2. Tristan
The jingleof my keys in the lock set off the usual cacophony of noise that greeted me every time I came home. Carefully, I pushed the door open and slipped inside.
Koda, my elderly corgi/Akita mix, sat patiently in the middle of the foyer, the same way he had since the day I brought him home nine years ago.
The clatter of nails on the floors was right on schedule as Freddie, our rambunctious Great Dane/German shepherd/golden retriever mix, came barreling out of the pet room and raced across the foyer to greet me with his usual enthusiasm.
At the last second, Freddie put on the brakes and dropped his butt onto the floor. He slid to a stop right in front of me, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth as he looked up at me proudly.
“Hey, Freddie.” I scratched behind his ear. “Did you make good choices today?”
A warm, furry body rubbed up against my pant leg. “Hi, Maple.” I greeted our silver tabby cat but didn’t reach down to pet her. She was particular about when she allowed pets, and door greetings weren’t one of those times.
“Come here, Koda.” I waved him over, knowing he’d sit there until I did.
The size difference between Koda and Freddie was significant, with Koda weighing in at forty pounds while Freddie was close to one-thirty. Poor Koda had learned the hard way that Freddie didn’t always remember how big he was and did his best to avoid being trampled or sat on.
Koda lumbered over to me on his short legs and accepted some head scratches.
“Dad!” The echo of footsteps thundered through the house. A moment later, Leo ran into the foyer with Jinx in his arms.
“Hey, kiddo.” I stood, brushing off my hands. “Okay, guys. You gotta let me come in.”
The animals at my feet wandered away.
“Dad!” Leo shifted from foot to foot, practically bouncing in his excitement. “We met Quinn, and he saved Jinx!”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Jinx escaped and got lost, and Quinn came and found him and crawled under the house and got hurt, but he saved Jinx.”
I glanced at my sister, hoping she could add some context. Who was Quinn?
“I left the back door open by accident, and Jinx slipped out.” Lydia looked pained. Knowing my sister, she was going to beat herself up over that for a long time. “Your new neighbor heard us looking for him, and he came over to help.”
“He figured out Jinx was under the deck, and he saved him,” Leo added. Jinx lifted his head and rubbed his face against Leo’s cheek. Leo giggled and nuzzled him back.
“And Quinn is our new neighbor?” I asked, trying to put the pieces of the disjointed conversation together.
“Yup.” Leo smiled patiently and rubbed Jinx’s back.
“His name is Quinn Reynolds,” Lydia filled in.
“So, Quinn, our new neighbor, found Jinx under the porch and got him out?” I asked, finally stitching the story together.
Getting bombarded with information as soon as I walked through the door wasn’t unusual, but today was supposed to have been my day off. I was exhausted, which made me a bit slow on the uptake. “That was nice of him.”
“Yup! He’s so nice. And smart,” Leo said, his voice filled with admiration.
A streak of black and beige raced across the entrance to the kitchen as Mili and Shadow, our other cats, started their evening zoomies.
Picking up my bag, I sidestepped Leo so I could come into the house. “And you said he got hurt?” I asked my sister.
“He scratched his back on something when he was coming out from under the back deck. It looked deep.”
“Something sharp?” My mind raced. Had he hurt himself on a nail? Did he have an updated tetanus shot?
“He said he was fine,” Lydia said, guilt crossing her features.
“I should probably go over to thank him and make sure he’s okay.” I knew next to nothing about our new neighbor, but it would be best to do some damage control and make sure he didn’t have any plans to sue me.
I hated that my brain went there and automatically assumed the worst, but after living here for the past twelve years, I’d learned that suing people over stupid stuff was a hobby for some of my neighbors.
“So you said he’s nice?” I asked Leo as the three of us made our way into the kitchen. I needed to gather some intel before I talked to him.
“So nice.” He put Jinx, who’d started wiggling, down. Jinx took off to join Mili and Shadow’s zoomies.
I’d only seen our new neighbors a few times since they’d moved in. I wasn’t even sure how many people lived there now, but I’d seen a man a bit older than me and a younger one, who could be his brother or maybe a nephew, around the property.
Did they both live there, or just Quinn?
“Did you order dinner?” I asked Lydia, my mind still racing with strategies for damage control.
“Yup. Go ahead. Leo and I will set the table while we wait for it.”
Leo pulled a face but spun on his heel and crossed the kitchen to open the cutlery drawer.
“Thanks,” I said to her. “I won’t be long.”
Something flashed in her eyes, but it was gone a second later.
“What?” I asked, my Spidey senses going up.
“Nothing.” She shooed me away from the kitchen island. “Go.”
Still not quite convinced it really was nothing, I crossed the kitchen and made my way to the door.
When I was on their porch, I pulled in a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
After about thirty seconds of waiting, the door swung open, revealing the younger of the two men I’d seen around.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, he was gorgeous. He’d looked fit from afar, but those glimpses hadn’t done him justice. The tight white t-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants showed off his broad, sculpted chest, his trim waist, flat stomach, and thighs that were thick enough to stretch the otherwise oversized pants. His biceps bulged with muscles, his shoulders were wide, and his forearms were corded with muscle and dusted with hair.
He looked like a model, and his body wasn’t the only gorgeous part of him, that was for damn sure. His dark eyes and tanned skin perfectly offset his full lips, sharp jawline, and straight nose. His golden-brown hair gleamed with highlights of copper and gold in the light. It was cut like mine, with the sides shaved close and the top longer, only his was styled like he’d just walked out of a salon and mine was a mess of random pieces sticking up in every direction.
