Double Dare (Neighbor from Hell #6)(30)

“That’s really too bad, because I believe that you just decided that you’d be sleeping alone for the time being,” she said, taking some perverse satisfaction that she would get the last word on the subject tonight.

“I don’t remember saying that,” he said, sounding thoughtful as he followed her into her bedroom and started pulling off his clothes and tossing them aside.

“Then what was that little declaration downstairs?” she asked, yanking her top-drawer open and grabbed a pair of pale yellow lacy panties before slamming the door shut.

“You mean my marriage proposal?” he asked, making her right eye twitch.

“That wasn’t a proposal,” she bit out, storming off towards the bathroom, only pausing long enough to reach down and snatch up his discarded shirt.

“Then what would you call it?” he asked, pulling back the covers and climbed in her bed with a satisfied sigh that had her hands twitching with the need to strangle the cocky bastard.

“Typical Bradford bullshit,” she snapped, shaking her head in disgust as she headed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut simply because it felt good to do it.

“Because I want to marry you?” he asked, sounding amused.

“Shut up!” she snapped, hating him more with every passing second.

“Aw, is little Marybeth mad that she can’t have her dirty little way with me?” he asked in the most condescending tone that she’d ever heard and that was saying a lot since she’d grown up around Bradfords.

“Bastard,” she muttered, grabbing her toothbrush and squeezed an insane amount of toothpaste on the bristles before she shoved her toothbrush in her mouth and took her frustration out on her teeth.

“Admit that you’re in love with me and I might consider letting you have your dirty little way with me,” he said, sounding way too pleased with himself, she decided.

She should just accept that things were over between them and move on. It was the right thing to do and she’d probably never get a better opportunity than this, but she just couldn’t do it. It went against everything that she believed in to let the manipulative bastard get away with this.

Jaw clenched, she decided that if he wanted to play games with her that was fine, because she was more than capable of taking this to the next level, something that he should have considered when he’d come up with this asinine plan. Ten minutes later she was showered, her hair was brushed, her makeup touched up and she was wearing his shirt sans panties.

Biting back a smile, she opened the bathroom door and bit back a smile when she saw Darrin, lying back on her bed wearing a cocky smile that told her everything that she was about to do to him was completely justified.

*-*-*-*            

“Get out,” Marybeth said as she walked into the room, pulling the long beautiful black hair that he loved running his fingers through at night, up into a messy ponytail. The movement caused his shirt to ride a little higher, revealing the curve behind her knee, which was one of his favorite places to kiss.

“Sorry,” he said with a long drawn out sigh just to piss her off because it amused him and helped take his mind off the fact that he’d just condemned himself to a week or two of celibacy, “I just can’t do that.”

Shaking her head, she sighed heavily as she walked over to what he liked to think of as her side of the bed and yanked open the nightstand drawer. “Fine then stay,” she said, sounding irritated as she reached in the drawer, “but this might be awkward.”

“What might be awkward?” he asked with a frown as he watched her, wondering if she was going to try and use some bullshit excuse to kick him out of this bed.

It wasn’t happening.

He was staying.

End. Of. Story.

“Your replacement,” she said as she pulled her hand away and closed the drawer.

“My-Oh, f*ck…no,” he said on a groan when she held up the small little pink tube that he’d bought for her last year when he had to make a trip up to New Hampshire for a week of training and wanted to make their late night chats a little more interesting.

“You’re not leaving me with much of a choice,” she said absently as she made a show of opening the tube and testing out the battery.

The small tube came to life with a soft buzzing noise that had her shaking her head with a small sigh as she made a show of grabbing a new battery and sliding it in. When she was done, she gestured for him to move over.

“You can’t be serious,” he said, praying like hell that she was kidding.

“Yet, I am,” she said mockingly as she grabbed both of her pillows and placed them against the foot of the bed.

“Marybeth,” he said tightly as he watched her climb on the bed and lean back against her pillows with that damn tube that he should have never given her, securely in her right hand, “don’t even f*cking think of it.”

“Think about what?” she asked innocently as she leaned back and shifted to get more comfortable, drawing the shirttails up in the process and exposing more of her thigh to his greedy eyes.

“You know what,” he bit out, fisting his hands in the comforter to stop himself from reaching over and running his hands over her smooth legs.

“Do I?” she asked, cocking a brow in challenge as she drew both legs up and slowly, ever so f*cking slowly, let her legs fall open, giving him one hell of a view.