Chapter 5 New Neighbor

Exhausted, Kismet lifted the last box from her rental car to carry up to her newly rented apartment. After going up a couple of steps, she missed a step falling forward. Bracing herself for the inevitable pain and impact she knew was coming, she clenched her eyes shut and held her breath. Seconds passed but the pain never came causing her eyes to snap open. That was when she felt the strong arm wrapped around her midriff. Tracing the origin of the arm with her baby blue eyes, she followed it to the man standing behind her.

Their eyes connected for just a moment before she swiftly regained her footing and turning to look at the man carefully.

"Hello, Mr. Huntington. Thank you for stopping my fall just now." Her voice was like honey to his ears. "I also wanted to thank you for your help last night regarding Mrs. DeMarko. I didn't realize you lived around here."

"Well Ms.?"

"Kismet."

"That's right, Ms. Kismet. I guess you remembered me from last night at the banquet. I've lived here for quite some time now. Do you need any help?"

"No thanks. I do remember you from last night. When I saw you last night, I thought you looked familiar. Like I'd seen you somewhere before. Now, I know where."

He looked at her questioningly. "Is that right?"

"Yes, I arrived yesterday morning and was unloading more boxes from my car when I saw a man jogging around the complex in a dark green Nike outfit. That was you right?"

He glanced at her skeptically once again.

"There is no need to look at me like that. I am just an observant person." With that said she turned back around with her box in hand and climbed the staircase to the second level.

He stood on the stairs watching the woman as she opened the door to the unit directly across from his. His thoughts jumbled together in his mind as he turned back to continue his jog around the gated complex. He had only made it halfway though his morning routine when he realized he couldn't concentrate. That woman kept jumping to the forefront of his mind. Last night she was wearing the hotels waitress uniform and stood her ground against the highest of the social ladder. Whereas today she was clad in a pair of fitted blue jeans, a plain blue shirt that matched her eyes, and a pair of sneakers. Her simplicity was attractive especially when he was around those stuffy socialites.

Axel didn't believe in things such as coincidence, yet he had met her last night at the charity banquet as an employee of his, but she just told him that she had recognized him from his morning jog yesterday. She didn't mention it last night and now she is living in the unit directly across from him. She was up to something, he just needed to figure out what. When he does go out, women approach him all the time (or at least try to) because he is young, rich, and good looking. What all of those women didn't seem to understand is that he is not an ATM. Money doesn't really matter to him. He wants a loving wife who will love him for who he really is. Honestly, he has a sensitive and romantic side that no-one has ever seen before. Not to mention he really wanted a couple of kids.

He cut his jog short and made his way back to his apartment making sure he wasn't seen when he entered. His first action would be to turn on his computer and see what he could dig up on this new neighbor of his.