The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(29)

“I thought you were going to sleep in your room.”

“I considered taking Matt up on his very generous offer to use the questionably stained, lumpy old sleeping bag that smells like cheese and sleep in my own room, but in the end, I felt that it would be for the best if I slept somewhere else,” the small woman that he should be avoiding said as she reached over and stole his pillow while he stood there, telling himself that he should just go sleep somewhere else, but…

“Are you going to take the job?” Reed asked as he walked over to the bed, stole his pillow back along with the Tupperware bowl full of brownies and settled back on the bed next to her.

“Are you going to tell Jackson that I’m here?” Joey countered as he helped himself to a large brownie.

“No,” he said because he wasn’t a fucking tattletale.

Then again, since he knew how well Jackson watched over his sister, he doubted that it would take long before his best friend showed up at his door so that he could throttle the woman trying to take another brownie. Shooting her a glare, he pulled the bowl away and put it out of her reach.

“Then I suppose I’ll take the job,” Joey said with a long-drawn-out sigh that had his lips twitching before she gave him a curious look and asked, “Why?”

“Why what?” he asked, finishing off his brownie and grabbed another one.

“Why are you giving me a job?” she asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“To keep you out of trouble,” Reed said, finishing off the brownie before he reluctantly put the cover back on the bowl and set it on the nightstand.

“Fair enough,” she said, absently nodding as she reluctantly closed her book and placed it on the nightstand before climbing off the bed and-

“Damn it,” Joey grumbled when she tripped over her pants, somehow landed on her ass, sighed heavily and pulled herself right back up and headed toward the closed bathroom door. A minute later there was another, “Damn it,” the sound of her stumbling and another grumbled, “Stupid pants,” while he laid there, closing his eyes on a tired sigh, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

When she opened the door a minute later, he didn’t bother to open his eyes as he said, “Leave the cat in the bathroom,” which was immediately met with another grumble as she reluctantly turned around and returned the kitten back to the bathroom. A minute later, he heard the bathroom door click open again and opened his eyes to make sure…to make sure…

“Are you sure he’ll be okay?” Joey asked, throwing him a curious look over her shoulder before she went back to peeking into the bathroom to make sure the kitten that she’d decided was hers was okay while he sat there, licking his lips as he watched the large black tee shirt as it pulled up even higher when she leaned over, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of white cotton panties and the soft curve of her generous ass.

“He’ll be fine,” Reed said hollowly as he ran his gaze down her short, lightly tanned legs only to shake his head in disgust when he realized that he was checking out his best friend’s sister, because he had more important things to think about right now like how he was going to survive another night with her in his arms.





Chapter 17

“So, I’m curious,” John, the man that had been introduced to her a few minutes ago as the head of the History Department, said as he pulled out a chair at the small library table where she was currently killing time with a book on Jack the Ripper that she’d helped herself to and nibbling on the breakfast she’d picked up on the way here.

“About?” she asked, not bothering to look up as she picked up her extra-large glass of apple juice and took a sip.

“A few things,” he murmured as he placed his coffee on the table and sat back in his chair. “Like, what is a published professor with two Ph.D.s from one of the top universities in the world doing working in my department as a substitute teacher.”

“I have some free time while I’m on sabbatical, so I decided to help out,” she said, deciding not to point out that she’d been desperate for something to do and that the man that she was ninety-nine percent sure was going to kill her had given her the job just to keep her out of trouble.

“I see,” he said while she sat there, contemplating looking up from her book to see if Reed was still glaring at her only to decide that it would probably be for the best if she avoided making eye contact with him for the time being.

“And is there a reason why Reed won’t stop glaring at you?” John asked while he absently drummed his fingers against the table.

“Usually,” she said, stupidly risking a glance up only to decide that it would probably be for the best if she focused back on her book.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him glare before,” John murmured thoughtfully.

“I bring out the best in people,” Joey said, still wondering what she did to piss him off this time.

Last night he’d seemed fine and then this morning…

This morning he was glaring at everything she did.

Absolutely. Everything.

From the moment she woke up curled up in his arms, and oh, god, did the man know how to cuddle, he’d been glaring at her. When she’d murmured, “Good morning,” he’d glared even harder, which had resulted in her quickly apologizing for whatever may have transpired during the night, hoping that would be enough.