Wrapping my fingers around my own glass, I took my time following her inside, trying to give myself every possible second to withstand the storm she was about to unleash upon me.
The lock hadn’t even fully slid into its home for the night when her nails dug into my shoulder, whipping me around. “I knew it, you dirty little slut!”
That was not at all what I was expecting. “Wait, you knew what?” I asked, legitimately confused.
She leaned down into my face, raising both hands and making air quotations, “A hazel-eyed, dark-haired, muscled stranger? How convenient the man who just approached your house like he’s already intimate with it, just happens to look like that. Spill.”
“I’m not sure how to answer that.”
She grabbed my shoulders again, shaking me like a rag doll. “Spill!”
I stepped back, slapping at her arms, “He’s not intimate with my side unless he knew the residents before me. I’ve only spotted him a few times and only talked to him once before this. It didn’t go much better.”
“He’s fucking hot.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. There was no reason trying to deny it. He was calendar model hot. I threw myself face down on the couch. There was no way I was accomplishing any studying tonight.
Layla sat on top of me, slouching down and getting comfortable. “However, he’s also a fucking, judgmental asshole.”
“Seems so.”
She sucked on her teeth. “I bet he’s quick on the mark. Shame. Those arms are delicious.”
“Careful,” I said, my voice muffled by the cushion smashed against my face. “You’re objectifying him.”
She laughed, smacking me on the ass. “He’s really our immediate neighbor?”
“Yep,” I said into the couch.
She twisted her lips to the side, “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Me neither.”
Chapter Five
We were going to be late. Between the wine and the drama—frankly just about everything last night—I’d forgotten to set my alarm for the first time in years.
Thankfully, my body was so used to getting minimal sleep, sleeping in equated to only an extra half hour. However, when you only give yourself one hour to wake up, get ready, drop your kid off, and get to work, it’s a problem.
I’d been mid-roll when I suddenly had that intuition that hits you when you just know something’s wrong. My eyes shot open, quickly followed by my mouth as I shouted an expletive, I prayed Jamie didn’t hear.
He had. That blessed boy had gotten himself up and was eating a bowl of cereal when I ran out. His blond hair was sticking up in every possible direction, but at least he was up and wearing pants.
Plucking the spray bottle off the bathroom counter, I doused his hair in mist, causing him to squirm and spill milk down his chin, before pushing a hat on his head. It’d have to do.
Five minutes later, I jogged back out, tucking my blouse into my slacks as I went. My hair-tie was clasped in my hand and my shoes tucked in my armpit. “Are you ready, bud?”
“What do you think?”
I glanced up from my pants to see Jamie standing at the door, shoes on and backpack slung over his shoulder. He was sticking his tongue out with crossed eyes.
“Okay, I deserved that one.” I chuckled, grabbing my frizzy, third-day curls and throwing them into a bun on the top of my head. I didn’t have a lick of makeup on, and my head was already letting me know it didn’t appreciate the lack of morning coffee. “I’m ready, let’s go.”
“Rugsy looks like she needs to pee. Also, you don’t have your purse.”
I wasn’t going to curse. I wasn’t going to curse. “Go ahead and buckle into your seat, I’ll be out in a second,” I said, handing him the keys and running to snatch my purse from my room.
Layla cracked her door as I passed, her half-lidded, mascara-smeared eyes watching me. “I’ll deal with Rug, you go ahead and go.” Her voice was rough with sleep, and I instantly felt guilty for waking her up.
“Are you sure?”
“I was planning on taking Sadie to a dog park I found. I’ll bring Rug along with us. It’s fine.”
“She’d like that.” I moved again, then paused, looking back at her. “Are you still good with hanging out with Jamie tonight, or should I drop him at my parents?”
“Nope, we’re good. Now go before you get fired and have to take up hooking to pay the bills.”
I ran toward the door, flipping her off behind my head as I went.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you with your hair pulled up. I almost forgot how cute your ears are.”
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and praying to every deity of every religion to give me the patience to deal with this fool today. I hated it when anyone talked about my ears, but especially when he did.
My ears weren’t big by any means, but they stuck out from my head rather than lay flat. I didn’t use to care until my ex made a habit of referring to them as handlebars. I had a feeling Rob would be the kind of man to do the same.
I was currently standing at the copy machine on his side of the building because we didn’t have a machine capable of copying multiple sheets at the same time on our side yet. I’d been begging Evaline to get one so I wouldn’t have to come over here, but she didn’t want to until all the construction was done.
Keeping my back to Rob, I continued working, hoping if I ignored him he’d get the hint and walk away. The only consolation I had was that we were standing in the middle of the hallway so at least he wouldn’t try to touch me. Should I have known better at this point? Probably.
His thick fingers slid against the shell of my right ear and instant panic set in, making me flinch away and twist toward him. His eyes flared; his hand still outstretched.
Fuck, I hated reacting like that in front of people, it made me feel weak and stupid. And if there was anything I did not want to appear like in front of someone like Rob, it was weak and stupid.
The feeling of not having control over your body or emotions was one of the most humiliating and debilitating experiences. And one of the hardest to overcome.
“Please don’t touch my ears, Mr. Spencer.” Stepping back up to the copier, I grabbed my pages and shuffled them into a neat stack. I hadn’t finished, but I’d just do the rest one at a time on our small printer.
“I was only playing around, darlin’. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He smiled at me like my reaction to his touch was adorable.
“I would prefer it if you didn’t touch me.”
His smile fell, and he pulled back a little, flattening his lips and giving me a stiff nod. “All right. Well, I have your guard uniform in my office. Jim forgot to ask your size, but I’m pretty sure I ordered the right one.”
Because that wasn’t creepy as hell or anything. “I need to finish what I’m working on, can you set them in my box, and I’ll grab them later?”
His jaw flexed, and the skin around his eyes creased. He wanted to argue, I could see it in every inch of his posture, but someone, somewhere, smiled down on me. “Sure. Swing by and talk to Jim on your way down, he’s wanting you to shadow Saturday.”
My grip tightened on the pages, digging the edges into my palms. “This Saturday?”
“Why, do you have plans?”
I turned, ignoring his question, “I’ll talk to Jim about it, thanks.” He muttered a reply, but I was already halfway down the hall.
After confirming with Jim that he did, indeed, want me to take a six-hour training shift on Saturday, I ventured back to the alarm side of the building ninja style and found the uniform tucked into my box. Taking it into the bathroom, I tried it on so I could let him know if it wouldn’t work. I couldn’t decide if it was convenient or disturbing that it fit perfectly.
My day had drastically improved after lunch. I’d finished everything on my calendar, completed and aced a quiz during my lunch break, and since Evaline was out of the office for the afternoon, not a single soul bothered me. Solitude was the key to my heart some days.