he leads us over to where you hand in your work to be fired in the kiln.

“Theo, this is Presley from The Story Shop,” Cade says to the man with a beard.

“I meant to introduce myself earlier—” He holds out his hand, but Cade pulls me away.

“Later, Theo.”

“What about Adam?” I ask.

“He’s a big boy.”

Cade walks us past the crowds of people talking and drinking. A few women have flowers in their hair, holding bags labeled Fired Up. They must’ve purchased some of the already made items. The next thing I know, we’re in a parking lot and I’m pressed up against a truck. Cade unlocks it and opens the passenger door for me to get in.

“I’m a little scared. Are you kidnapping me?”

“No, but I want to be somewhere I know people aren’t listening.”

“Why?” I ask, but he nudges me in and shuts the door.

One second I hear a click of the door and the next his lips are on mine, my face cradled between his hands, and I sink into something I’ve wanted longer than I care to admit.

“Presley? Presley?” I say again. Is she purposely dodging my question by pretending to concentrate on painting? I wave my hand in front of her face. She blinks.

“Sorry,” she whispers, looking at me with lust in her eyes.

I like that look way too much. “Where did you go there?”

Her face reddens, but she dodges the question. “What were you saying?”

“I was asking whether you wanted to go for a walk around town?”

She continues to inspect her ceramic flower. “You mean with everyone? I’d hate to leave Adam.”

I search the area and find Adam talking to Tanya Gregory from high school. “He’s good.”

She follows my line of vision. “Okay, let me just turn this in.”

She stands, and I follow her over to Theo. He’s marking each piece to make sure he’ll give it back to the right person.

“Hey, Theo, this is Presley from the new business moving in next to us, The Story Shop.”

Presley glances back at me as though she’s surprised I’m introducing her.

“I meant to make my way over there. Welcome.” Theo holds out his hand and Presley shakes it.

“I love your shop. I think I could be here every day.”

Theo laughs. “Wait until tourist season when we do glass blowing.”

Presley’s eyes light up. “Oh, I can’t imagine how awesome that must be.”

I’ve never wanted to be a glassblower until this very moment.

Theo’s the artsy type. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We might have run in different circles back in the day, but there’s no arguing the guy isn’t crazy talented.

“All the stuff to look forward to now that you’re staying,” Theo says.

Presley’s shoulders