Mr. Gray Sweatpants

Casey Savage is a workaholic. During the summer she works two jobs and nearly seventy hours a week in order to save money for school. She has zero time for dating, boys, or being wooed. However, she’s also no fool and knows she needs a stress-reliever. Which is where Mr. Gray Sweatpants down the road comes in.

Leo Brandt is spending the summer fixing up his late grandmother’s house with the goal of selling it to turn a profit. The hottie up the block doesn’t seem to know he’s alive, but that doesn’t stop his fantasies from getting wild.

An a$$hole cat brings them together, and Leo’s determination to learn more about Casey than just what helps relieve her stress the best, has Casey taking a hard step back.

Her past isn't anybody's business, least of all an itch-scratcher like Leo.

But try as she might, the sexy contractor is not just getting under her sheets, but he’s also getting under her skin and she finds herself falling for him. Dammit!

When Leo finally learns the truth about Casey and all the dirty secrets that she’s keeping will he still see her as more than just a hookup? Or will he sell the house as-is and not only get out of dodge but the neighborhood and Casey’s life completely?

“I think I can see the line of his dick this time! Have mercy! Simon! He’s back. Come quick!” Jared’s voice echoed through the two-story Seattle suburb home.

Casey heard Simon’s footsteps on the reclaimed wood floor as he made his way through the house to wherever Jared was yelling from.

“Well, hello there, Mr. Gray Sweatpants,” Jared cooed.

Casey’s brows pinched while she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and brushed her teeth.

What on earth were they talking about?

More like, who were they talking about?

She spat, rinsed and wiped her mouth, then descended the staircase to find her surrogate brother and his husband—standing by the front living-room window wearing swoony faces.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, nearly tripping over Trevor, their cat, as she joined them in the living room.

“Well, if you didn’t work so damn much and were home once in a while, you’d know that we have a new neighbor,” Jared said, tossing his floppy-on-top-shaved-on-the-sides blond hair. “And he is delicious.”

Simon rolled his blue eyes. “You can look, but you can’t—”

“Touch, yes, I know.” Jared turned and planted a kiss on Simon’s cheek. “You’re the only one I want to touch.” Then he turned to Casey and mouthed, “Not really.”

Casey snorted as she tilted her head to look where they were looking and holy flying crap, Batman!

“See?” Jared said, elbowing her. “Mr. Gray Sweatpants, meet Casey, our workaholic sister.”

“If only,” Casey muttered, unable to take her eyes off the man who was wandering around the front yard of the house across the cul-de-sac and wearing nothing but scrumptious-looking gray sweatpants that left little to the imagination—and nothing else. No socks, no slippers, no shirt. Yes, it was summer, so there was no begrudging the man his attire, but still. Was he trying to give Casey’s brothers—and anybody else who had eyeballs—a heart attack?

“You should go over and introduce yourself,” Jared said. “Say, Hello, my name is Casey. I work too much, have no time for friends, and haven’t gotten laid in—” He lifted his brows toward her. “How long has it been?”

Nine months, but she wasn’t about to divulge that.

Jared shrugged when she didn’t respond and just kept talking, his green eyes glittering. “And I haven’t gotten laid in forever. Won’t you be my neighbor with benefits?”

Simon snorted and elbowed Jared. “Leave her alone.”

“But she’s so much fun to tease.”

The two of them wandered away from the window and into the kitchen, but Casey’s feet were full of concrete and her eyes appeared to have undergone some kind of paralysis where they were unable to move from the man’s torso. He looked like he’d been carved out of damn marble.

Mr. Gray Sweatpants was carrying a handmade ceramic mug, and as he sat down on the porch swing next to the front door and propped his big feet on the railing, he took a sip from the mug as he scrolled through his phone with his other hand.

Casey’s insides clenched at just how disgustingly jealous she suddenly was of that mug and the fact that Mr. Gray Sweatpants had his mouth on that mug and not a part of Casey’s body.

Sigh.

It really had been a long time since she’d been with a man. And it wasn’t just about the sex. She loved kissing. She loved cuddling. She loved laughing at ridiculously stupid shit with someone until her sides hurt, then they spontaneously kissed her.

“You want some oatmeal, Case?” Simon called from the kitchen.

Taking one last glance at the god in the gray sweats, she sighed again, then took off to the kitchen, but not before nearly tripping over Trevor again.

“Dear God, Trev, watch it!”

He meowed and glanced up at her with his yellow-brown eyes.

Her expression softened, of course, because she actually loved this cat so freaking much, despite his asshole tendencies. Casey scooped up the moody feline and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “And where have you been all night, Mister? Off gallivanting, I’m sure. Leaving a string of broken hearts in your wake?” She glanced at the cat door in their front door and it was still swinging from where Trev had just wandered in from a night on the town. She kissed him again and was about to put him down when she noticed something attached to his collar. It was a small plastic tube of sorts.

Holding onto a squirming Trevor, she removed the tube. Inside was a rolled-up piece of paper.

She patted Trevor’s head, then set him down on the ground before heading to the kitchen, unfurling it as she went.

It read:

Hello,

It would appear your cat is two-timing you.

He/She/They come over here several times a day and meow at my door for food.

I’ve only given them a treat or two, as they seem well fed and taken care of. But I just wanted you to know that your cat is cheating on you. If I was being cheated on, I would want to know.

Sincerely,

Your cat’s hot side-piece aka The Mistress