The next morning Nona was in the back putting away her order of flour and sugar when Tanya, one of her morning counter people came in to let her know that the window guy was here; which was funny because Nona hadn't had a chance to call anyone yet so it could only be one person. Sure enough there was Eliot Spencer, tape measure in hand measuring the window.

"Mornin'" he said as though he had every right to be there

"I told you I'd take care of this" she replied in a whispered tone; no need to let the entire bakery know what's going on.

"And I told you I'd replace it for you" he shoved one end of the tape measure into her hand, giving her no choice but to take it. He looked at it and pulled a small notebook from his back pocket and a pencil from his ear; writing it down he walked back to her and as it snapped back into place. He was close enough that she could tell that his hair, which was secured in a ponytail today, was still wet from his morning shower.

"So what you say goes then huh?" she said almost accusingly

This made him blink and take a step back

"I'm just trying to do the neighborly thing"

"Well last I checked you weren't my neighbor, so I'd just as soon as have you leave me alone." With that she turned and started to head back inside; that's when he grabbed her arm

"Nona wait –" before he could finish she brought her other elbow back straight into his gut taking him by surprise. 'Good for her, she's taken a couple of self defense classes' he thought as he recognized the basic move. Not that it did any damage beyond a small grunt but on someone else it may have done the trick.

"Don't grab me" she said through clenched teeth

Throwing his hands up, he backed up a step

"I'm sorry, but I justed wanted to let you know that I am actually your neighbor"

Before she could respond he went on

"You know those apartments above the bar? Well I occupy one of them" he finished with a grin

"Yeah well it still doesn't give you the right to do whatever you please."

Eliot sighed, well really more of grunted; usually only Parker could annoy him this much this quickly

"Look all I want to do is fix the damn window – why is that so hard for you to accept?" by now a couple of curious onlookers were taking notice of their conversation.

Nona could feel the heat rising in her cheeks

"Fine just fix the window and send me a receipt"

"No"

"What do you mean no?" she asked, confused

"I mean I don't want your money"

Nona straigtened

"Look buddy if you think just because you look good in a pair of jeans that I'm going to – "

Eliot stopped her and leaned in close enough for her to feel his breath on her face, dropping his voice he said

"As much as I would love that, I don't force myself on women – I don't need to. When I said I didn't want your money, I don't. What I want is that" he pointed to one of her display cases

"Are those corn cookies?" he asked pointing out the Native American dessert

"Yes they are – how'd you know?"

"Cherokee – mom's side"

This made Nona smile

"Sioux, also mom's side"

"I'll fix this window, if you'll show me how to make those."

"You mean you want to learn how to bake?"

He shook his head

"No I'm pretty good at that already, but I've never been able to make a decent corn cookie"

"Seriously?" Eliot didn't exactly strike her as the culinary type

"That's what I want" he waited while she thought it over

"If I show you, you'll fix my window?"

"I can leave right now and hit the hardware store." After a minute she finally sighed. She really didn't have any other choice. She knew if she filed a claim with her insurance company, not only would her rates skyrocket but it meant filing a police report and that was something she wanted to avoid all together.

"Fine, fix it and we'll work something out." She said and turned to head back and finish the job she'd started

"Oh and Nona?" he called to her

"Yes?"

"These aren't even my good jeans." He said with a wink and headed out the door leaving her wondering what the hell she'd just gotten herself into.