It was a peaceful flight back home after a long time on the go, to my surprise no one swarmed me when I got off my terminal at JFK airport.

I told myself, maybe it was because of the early arrival or the fact that I was dressed like a model at one of Kanye West's new fashion line, which by the way is atrocious-my personal opinion.

I took my time as I headed in the direction of my bags. I couldn't afford to lose such valuable materials since I planned to actually rest on this trip back home. I've been way too busy working and I needed time to actually shut my eyes and seriously sleep.

The ride from England was almost all just a blur as my body refused to stay asleep and let me shut the world out. Honestly, I wouldn't have even known if the flight had delayed or crashed because I was so gone into the land of sleep that I was disconnected from the world for hours. It was restful sleep, blissful too, and I appreciated the calm flight of the plane and peaceful cabin that I was lucky to be in.

It took a few minutes to get my bags, but once I had them in hand I was okay and was moving towards the exit to look for my driver. Down the line of drivers I saw a tall older man with a head full of salt and pepper hair with golden brown strains, he stood well postured with a black formal suit on with a sign in hand saying 'Ms. Jasmine Summers' in lovely cursive. I smiled and moved towards him. "Simon!"

"Miss Summers, how was the trip?"

"It was business as usual." he chuckled and reached out to hug me in a firm embrace.

I squeezed him tight. "Ugh, I missed you." I said.

"And I missed your warm hugs," he said tucking my loose curls behind my ear, "Who was the other driver that stole you away from me?" I laughed, as he got my bags and started walking with them. I followed alongside as he led our way outside of the airport.

"I had several different drivers, but none were as sweet as you. Well-mannered yes... yet none as sweet as my Simon."

"Aww, this warms my heart that you prefer me over other options."

"Well, when the other options aren't sweet like sugar and didn't fully speak in a lovely accent such as yours, why should I prefer someone else? You're all I need you to be and more."

Simon stopped walking and looked at me with glassy eyes, as he smiled softly. "You're too kind. You're sucha sincere person Jasmine. You bring much joy to everyone that you meet, including me."

I smiled and tiptoed to kiss him on his cheek. "Thank you." We shared an understanding smile and continued walking.

When I caught a glimpse of his slick black car, which I knew all too much I smiled and looked up at Simon as he walked.

He beeped the alarm off and walked up to the trunk as it opened and set my suitcases in the bed of the trunk. I made my way over to the backseat door, but Simon bypassed me and opened it before I could. I smiled at him knowingly and he smiled back. "A gentleman never lets a lady open the door for herself." He told me with a glimmer in his eyes.

"And this is why I shall always wish for a man as gentlemanly as you." With those words he grinned and I smirked as I got into the backseat. The door shut and I breathed a sigh of relief as I settled back into the soft leather seats of the car that I've gotten so used to that I missed it whenever my other drivers came for me. I closed my eyes for just a second, relaxing back into the seat as I buckled on my belt. I missed this. The comfort of something I've grown used to.

"I see you still have some Z's to catch." Simon's words shook me out of my haze as I looked up to catch his gaze in the rearview mirror.

"Are you spying on me handsome?"

He chuckled softly. "Of course not, you must have had a restless time if you're still tired."

I sighed and nodded. "I was always busy," I combed a hand back through my black curls as I rested back my head. "I had so much different venues to be at and such a strict schedule, never again. Never. Again. Simon."

"Hmm, I see that Ginelle has rung you dry of all your energy. I rarely see you so exhausted." He notes. "I only see you like this after you work yourself into exhaustion on a new story."

He was right, my energetic nature has never been this worn, not even as much when I was working on a new book. I groaned in laziness and picked my feet up onto the seat. Ginelle did have me booked tight for readings, booking signings, publicity, interviews, and many, many other organized events for the release of my new novel. "You may rest until we arrive to your home." He said, most likely noticing how drained I was.

"That'll be selfish, I haven't seen you in weeks and here we have time to catch up and you just suggest that I sleep our time to chat away." I said on a yawn.

"Jasmine, it would be extra selfish of me to deprive you of your well-deserved sleep. You most certainly slept on the plane, so I'll allow you the benefit of the doubt and let you sleep off your jet lag while I drive. We always have time to catch up. You don't always have time to sleep." I tried to look for the correct words to reply to him but for once the writer was left without a word to reply.

