At First Spite

When Athena Greydon's fiancé ends their engagement a month before the wedding, she has no choice but to pack up her few possessions and move into the Spite House she recklessly bought him as a wedding gift. Which is a real problem, for several key reasons: The house is only ten feet wide. Her ex's home is literally attached to hers. And Dr. Matthew Vine the Freaking Third - AKA the uptight, judgy jerk who convinced his younger brother to leave her - is living on her other side, only a four-foot alley away.

If she has to see Matthew every time she looks out her windows, surely it's only fair that she have a little fun with the situation. By, say, playing audiobooks about Sasquatch threesomes at top volume with those windows open. A woman living in a Spite House is basically obligated to get petty payback however she can, right?

Despite Athena's best efforts, though, loathing Matthew proves more difficult than anticipated. He helps her move. He listens. He thinks Freddy Krueger is a national chain of grocery stores. And he's kind of...hot? Dammit.

Matthew may not regret breaking up Johnny and Athena's engagement, but he does regret what the Vine brothers' carelessness has done to her. Any honourable man in his position would try to help her however he can. If that means finding her work, fine. If that means enduring nightly Cryptid Erotica Story Hours, so be it. And if that means watching Athena through their windows a bit too often and caring about her a bit too much...well, nothing can come of it. She'll never forgive him. Even if she did, how would he ever tell his beloved younger brother that he wants the very same woman he pushed Johnny to leave?