That was only confirmed when he carried her inside his room and headed toward the bathroom, muttering, “Ten fucking years,” again. When he carefully placed her on the bathroom counter, she bit back a wince of pain and even managed a murmured, “Thank you,” that quickly had her deciding to note all the possible exits when his eyes narrowed on her and he muttered, “Ten fucking years,” again.
Before she could respond, and she really wasn’t sure that responding was in her best interest at the moment, she found herself plucked off the counter, a thick navy-blue terry cloth towel placed on the counter before she was carefully placed on top of it. While he muttered to himself, and even she had to admit that three days to drive the man currently glaring down at the kitten attaching itself to his leg to the point of a psychotic break was impressive, she couldn’t help but wonder what the hell happened downstairs.
One minute, she was sitting on his lap, trying to catch her breath and escape the devious bastard’s tickling attack and the next…
The next, she couldn’t get close enough to the man that she’d vowed to make pay for ruining her gravity experiment when she was three. In retrospect, that might have been for the best since she probably wouldn’t have survived the trip off her grandparent’s roof, not during a blizzard at least, she thought absently as she watched him tear through the bathroom closet.
“You’re driving me crazy, Joey,” he said, shooting her a glare before returning to whatever he was doing with another muttered, “Ten fucking years,” confirming her earlier assumption that he’d snapped.
“I’m sorry,” she said because she had no idea what else she was supposed to say to him even as she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever seen him this angry before.
Probably not.
“In my defense, I seem to drive everyone crazy,” she pointed out, deciding to follow that up with a sheepish smile that quickly disappeared with a murmured, “Right,” and a nod when his eyes narrowed on her and she decided that it might be in her best interest to shut up now. Unfortunately for her, she was too nervous to listen to reason at moment, which of course, she knew wouldn’t end well for her.
Not. At. All.
“Sorry,” she murmured as she did her best to avoid making eye contact with the very large and angry man that made her nervous.
Really nervous, which explained what happened downstairs, she realized as she worried her bottom lip and watched as the man who was most likely regretting his decision to let her live slowly came toward her. She should have run when she had the chance, she realized. Not that she’d really had much of a chance, not with Reed this pissed. One second, he was tickling her and the next, the smile on his face had disappeared and she’d realized just how much she liked being in his arms.
That’s when she panicked.
It had been a perfectly normal response, she told herself, swallowing hard as Reed shot her another murderous glare and that’s when she realized that she wasn’t getting out of here alive.
“You’re sorry?” he said, chuckling without humor and making her rethink her decision to avoid making her escape through second-floor windows. It also made her realize that she couldn’t stay here.
“That’s great,” he said, nodding as he grabbed a large bag of Epsom salt and slammed the closet door shut. “You’re sorry for making my life a living hell, again.”
She opened her mouth to apologize, but it was that “again” that had her pausing. Really hoping that she’d misheard him, she asked, “Again?”
“Again,” he bit out as he angrily dumped half the bag of Epsom salt in the tub.
“How exactly did I make your life a living hell before?” she asked as she climbed off the counter with a wince when the muscles in her ass protested the move.
“By moving in next door,” he said coolly while she stood there, digesting that with a murmured, “I see,” and a nod before saying, “There’s just one problem with that.”
“And what’s that?” he asked, sighing heavily as he reached down and gently pulled the kitten off his leg.
“You’re the one that made my life a living hell.”
---
“And how do you figure that?” Reed asked as he opened her bedroom door, dropped the furry little bastard gently on the floor and promptly shut the door so that he could deal with the little pain in the ass once and for all.
“Maybe because it’s true?” Joey said, blinking up at him.
“Bullshit,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the delusional little pain in the ass.
“Really?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest in a sad attempt to mimic his stance and looking so fucking adorable doing it.
“Really,” he said, moving closer so that he could glare down at the little brat.
“Should we talk about the playground?” she asked, moving closer so that she could glare up at him.
“Let’s,” he said, more than willing to finally have it out with the little pain in the ass.
“Because of you, none of the other kids would play with me,” Joey bit out.
“That had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact that you were an annoying pain in the ass,” he said, moving even closer so that he could glare down at the little brat that had turned his childhood into a fucking nightmare.
“Really? Cause I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that you told everyone that I had cooties,” she said, making his lips twitch despite the fact that he was still on edge.
If she hadn’t climbed off his lap when she had…
He had to bite back a groan just thinking about all things they could be doing on the couch right now…the things he wanted to do to her. He shouldn’t be thinking about how soft her skin was or wonder how it would have felt to slide his hands inside her panties and cupped her bare ass, or about the incredibly sexy moan she’d made when she’d shifted against his cock. He sure as hell shouldn’t be wondering if she’d moan his name when he fucked her. Standing here wondering just how soft her pussy was or how fucking tight she was, was fucking pointless because he would never find out.
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