"You know, for a man who is so fluently smooth with his words, you shouldn't be a driver. You should be a great man with a more suitable career, just because of your pleasant nature and educational background. You're too smart for this world Simon." he laughed and I felt the car stop.

"Are we there already?"

"No, it's just the light. This job isn't a waste of my talent or knowledge, but if I didn't have this job. Then I'd never have the pleasure of meeting you."

My cheeks reddened and I smiled as I gazed out the window. "You're gold in the rough Simon." with those words I began to drift off, but not without hearing Simon saying something to me.

"... and you are but a star among the darkness."

~ ~ ~

When I opened my eyes, my vision was fuzzy. I rubbed my fist to my eyes as I yawned, my back arching as I sat up straight, and then realized that the car had stopped and that Simon was not in the driver's seat. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got my tote bag. I reached out for the door, only to see it being pulled open. "You're awake." Simon announces, as he opens the door wider.

"Yeah, why didn't you wake me? How long did we reach? Was I snoring?" I asked in a hurried frenzy.

"You seemed peaceful, we only arrived a few minutes ago and no, you were not snoring." he answered. Only he could answer my questions all at once without breaking his stoic expression.

"Oh well... Thank you. Urgh, I need an Advil."

"Why? You didn't seem to have a headache when you arrived or even as you slept. You were quite tranquil and relaxed while I drove."

"It's not that. I just know I'm gonna run myself into the wee hours of the morning trying to write out all of these new ideas that I seem to get every second of consciousness. All that and thinking about work is quickly giving me a headache."

"Ahh, a writer's work is never done."

"Never." Simon held out his hand for me and I graciously took it as he helped me out of the car. I stood on my feet, feeling a slight tinge of vertigo as I was now upright against gravity. Simon held my shoulder as I swayed unsteady on my feet. I collected myself then nodded at him as he released me. I made my way towards the entrance of my apartment complex, and no it isn't some crappy place... it's a modernized apartment building with twenty-two floors and four hundred and twenty rooms, the first floor of course was retracted from the equation since it holds no suites.

Simon locked the car and strides up to me, holding my two suitcases as I pulled the carry-on after me. The lobby of the complex was open and bright, just as I remembered it. There wasn't much of anyone roaming around so when the receptionist saw me walk up to front counter he smiled and greeted me. "Ms. Summers you're back. How was your trip?"

"Long and very tiresome, but not without its perks." he chuckled and smiled at me.

"Good to hear. Oh, the repairs were made to the fire escapes last week, so they are all brand new and safer than ever." he beamed.

"Thanks for the heads up. Oh, and if anyone besides Simon ask for me. I haven't arrived yet, okay."

He nodded obediently and made a note of it. He looked back at me and explained. "My shift will be over in two more hours so I need to tell the other receptionist after me to pass the message along."

"Thank you. Goodbye Shane."

"Goodbye Ms. Summers."

Simon was already waiting for me at the elevator like the gentleman that he was. "So, when will you be available again?" he asked knowingly.

I shrugged, "Whenever my brain isn't swarming with ideas."

"So, in the afterlife it is, then?" I couldn't deny the humor behind his words and allowed the smile to creep onto my face as I glanced up to see him smiling too, his eyes holding a playful gleam as he looked straight forward.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open and Simon makes way for me to enter first as he comes in after. "Your parents would have been proud to have a son who was such a selfless person."

"Yes, they would..." his words trailed off and I felt bad.

"Sorry... I—I didn't mean to bring back any bad memories."

"Nothing bad, just wasted." I looked at him in question. "Time wasted. They were workaholics, we rarely spent time together, but we did enjoy each other's company every so often. I always told myself not to turn out like them. So, I teach when I can, and drive when I must. But I don't forget to live while I have time."

Warmth touched my heart as a smile graced my lips. "...A perfect example of how to live." I agreed.

"Agreed." The elevator dinged on the sixth floor and we got out as the doors shut closed. We walked down to apartment 605 as I dug into my bag to find my keys. "This is your stop."

"So it is." I heaved a sigh of relief then looked back to Simon. "Thank you so much."

"No need." He replied as he stepped into my outstretched arms. "Have a good day." I felt as he pressed a soft kiss to my forehead and stood tall before me.

I unlocked the door and he helped me with my bags. "Well, I must be off, Janet is waiting for me."

