Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Robin Caites could be grumpy. After selling her blog, making herself a very wealthy woman, she also discovers the man she married had been cheating on her from the very beginning. Now she's divorced and has sworn off men.
When Buttercup, his rescued Jack Russell, kept escaping into Robin’s private garden, he had no choice but to retrieve her. In doing so, Dylan can't quite get his neighbor out of his head. After he sees the renovations she has done to her house, he asks her if she'll do his. Only, a simple kitchen repair turns into a nightmare.
Robin has to open her home to her neighbor. Dylan is very much a man, and so far, breaks down her walls. When his forgotten anniversary present is ready to be cashed in, Dylan takes Robin away to a private island for peace and relaxation. That's not all that happens—the chemistry between them has been sizzling.
Have the houses struck again, or when they get back to their normal lives will these two grumpy neighbors return to hating one another?
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Chapter One
Robin Caites had been living in her new home, which she had already redecorated three times. Glancing at her newly installed, modern kitchen, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was right. She’d never been a picky person, but the cream cupboards and black work tops were not inspiring her.
Running fingers through her hair, she pursed her lips and shook her head. “Enough, it is enough.” She took a deep breath and then walked into her sitting room.
The kitchen had been changed three times, but she’d left the rest of the house alone, after she decorated.
She hated decorating or renovating more than anything. Collapsing onto the sofa, she stared straight ahead. The television was turned off—she couldn’t remember the last time she had turned the damn thing on. She didn’t like watching television, not even when her ex would insist on seeing the latest hot show.
Pushing thoughts of her cheating ex out of her mind, she took a deep breath and listened to the silence. A year.
She was over her ex, had been over him long before the divorce had been finalized. It wasn’t hard to get over him. All she had to do was think about him with the other woman—a younger woman—who got pregnant with not one, but two of his kids. Yes, for eight years of marriage, her husband had been living a life with someone else. The only reason he’d stayed with her as long as he did, was because he liked the money and lifestyle she’d created.
She had started a blog when she was young, that had expanded across many different kinds of social media. The blog ranged from cleaning, to cooking, to fashion, and she had done a great deal from reviewing to editing. The blog had become so much of a success that in the final year of her marriage, she’d gotten an offer for it, which she’d accepted. From time to time, she still did videos and wrote blog posts, but other than that, there was nothing more for her to do.
After discovering her husband’s infidelity and his other life, working on the blog had somehow lost its edge. She was no longer in love with the work she did. The offer had been huge, so she decided to take it. She never had to work again if she didn’t want to. Her life was her own.
Much to her ex-husband’s anger, he didn’t get a cent of it. Her husband had been a lawyer and because he figured he’d be making most of the money, he forced them both to sign a prenup. A very solid, concrete, uncontestable prenup. She got what she paid for during the marriage, as did her husband, and he didn’t get anything else.
That day in court when the judge read the ironclad agreement, Robin had felt a great deal of pleasure. Even her lawyer had said there was nothing that could be done. Her ex had really shot himself in the metaphorical foot.
Robin got her divorce, decided all men were evil, and moved here, to this rather secluded house in a kind of cul-de-sac. The only problem was her grumpy neighbor. They hadn’t talked, ever, in the past year.
There had been a couple of times she’d seen him, and he’d been miserable. Like at Christmas, he didn’t appreciate her hanging up lights and decorating the house. With her ex, he hadn’t liked to go overboard on Christmas. One tree only was ever allowed in the house, which was such a waste, so her first Christmas truly alone and free, she decorated the house completely, inside and out.
She even posted it on her social media. Pulling her cell phone out of her back pocket, she brought up her account and quickly scrolled toward the December posts, and sure enough, there they were. There were a lot of likes.
Quite a few of her followers had been a little disappointed in her giving up the blog, but once she did a post explaining everything, many had been so kind and were willing to wait to see what she wished to explore next. Their comments and emails had gotten her through some of the toughest times.
At the sound of scratching at her back door, she couldn’t help but smile. That would be Buttercup.
Her neighbor had gotten a dog a couple of months ago, the cutest little Jack Russell she had ever seen, and it had stolen her heart the first time she found it crapping in her backyard. She had cleaned up the mess and then spent the whole afternoon playing with the gorgeous dog. Only when her owner, Mr. Grump Next Door appeared, did she wander off, and that was when she heard that her newest love was called Buttercup.
Robin didn’t have a clue why he named her Buttercup, but as far as she was concerned, it was the perfect name for the perfect angel.