The Promise (Neighbor from Hell, #10)(80)

“Why is that exactly?” she asked, her breath catching as closed her eyes and her head dropped back as he did all the things that she liked.

“Because you’re mine.”

“Oh, god,” she choked out as he slid inside her.

“Do you have anymore questions?” he asked as he lazily rolled his hips.

“Not at this time,” she said, because she felt that it would be for the best if she focused right now and worry about things, like her brother killing her husband, later.

“Then why don’t I take this opportunity to get something out of the way?” he offered, punctuating his suggestion with a firm roll of his hips.

“What’s that?” she asked, smiling up at the handsome man that she loved more than anything.

“I’m going to love you for the rest of my life, Joey,” he said softly as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands.

“Even though I’m a pain in the ass?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“Especially since you’re a pain in the ass,” he swore as she leaned up and brushed her lips against his.

“Do you promise?” she whispered.

“I promise.”





Epilogue

One Month Later…

“Little Joey Lawson,” his father said with a rueful shake of his head and a chuckle that had Reed smiling as he added another brownie from one of the many platters of food that had taken over his kitchen.

“I never saw it coming,” Reed said, chuckling as he went to grab what looked like a butterscotch brownie only to quickly rethink it when he saw the small blue dot on the plate warning him away.

“I’m pretty sure her grandparents did,” his father said, making him frown as he added cookies to the plate that he was making for his wife with the hopes of enticing her into eating something.

“What do you mean?” he asked as his father shifted his attention to one the pans of baked macaroni and cheese that his cousin Reese’s wife Kasey had made for the party.

“I’d always wondered about something,” his father said only to frown down at the macaroni and cheese that he’d scooped onto the plate and asked, “Does Joey like mac and cheese?”

“Yes,” Reed said, although he wasn’t sure how well it was gonna go over today.

He should have canceled the party and dragged her to the emergency room, but his stubborn wife refused to listen, and he had a feeling that it was all because of the large bastard watching his every move.

“Your grandparents expected them to end up together, didn’t they?” his father asked, shifting his attention to Jackson, who’d showed up in the middle of the night three weeks ago and informed him that he was moving in to keep an eye on his sister, and had been glaring at him ever since.

“Yes,” Jackson said, taking him by surprise.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Reed asked, adding a few sugar cookies to the plate that was most likely gonna go to waste.

“That’s why your grandparents didn’t leave Joey to us because they were afraid that we’d adopt her,” his father said, sounding thoughtful as he went to add broccoli to Joey’s plate only to stop when Reed shook his head.

“Correct,” Jackson said, taking him by surprise.

“She can’t handle vegetables right now,” Reed said when his father went to add sliced cucumbers to her plate.

“Why would they think we were going to end up together?” Reed asked Jackson, who simply glared at him, something that he was getting really fucking sick of.

“Tradition,” his father said, chuckling.

“But, how would they know about that?” Reed asked because he knew for a fact that his parents never told anyone, not after what they’d gone through and he’d never said anything to them, which left…

“Matt,” Jackson said, confirming his suspicions that his brother had a big fucking mouth.

“When?” his father asked, looking amused.

“After Joey’s eight birthday party when the asshole that knocked up my sister decided to take it upon himself to have a word with our father and they started wondering about his obsession with Joey. For the price of another slice of cake, Matt told us everything,” Jackson explained while Reed glared at him.

“And that’s the real reason you didn’t sell the house,” Reed guessed, correctly by the look on brother-in-law’s face.

“You wanted to make sure that she had a reason to come back here,” his father said, chuckling as he continued adding food on Joey’s plate while Reed stood there, glaring at the bastard.

“Why did you try to talk me into letting her go then?” Reed demanded, thankful that he hadn’t listened to the stubborn bastard because he never would have survived without Joey.

“You were taking too long.”

“This is priceless!” his father said, laughing as he headed to the back door, pausing on the way to hand Joey’s plate to Jackson, and add, “Your mother’s going to love this one!”

“You still haven’t told me how you figured it out,” Reed said, watching as his father left with a heartfelt sigh and an “Absolutely priceless.”

“The Eeyore keychain.”

“What about it?” Reed asked absently as he watched his father walk over to his Uncle Ethan and—