"Tell her I say hi—oh, hold on." My brain sparked in remembrance as I ran to my large suitcase and pulled out my latest novel, it was the third book in the series, signed by me for a special young fan. "Give this to her. I know her birthday is coming and that she'd be so eager to get the book."

He glanced down at the book in his hands and looked back at me in stunned silence. "This is book three."

"Yes."

"It isn't out yet." he stated.

"What's a better gift for a reader than a book that isn't out yet?" I smiled, "the unpublished book itself." I answered.

He grinned and pulled me into another hug, this one tighter and warmer. "You're the sweetest. Janet will absolutely love this. She's such a faithful reader of your work."

"Good, and I might surprise her on her b-day, but I'll give you a heads up before, okay."

He nodded in understanding then we said a final goodbye and I watched him walk back to the elevator and shut the door, locking it after me. I stood in my dim apartment, looking around my cozy home and sighing happily.

"It's good to be home. I looked at the clock. 2:18pm, still early. I kicked off my shoes and set them on the shoe rack then moved to push my bags into my room.

I'd been so tired from my tight schedule that finally coming home seemed like a blessing from the Gods.

~ ~ ~

I had gotten my bags into my room and took out my most important items, my laptop, tablet, chargers, and manuscripts. I took them into my office space and set them neatly on my desk as I sat down and got to work brainstorming my new novel aside from my series, since the third book was to be released next week the fourth book saw its release date early next year, but it'll be done by that time, since I only had to rewrite.

I started on the plot devices, and characters... A lot of ideas came to mind, but none original enough to be seen as my own product.

An hour goes by as I try to at least outline the characters; I wanted a strong female lead, but also a supportive male lead as well. This was becoming slightly difficult, so then I moved on to the names, nothing too serious but nothing too overly used and common. I needed differentiation, something that not every writer and their mother used. I sighed in frustration. This is gonna take some time.

~ ~ ~

Two hours later and I was miserable enough to burn the ideas of this story to ashes.

I shoved it away when my head started to hurt too much. I couldn't think of a strong enough plot to hold up the story, so I just pushed it all away. I needed more background, more originality, and more good schemes to make the plot stick. Urghh, so many words to pull together, so much shit to tidy up and with writer's block slowly creeping its naughty little way into my thought processors... I had quit while I was lacking and turned on my cell phone.

I began a game of Tsum Tsum and then got lost for forty minutes until I heard a faint knock at my door. Now, normally that never happens. So, of course curiosity wasn't going to kill this little pussy cat, but still. I wanted to know whom it was knocking at my door. That rarely ever happened by the way and I was reluctant to get up from my perch, but if my curiosity served me right then I had to know who the hell was knocking!

I don't have friends that spontaneously pop up... Well, not that they knew that I was back home, but still I didn't allow them to just pop up and kick me out of my writers bubble—not that I was currently writing now, but you get the idea.

I willed my legs to stand as I sluggishly moved towards my front door. My feet didn't want to work but I made them. Gosh, wasn't it too late to bother your neighbors... that is if that was a neighbor. I yawned and checked the clock over the living room mantle, oh, only 5:40pm—still some people considered that late and I know as a writer, I did... Well, not really. It was actually quite early for me because my brain normally awakens after midnight.

I was nowhere near willing to open the door to see what or who was on the other end, but I was curious nonetheless. I stood at the door as the knocking stopped and hoped it wasn't a stalker fan.

I peeped through the peephole to see a dark head of hair. I unlocked the door and pulled it back as my sight became blinded by the face of a glorious Adonis. His pitch black hair brushed over his forehead, the face that was endowed with a sharp square jawline that could cut you deep from just staring at them. His lips were a rosy pink and oh so plump that it could make any girl want to bite them. His eyes were sharp crystal blues that could stare into your very soul like the devil beckoning you in as if he were a soothsayer. And he was tall... tall, lean and muscular and oh my God, why is his hoodie unzipped, doesn't he know that those perfectly sculpted abs could be outlawed as illegal weapons of mass destruction? My lord, he was the definition of a heavenly beautiful man.

He looked like the men I wrote about in my novels, that gorgeous man that only creative minds could come up with.

"Umm hi, I was wondering if could I bother you for a cup of sugar please." Did he just ask me for... sugar? And what was that accent? Oh lord it was like he tried to hide it but failed softly... German.

