Hot Mess by Misha Horne

Adulthood is not my favorite thing.
It’s not like I haven’t been trying. I did college, I found a job, now I bought a house. I’ve been crossing things off that adulting to-do list like a pro. Surely one of them has to make me feel like a grown up. Eventually.
My new hotter-than-anyone-deserves-to-be neighbor is definitely a grown up. A grown up with a square jaw and massive forearms, who takes homeownership very seriously.
And okay, maybe I’m a little obsessed with him. Maybe I spend a little too much time imagining what it would be like if we just happened to have relevant interests. If he used those forearms for something besides yard work— like maybe teaching a lesson to someone whose living room is still filled with moving boxes and whose life is clearly out of control.
Too bad if anyone on the planet is vanilla, it’s reliable, responsible Erik Jenko who washes his car every Sunday and offers to mow my lawn. A gorgeous distraction in work boots and faded t-shirts, but definitely not kinked in my direction.
At least that’s what I thought until I got his mail…
PLEASE NOTE: Hot Mess began life as a novella titled Pretty Boy available exclusively to newsletter subscribers. That story has been extended by 50,000+ words.