The Promise (Neighbor from Hell #10)(33)

All. Fucking. Day.

It started last night when she’d stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of soft cotton panties and a large tee shirt that pulled up every fucking time she went to check on the psychotic kitten that had it out for him before she climbed in bed with him. While he’d laid there trying not to think about the fact that she was half-naked in his bed, she’d sat there completely oblivious to all the things that he was trying not to imagine while she’d read another book on the plague. When he woke up to find her curled up in his arms with that same fucking shirt riding up, her smooth legs gliding against his, and his hand only inches from her ass, he’d realized something very important.

She was going to be the death of him.

It was then that he’d realized that he had his work cut out for him, which was only confirmed when he’d walked into the kitchen thirty minutes later to find her leaning over to look for something in the fridge and giving his brother one hell of a view of her jean-clad ass as the little bastard stood there, mouthing the words, “I love you,” with a heartfelt sigh. As soon as she’d left, he’d had another word with his brother, which had ended with the little tattletale calling their mother and telling on him. Once he’d reassured his mother that he hadn’t hurt her precious baby boy, he’d shoved Matt into a closet, headed to work, deciding to stop on the way to get breakfast only to find every asshole in the bakery openly staring at her breasts while she’d stood there, absently humming to herself as she took in the large selection of baked goods, completely fucking oblivious to everyone and everything around her.

The same could be said for the morning meeting.

While he’d been trying to get everything set up for the day, she’d been sitting there, taking notes, and nibbling on the pastry that he’d been eying since he saw her buy it and was completely oblivious to every asshole in the room looking her way while he’d been forced to sit there, trying to resist the urge to beat the-

“So, how was your first day, Joey?” Julie asked, reaching for a piece of cornbread only to rethink it when Matt leveled a glare on her.

“It was good,” Joey said, briefly looking up to shoot Julie a smile before her attention was right back on that book.

“Did you have any problems?” Julie asked while he took in the way that she sat there, leaning against the chair that his great grandfather made, completely lost in her book even as she reached over and plucked a piece of cornbread off the plate, ignoring Matt’s gasp of outrage, and looked so fucking adorable doing it.

“No, it was fine,” Joey said, breaking off a piece of cornbread and popped it in her mouth.

“Did you meet John?” Julie asked as she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes only to sigh when Matt reached over with a glare and pulled the bowl away.

“Yeah, he was really nice,” Joey said, making him shake his head in disgust and seriously wonder how she’d survived this long without him.

“He’s married,” Reed pointed out as he stole the mashed potatoes back from the little prick who was back to staring dreamily at Joey.

“Thank you,” Julie said for some reason only to sigh heavily and mumble something about getting something to eat later.

“Which is probably why he showed me pictures of his wife and kids,” Joey said, turning another page.

“I heard Miss Dawson’s students are a nightmare. I’m surprised they didn’t try anything with you,” Julie said as she reached for the plate of pot roast only to sigh when Matt grabbed it and helped himself to a huge piece and then with a glare, he helped himself to two more pieces before shoving the plate back to the middle of the table.

“They did, but I’ve had worse,” Joey mumbled absently as he sat there, wondering about that when Matt said, “That reminds me. I fixed your phone.”

“How does that remind you about her phone?” Julie asked, frowning as she reached for the baked macaroni and cheese only to grumble, “I give up,” when Matt reached past her and grabbed the bowl.

“Because Jackson sounded kind of pissed when I told him that she was staying here,” Matt said, and just like that, he had Joey’s full attention.

---

“This probably isn’t going to end well,” Joey mumbled against her pillow. She followed that up with a forlorn sigh as she shifted to get more comfortable on the small couch only to give up and settle for lying there on her stomach, staring at her phone as it continued to slowly vibrate its way across the coffee table that had probably been in the Bradford family for generations.

Maybe she should just get this over with, she thought only to quickly dismiss the idea since it was in her best interest to put this off for as long as humanly possible. At least, until she had a better explanation for what she was doing here since the truth would only lead to another lecture that she really wasn’t in the mood to listen to right now.

Then again, was she ever really in the mood for one of her brother’s lectures, she couldn’t help but wonder as she rolled over with a sigh and-

“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” she managed to get out a few seconds later only to follow that up with a groan as she resigned herself to sleeping on the floor.

Deciding that it would probably be in her best interest to stay where she was, she somehow managed to roll over onto her back, reached up and grabbed her blanket and the pillow that she’d been forced to discard earlier. Once she was settled in for the night, she grabbed the book that she’d helped herself to from Reed’s library, sighed, shifted a little to the right and then a little bit to the left until the hallway light streaming into the living room hit her book just right.