"Uhh..." I looked at him then the small tea cup that he had in hand and smiled. "Is that literally the cup that you're gonna use?" I asked, ignoring how his sweet, slightly deep but singsong voice did bad things to me.

"Uhh yeah, why, is it too much?" he asked uncertain.

"Well, first off, it's too small—that cup isn't nearly big enough, wait here." I left him at the door for a quick second and went to my cupboards to grab him a large measuring cup and since I had like three (don't ask) I took one and filled it with white sugar, since I didn't have anymore brown. I went back over to my supposedly new neighbor and raised the cup up as an offering and he took it gratefully.

"Thanks... So, hi." He really had some sexy vocal cords.

"H—hi..." I replied nervously. Why the nervousness? I suddenly couldn't put a reason to why he made my brain turn into mush like we didn't just speak fine a few seconds ago! Maybe he might disappear; maybe I'm too tired to realize that all of this might just be a dream due to my jet lag. "I don't think I know you... Are you a fan...?" My eyes ran down his profile and then second thought that notion. "Maybe not..." I whispered to myself as I tried to place him. I only asked that because as much as I don't interact with all my neighbors, I still knew all their faces. I don't forget a face easily, he really was new.

He scoffed in a carefree manner then shook his head. "A fan of who?"

Ouch... the burn of not being known hit me hard at his words.

I pointed to my chest. "Me... I'm a writer." I said with little conviction.

"Oh! Y—you're the famous author that I was warned about?" he asked in disbelief. "You're the writer?" he repeated, confused. My sight blazed red at his repetition of my title, his tone unconvinced.

I was flabbergasted by his tone and folded my arms over my chest as I stood up straighter, then my mind recollected his words then I realized something he said. "Wait, y—you were warned about me? And just what the hell does that mean?" I narrowed my eyes on him as I waited for him to defend his words.

"Oh! No, no, no, no. Nothing offensive, I just didn't intend that the infamous author—I was warned about would turn out to be so..." he trailed off, searching his brain for the right words as he gestured up and down toward me with his hand.

"Young, exuberant, confident...?" I added in question.

"Yeah... t—that and sexy too." He muttered, as his cheeks hued pink and his lips curled with an intensity that would make me offer my body to him.

His words had hit me like a metro north train going off its rails again. It made my hearing blank out for a second. "Whoa. What! Well, you're pretty subtle." I replied.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm a bit too confident sometimes."

"Yeah. No shit Sherlock." He nodded in mock defeat and bit his bottom lip. I don't know why, but I think I might have just moaned a little, but inside my head. "Wait, why did he have to warn you?"

"Oh, the landlord told me about you before giving me the keys. Told me that you needed your quiet and peace, and that he much rather kick me out than you."

I smirked at him, and then shrugged. "Eh, he has a thing for me. And also I'm a good tenant. You, you're new."

"I'll ignore that little remark because you're pretty." he smirked.

With a smirk like that, I dared to blush. "Oh, so now I've been demoted to pretty?"

He visibly blushed then scratched the back of his neck. "I mean you're really attractive, so umm... how old are you anyways?" He asked trying his best not to smile too much.

I cooed with a playful smirk. "Hmm, very subtle Mr. Smooth." He grinned at me and a devilish smirk now etched itself onto his plump pink lips. "How about asking for my personal info while you're at it..."

"Whatever you say sexy author, maybe I'll ask Google." my cheeks heated up as those words left his lips and I was momentarily at a loss for words. "You know, I always had a thing for books. So, am I going to know who you are or am I going to have a door slammed in my face?"

I grinned. "Well, at least you prepared for the worst. So, who are you?"

He bit his tongue cutely. "Aww, I asked first, but being the gentleman that I am. I'll go first. I'm Marcus Kirkland, a model slash artist. And now I'm your next door neighbor, hi." He greeted waving childishly.

I stifled the urge to laugh and nodded instead. "I'm Jasmine Summers, writer, recruiter." He offered me after his hand, after putting the teacup in his hoodie pocket and I hesitated but slowly moved my hand into his large palm, it was warm and my heart beat skipped as his fingers wrapped around my hand and we shook hands.

And just like that, with an elongated greeting, I Jasmine Summers met my brand new distraction, and life just got 10 times harder.