Silence stretched between us for a few beats longer than was comfortable.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“You”re my neighbor, and I’m Quinn?” I blurted.
He folded his lips like he was trying to hide a smile.
My chest prickled with heat at my blunder. Great first impression, Tris.
“Sorry, let’s try that again.” I laughed awkwardly. “Hi, I’m your neighbor, and I’m looking for Quinn?”
“You’ve got him.” Quinn grinned and pushed the door open wider. “What can I do for you?”
“You’re Quinn?” I gaped at him. “But I thought…”
“You thought?” Quinn prompted.
“Nothing. Sorry. Wow. This is embarrassing.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Would running away make things weirder? Probably. “I just thought you were someone else. But you’re Quinn.”
“I am.” He smiled patiently, his eyes gleaming with something that could be humor. At least one of us was amused by my blundering. “Now that we’ve established that, you are?”
“Sorry, right. Tristan. Tristan Winters.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Tristan.” Quinn held out his hand, ignoring my weirdness. “Quinn Reynolds.”
His grip was strong and firm, but not overly aggressive.
“You too. I just wanted to stop by to say thank you for helping find our cat.”
“I’m just glad I was outside. Is Jinx okay? Leo said he was embarrassed and hid in his house of shame after.” He smirked. “Sounds like he learned his lesson.”
“Here’s hoping,” I said, finally relaxing. Maybe I hadn’t completely made a fool out of myself. “Lydia said you hurt yourself?”
“It’s just a scratch.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure? Was it a nail? When was your last tetanus shot?”
“I’m not sure what it was, but I’m up to date with my vaccines. Kinda have to be in my business.”
“Your business?”
“Contracting.”
“You’re a contractor?”
He nodded. “Can I give you a little professional advice?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“I’d get your dryer vent moved so it’s not under your deck. A lot of builders hide them for aesthetic reasons, but it’s better to have them vent to the open instead of trapping all that hot air in an enclosed space. It’ll add years to the life of your deck too.”
“I didn’t realize that could cause issues.” I smiled, or at least I hoped it looked like a smile and not like I was holding in a fart. “Thanks, I’ll look into that. But you’re sure your back is okay? Did you have someone look at it?”
He shook his head, a smile on his full lips.
“I can take a look if you’d like. I’m a… Well, I’m a doctor, but not that kind of doctor.”
Quinn tilted his head curiously.
“I’m a veterinarian.”
“A vet?” He grinned.
“Yeah.” I scuffed my shoe against the porch. “I swear I’m not usually like this. Well, not this bad. It’s been a long day. I’ll leave you alone now.” I stepped back from the door.
“I guess it won’t hurt to have it looked at,” Quinn said, stopping my backward motion. “Come in.”
I paused. Come in?
“Unless you want to do this on the porch.”
“No, sorry.”
I followed him into the house, my eyes darting around curiously.
I’d lived next door for twelve years and had never seen the inside of the house. It looked nothing like I expected.
The outside was a sprawling Carpenter Gothic-style house with two large garages, multiple peaks, and intricate carvings and details in every aspect of the structure. The black brickwork and burnt orange siding stuck out among the beige and white houses on the rest of the street, as did the minimalist landscaping and heavily treed lot.
I’d assumed that even with the unique exterior, the inside would have the same cookie-cutter open concept, minimalist style that every other house in the area had. I’d been sorely mistaken.
The space was filled with interesting architectural touches and bright colors that should have been too much but fit together to give the house a quirky yet homey feel.
I closed the door behind me and fixed my gaze on Quinn.
He whipped off his shirt and turned around. “So, am I going to live?”
Ignoring how the muscles in his back rippled and flexed, I focused on his lower back and the nearly six-inch-long wound to the right of his spine.
“I think the odds are in your favor. Do you mind if I take a closer look?” The cut looked deep, but I couldn’t tell from this angle.
“Go ahead.”
I knelt on the tile floor and leaned closer, ignoring my proximity to his full ass. I might not be a people doctor, but I was still a medical professional and wasn’t about to check him out when he was trusting me to examine his injury.
The cut looked clean, and the edges of the wound were smooth. Both good signs. “It should heal without stitches. Can I touch you to examine it?”
“Sure.” He looked over his shoulder at me.
Gently, I pressed my fingers to his back, about an inch from the cut. His skin wasn’t hot, and there didn’t seem to be any swelling. “Does this hurt at all?”
“Not really. I feel some pressure on the cut, but not where you’re pushing.”
“It looks good right now, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it over the next few days in case it gets infected. Do you know the signs to watch out for?” I stood, my knee cracking loudly.
Quinn turned around in all his shirtless glory. “I do. Not the first time I’ve cut myself on someone’s house.”
“Right, of course. Because you’re a contractor.” I smiled sheepishly. “Did I mention it’s been a long day?”
“You did.” He grinned and pulled his shirt back on.
I tore my eyes from his rippling abs. “Um, thanks for helping find Jinx, and I’m glad you’re not badly hurt.”
“It was no problem. Thanks for checking up on me.”
“You’re welcome. Bye.”
Spinning on my heel, I hurried out of his house and speed-walked toward mine.
Well, that had been a giant disaster. Quinn might seem friendly, but there was no way in hell he wasn’t judging me for being the awkward mess I was.
Maybe that was for the best. I couldn’t place his age, but he was definitely under thirty. Way too young for me to thirst over, and way, way too young for any sort of neighborly relationship beyond him saving my cat and me being the weird old guy who couldn’t form a proper sentence.