The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(56)

It didn’t matter.

None of it did.

“No,” she said, smiling as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands and leaned in and kissed him. “You weren’t the reason I left.”

“I made your life a living hell, didn’t I?” he said on a resigned sigh as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

“Yes, yes you did,” she said, smiling as she kissed him again. “But my leaving had nothing to do with you.”

“Why do I have a feeling that you’re lying?” he asked, smiling as he leaned in and kissed her.

“Cause you’re paranoid?” she asked, blinking innocently.

“That tends to happen when you’re around,” he whispered seductively as he leaned in and kissed her neck.

“I have that effect on people,” she admitted on a soft groan as he pulled her closer.

The move caused her nipples to brush against the smooth material of his vest, making them harden even as she had to admit that she loved the way he looked in a suit. It actually surprised her how much she liked seeing him in suit given the fact that she normally preferred men in a pair of well-worn pair of jeans and a tee shirt, but there was just something about the way that Reed filled out a suit that left her licking her lips and imagining all the things that she wanted him to do to her.

Speaking of things that she wanted him to do with her, she thought as she suddenly found herself laying on the floor only to decide that it was probably time to stop thinking when he pushed her legs apart and-It was definitely time to stop thinking.





Chapter 33

“I never got to ask my questions,” the small woman curled up in his arms mumbled as she snuggled closer to his side.

“Was your question about the pretties?” Reed asked as he pulled the blanket that he’d snuck upstairs to get a few minutes ago over her shoulders.

“Maybe,” she said after a short pause, making his lips twitch.

“Would it make it easier if I just told you about the room?” he asked, pressing a kiss against her forehead as he watched the fire slowly die down to a soft glow, letting him know just how late it was.

He should have left a while ago to go see Jackson, but he didn’t want to leave her. Even knowing that he probably wouldn’t see his best friend for another six months couldn’t make him leave her. Well, that and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to say to Jackson, especially since he didn’t know what this was anymore. The only thing that he knew was that he wasn’t ready for this to end.

Not just yet.

“It might,” she said, shifting to get closer only to shift again until she gave up trying to get comfortable on the unforgiving hardwood floor with a grumble and decided that he made a better mattress than the carpet.

“Comfy?” he asked, his lips twitching as he waited for her to settle on top of him.

“Getting there,” she said as she laid her head on his chest with a satisfied sigh and a-

“Brat,” he said with a mock glare at the little brat looking up at him through innocent baby blue eyes that didn’t quite match that devious smile as she wiggled one last time, causing his poor exhausted cock to twitch.

“You were saying?” she asked with a soft sigh as she finally settled on top of him.

“That your grandparents should have spanked your ass,” he growled as he wrapped his arms around her.

“They threatened to spank my ass many times, but they didn’t have the heart to go through with it,” she said with a heartfelt sigh.

“You locked yourself in the pantry until they promised not to spank you, didn’t you?” he guessed.

“Each and every time,” she said, nodding solemnly against his chest.

“And Jackson?” Reed asked, absently tracing a path down her spine.

“Was usually the reason that I locked myself in the pantry in the first place,” she said, making him chuckle.

“I’m pretty sure that you drove him to drink,” he said even as he couldn’t help but notice just how good she felt in his arms.

“I really did,” she said, sounding proud and for damn good reason.

She’d been a nightmare from day one and Jackson…

Jackson had barely been able to keep up with her. Poor bastard, he thought, chuckling as he remembered all the times that Jackson nearly lost his fucking mind over the years. There was the time when she’d decided that it was past time for her to teach herself how to swim by jumping into the fountain at the mall when she was three, leaving Jackson with no other choice but to jump off the escalator to save her. Then there was the time when she’d decided to set a trap for the monster living in her closet, which had resulted in Jackson getting trapped in there for six hours when he’d made the mistake of trying to figure out why there was a trail of cookies leading to her closet. Then there was the time when she was six and decided that the school bus was taking too long and decided to take her grandfather’s old riding lawnmower to school and poor Jackson ended up having to chase her through every neighbor’s backyard for a mile before she finally ran out of gas. She’d kept the poor bastard on his toes.

“God, you were a fucking nightmare,” he said, chuckling as he continued absently running his hands over her back.

“I really was,” she said with a devious little smile that had him cupping her face in his hands so that he could kiss her only to end up groaning when she suddenly sat up and-