Billionaires Dollar Series

“Well, for what it’s worth,” I murmur, “so do I.”

I’d told Bella I didn’t have the time to date her. To give her what she deserved. Which made it very unfair that she didn’t give me the same space. No, the taste of her is on my tongue from morning to evening, the feel of her body branded in my palms.

If I’d craved female company before, the brief brush of her breasts against my chest hadn’t helped. What had been a steady flame now feels like a raging wildfire of need.

At work, my assistant asks me what’s wrong-that’s how irritable I’ve become. And when Cole texts me to say thanks for dinner and ask how “the cute neighbor girl is doing,” I contemplate ghosting him.

Had I blown it? Destroyed both the budding attraction and the cautious, kind friendship that had been growing between us? In the last few weeks, that had felt like something special.

I shake my head at my own dithering. You can’t offer her anything-just a few nights in your bed, and she’s worth more than that. Stop considering it. But then my body would remember the feel of hers against it and the cycle began anew again.

I don’t see her for the rest of the week, forcing myself to focus on my work and my kids and nothing in between. I’m not a little proud of that, either. Keeping myself from knocking on her door feels like a Herculean feat.

“Can Bella come over?” Haven asked mid-week, which made my resolution falter. “Maybe she can teach us how to make muffins!”

“Muwwfins!” Evie had exclaimed.

Miraculously, I’d stood firm. I told them Bella was busy studying but they were free to ask Maria if she could teach them to make something. A minor victory for mankind, perhaps, but a giant one for me.

It all ends Friday evening. Coming home from work, my mind fracturing at the seams from hard day of work I’d had, I see her.

Bella is talking to Maria on my driveway, a glittery football in her hands. She’s just as stunning as I remembered.

The shirtdress she’s wearing is tied around her waist, highlighting her form, the late evening sunlight gilding her long brown hair. A soft smile plays on her features.

I park, getting out of the car with a hand on the roof. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she says, looking from me to Maria. “Well, that was it, really. Sorry about the delay in getting it back to you. I didn’t notice it at first.”

Maria shakes her head. “They haven’t missed it,” she says with a nod in my direction. “They have more toys than they need.”

“Oh, far too many,” I agree.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

She smiles at us both and heads back into the house, football in hand, leaving me and Bella alone. The silence is awkward. It’s never been awkward before.

“I’m sorry,” Bella says. “Haven or Evie kicked a football onto my lawn and I was just returning it. I didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t apologize,” I say. I think I could stand anything but that. “They’re always kicking things over-I’m surprised your aunt and uncle haven’t formally complained yet. Thank you.”

She runs a hand over the back of her neck. “It’s not a problem.”

“Good,” I say. “I don’t want things to be…”

“Weird? Odd?” Bella smiles, the unusual mix of humor and kindness in her eyes that so disarms me. “It doesn’t have to be. I understood your point the other night.”

At the moment, it’s very difficult to remember exactly why I’d been so insistent on making that very point. “All right. Good,” I say. “Just so you know that it’s not… Jesus, Bella, it’s not for a lack of wanting.”

That’s it, the shade of her cheeks is my new favorite color. “All right,” she echoes. “Good. Me neither, for the record.”

I force myself to clear my throat and not focus on that admission, not right now, or I’d kiss her right here for all to see. “It’s good I have you here, actually,” I say. “The treehouse installation is tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll be making a fair bit of noise.”

Her eyes light up. “That’s lovely! The kids are gone for the day?”

“They’re staying at my mother’s this weekend, to give me time to set it all up.” I clear my throat again. “Anyway, just so you know.”

She backs away, her smile slanted. “Let me know if you need help with anything. I’m home all weekend.”

“Thank you.” Oh, what a dangerous offer. Watching her retreat up her driveway, my mind refocuses on the words she’d spoken earlier. I play them over and over in her soft voice. Me neither. She wants me too, and it’s getting harder and harder to accept that I just don’t have the time she deserves.

The next day is the summer’s hottest on record for the year. Sweat runs down my back at ten a. m., and the humidity is not helping. Nor is a scheduled treehouse installation with ten men working in the heat.

I bring my laptop out onto the patio and reply to emails while I watch them work. An organized team with all the measurements and materials already prepared offsite, it’s a joy to watch them assemble it all.

I wonder what Bella is seeing on the other side. Is she lying by the side of the pool in the same bikini I’d first seen her in? Are the workers enjoying the view?

No, Ethan, abort that train of thought. Cut it right off. Valiantly, I manage to only circle back to it a few dozen times throughout the day. By late afternoon, the treehouse is complete. Beautiful redwood shingles on the roof, with windows and an ascending ladder. The contractor had spoken about adding a deck at a later stage-I’d said no, not now… maybe when the kids got bigger.

I bid the workers goodbye and climb up into the structure. It holds under my weight. I’m here to inspect it, but I can’t fool myself as to why I look out the east-facing window first.

Ah, blessed relief-Bella’s there.

Sitting by the pool, a skirt and a bikini top on, her hair unbound. She has a book in hand. I’ve gone and given my kids the best view of the entire property.

Shaking my head at my thoughts, I look around the space. It’ll be good with the bits and bobs Bella helped me to order. Haven and Evie will be over the moon when they see it.

“Ethan?”

I look back out the window to see Bella shading her eyes and looking in my direction.

I lean out the open window. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful!” she calls back. “Well, the part I can see from here!”

“It’s quite spacious,” I say. “Maybe I can rent it out to college students after the girls are gone.”

“A bit of extra income.”

“Every penny counts.”

She fans herself with the book, her thumb stuck in to keep her place. “It’s terribly hot today.”

“The worst,” I agree. “I’m regretting not putting in a pool right about now.”

Her fanning abruptly stops. “Well, why don’t you come over and swim in mine?”

What an offer.

There are a hundred reasons why I shouldn’t, but not one of them seems convincing at the moment. Not with her smiling up at me in nothing but a bikini top and a short skirt. The water behind her beckons.