The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(37)

But the longer that he was near her, the less he cared that he wasn’t supposed to want her. Instead of leaving like any sane man would have, he found himself moving even closer.

“Because you did,” he said, just to get a reaction out of her.

When her eyes narrowed on him and she took a step closer, he decided to do the same until they were nearly chest to stomach and she was forced to tilt her head back in order to glare up at him. He wasn’t surprised when she muttered a curse a second later and rushed over to the sink, carefully climbed back up, winced, shifted, winced again, and crossed her arms back over her chest and narrowed her eyes back on him.

“They were hives from a science experiment that went wrong and you damn well know it,” she bit out.

Nodding, he moved closer so that they were almost eye-to-eye and said, “I also told them that you had lice.”

She gasped, “You bastard!”

“You had it coming,” he said, moving closer and before she could open her mouth to argue, he added, “You burnt my eyebrows off with that experiment.”

“No one told you to come into my room,” she said evenly even as she spread her legs so that he could step closer.

“The green smoke that was pouring out of your window said otherwise,” he said, placing his hands against the counter so that he could lean in closer and glare at the little brat that was lucky to be alive.

“I had it handled.”

“Just like the spelling bee?” he said, mostly to piss her off.

“That was an unfortunate accident that couldn’t be avoided,” Joey said, moving to shift closer only to wince and promptly return to glaring.

“And ninth grade orientation?” he asked as he grabbed hold of the towel and moved her closer so that she could properly glare at him only to force himself to bite back a groan when her breasts pressed against his chest.

“Was a simple misunderstanding that got out of hand,” she said, her breath catching as he used his hold on the towel one last time and brought her closer.

“So is this,” he said as he watched her lips part on a soft moan and he realized that he was about to break his promise.





Chapter 22

“Reed?” she said, licking her lips nervously as the man that was making it difficult to think glared at her.

“Do you know what I did for the past ten years, Joey?” he asked, which she normally would have taken as a good sign, but since he’d asked that question through clenched teeth and followed that up by placing his hands on the counter on either side of her hips so that he could lean down until they were eye-to-eye and she was left regretting so many things.

She opened her mouth to venture a guess only to quickly rethink that decision and settle for a simple shake of her head, which seemed to appease the large angry man. Nodding in approval, he reached up and gently pushed a strand of her hair back as he leaned in closer so that his mouth was next to her ear.

“For the past ten years, Joey, I haven’t thought about you,” he whispered seductively, making her swallow nervously.

“I haven’t wondered about you, asked about you, or thought about you, and do you know why?” he asked as she felt his hand close over her hip.

She shook her head only to close her eyes on a shaky breath when she felt his lips brush against her ear. “Because for the first twelve years you made my life a living hell. I worried about you every single fucking day and it only got worse when you left. But when you decided to let me know just how much you hated me, I stopped worrying. I stopped caring. But now…” he said softly, letting his words trail off so that he could brush his lips down the side of her neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake and making her breath catch.

“Do you know what I think about now?” Reed asked in a seductive whisper that made it difficult to think as he kissed her chin.

“N-no,” she managed to get out only to groan when she felt his hand slide over her hip and settled over her bottom.

“You,” he said, brushing his lips softly against hers. “I think about you, Joey.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him…

Well, she really wasn’t exactly sure what she should tell him, but she was sure that it had something to do with the fact that they probably shouldn’t be doing this. There were a hundred reasons why, but as he reached up and cupped her face while he continued to gently brush his lips against hers, she couldn’t think of a single one. She also couldn’t remember it ever feeling this good to be in a man’s arms before, she thought with a shaky sigh as he ran his hands back down her neck and over her back.

“You’re so damn soft, Joey,” Reed said with a groan when she met the next teasing brush of his lips with a soft moan.

She could honestly say that when she’d imagined what she would be doing when she finally went on sabbatical that Reed kissing her on his bathroom counter hadn’t been part of the dream. But maybe it should have been, she thought as she slowly returned the kiss and—

Groaned when he suddenly pulled away so that he could glare at her.

Great, they were back to this already, she thought, biting back a disappointed sigh even as she tried to tell herself that this was for the—

This was definitely for the best, she decided when she suddenly found herself picked up so that the man, who normally looked like he was on the verge of burying her in a shallow grave, could pin her up against the wall and kiss her. She’d never been kissed like this before, she thought, unable to help but moan as she wrapped her arms around him and held on as he proved all the rumors that she probably shouldn’t have heard when she was little were true.