The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(51)

“Goodnight,” she said, sending him a hopeful look only to find him already checking his email for any last-minute emergencies before calling it a night.

“Goodnight, Joey,” he murmured absently as she reluctantly crawled off the bed and headed for the bathroom.

When he didn’t say anything, she bit back a disappointed sigh and resigned herself to sleeping alone. Not really in a rush to find out how uncomfortable her bed was without him, she took her time getting everything ready, selecting a tampon from the huge selection that he’d bought for her, brushed her teeth, and took a shower all while sending hopeful looks at the bathroom door only to reluctantly accept the fact that he wasn’t coming.

That was fine, she told herself as she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. For a moment, she stood there, worrying her bottom lip as she glanced at his closed bathroom door until she inwardly berated herself for being an idiot and got dressed in one of Reed’s old tee shirts and a pair of panties. Doing her best not to think about the man in the other room, she opened her bathroom door, stepped out of the way as her baby kitten came racing inside and-

“You’re killing me here, Joey,” he said, sighing heavily as she found herself thrown over his shoulder and heading back to his room where he glared at her until she curled back up in his arms.





Chapter 30

“Do you even care that I’m not talking to you?”

“Not even a little bit,” Reed said while he watched Joey from the incredibly uncomfortable couch in the living room as the soft material of her jeans pulled tightly across the generous ass that he’d made plans for this weekend as she leaned over and began sorting through the boxes filling his foyer.

“You know, at some point you’re going to have to stop glaring at her,” Matt said with a pitying sigh as he leaned forward in his chair, tilted his head slightly to the right so that he could get a better look at-

“Don’t make me kill you,” Reed said while he ignored his brother as the little bastard rubbed the back of his head with a muttered, “Mean bastard.”

“You’re taking this a little too seriously,” Matt grumbled with a pout as he reluctantly returned his attention back to the magazine that he’d been pretending to read while Reed sat there ignoring the pile of work in front of him as he watched Joey search through the boxes that had been delivered earlier.

“What exactly am I taking too seriously?” Reed asked as he sat there, watching the woman that he couldn’t wait to get alone again as she picked up one of the smaller boxes that he’d been wondering about and headed upstairs.

“Besides everything?” Matt said, sighing heavily as he leaned back in his chair. “How about your promise?”

“What about it?” he asked as he reluctantly shifted his attention back to the financial reports that he was hoping to get through tonight so that he had the weekend free to spend with Joey.

“At some point, you’re going to have to give up your obsession with glaring at her,” Matt said with a sad shake of his head.

“I’m not obsessed,” Reed said although he had a bad feeling that he was.

“You really are,” Matt said, sighing heavily.

“I’m really not,” he said, rubbing his hands down his face as he tried to figure out how he was going to swing twenty new computers for the library with less than five hundred dollars in the budget.

“Really? Then how would you explain the murderous glares that you’re always shooting her?”

“She’s only been here for a month,” he pointed out, deciding that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t share the reason that he couldn’t keep his eyes off Joey.

He couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

Every night for the past month he’d fallen asleep with her in his arms and started most mornings by making her moan his name. During the day, when he wasn’t with her, he found himself thinking about her and when he was near her all he could think about was touching her again. But it wasn’t just the incredible sex that drew him. He liked her, which still amazed him. But then again, maybe that was because he was finally able to spend time with her without worrying if she was about to blow something up. She was smart, funny as hell, kind, and-

“She probably hates you,” Matt said, sounding bored as he added, “Not that you could really blame her.”

“She doesn’t hate me,” Reed said, only to glare at the little bastard when he snorted in disbelief.

“You made her life a living hell,” Matt said, turning another page.

“I looked out for her,” he bit out, wondering why he was having this conversation again.

“Is that what you call it?” Matt asked, chuckling.

“What the hell would you know about it? You were seven when she left,” he said, starting to feel a headache coming on.

“Eight,” Matt said, shrugging it off. “But I remember enough to know that you were probably the reason why she left in the first place.”

“And you’re basing that on what exactly?” Reed asked, grabbing next quarter’s budget to see if there was any wiggle room to make this work only to toss the folder back on the coffee table with a sigh when he saw the mess that was waiting for him next quarter.

“Many things,” Matt said, tossing his magazine aside and sat back in the mismatched leather chair that looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than the small couch that he was sitting on.