Chapter 5 #2
Since there’s nothing fragile in my bag, there’s no worry of breaking anything. As for the second thud, I’m already broken.
Dispelling the morose thoughts, I swipe my bag from the floor so I can bring it into my room. After flicking on the light, I take a step into the living room.
And I freeze.
I’m not alone.
There’s a man on my couch.
Oh no, no, no. Not again.
Instincts taking over, I scream bloody murder and hurl my purse at him with all my might. He swats it away easily.
Without hesitating, I find two more items within reaching distance, preparing to heave them at the intruder.
He puts his hands out in front of him protectively. “Dammit, Lila. It’s just me. Calm down.”
The familiarity of his voice soothes my nerves.
A tad.
Now that I’ve had more than a second to process what’s happening, I return the remote to the coffee table instead of throwing it at his head. However, I keep the flower vase in my other hand.
Just in case.
He’s only a slightly preferable option to Silas.
Chest heaving with nervous breaths, I eye him down. “What are you doing here, Reed?”
“What kind of a greeting is that? I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“Not even a little bit.”
“Aw, I thought you liked me.”
This cheeky SOB.
“Those days are long gone. If they ever existed at all.” I shift the vase to my right hand so I’ll have better aim. “Why did you break in just to sit in my living room in the dark? What kind of creep does that?”
If I had a nickel for every time a man has done this to me, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
Reed narrows his absurdly captivating eyes at me. “Thought I’d pop by to visit my sister.”
“Why now? I mean . . . how long has it been since you’ve seen her? Two years? Three?”
“Well, you mentioned Kenzie earlier, and it got me thinking about her. I miss her.”
Liar.
He drags his palms along the tops of his thighs like he’s offering me a seat. “Is she gonna be home soon?”
I can’t answer out of fear he’ll hear the anguish in my tone. So I simply shake my head and resort to my typical way of dealing with uncomfortable conversations. “Did you know male black widow spiders are too weak to bite human skin?”
Rolling his eyes, he rises to his full height of about six feet and eases around the coffee table. His eye contact is unnerving because of how much I like the way he’s looking at me. With heat. It’s a far cry from the harshness he’s been giving me all week at the casino.
With my brows raised to the ceiling, I take a step back and adjust my hold on the vase, giving him a silent warning. Naturally, he ignores it.
“Don’t come any closer,” I order when he keeps stalking toward me. “State your business, citizen. Explain why you’re really here. Or I’ll call the cops and tell them you broke in.”
Those delicious cocoa eyes take another roll around his obnoxious skull, making my mouth water and core clench.
“I didn’t break in. I have a key.”
“Who gave you a key?”
He resumes prowling toward me. “Your roommate is my sister.”
I retreat two more steps. “Kenzie hates you too. No way she’d give you a key.”
“Too?” He cricks his head to the side and grins. Both of his friggin’ dimples pop, sending a blast of heat straight to my ovaries. “That implies someone else hates me.”
“You’re brighter than you look,” I quip.
His eyes and voice heat. “You don’t hate me, Lila.”
My legs freeze, no longer backing me away from him. I try my dandiest to force them to move, but they won’t. My body is under his control. Probably the dimples.
And he knows it.
“Yeah-yes, I do. I hate you.” I nod overzealously. “It just so happens I’m the founder and president of the Reed Hayes Hate Club. Florida chapter. Membership is way up.”
He licks his dumb lips. “You didn’t hate me the last time we were alone together.”
I feign confusion, letting my eyes search the ceiling. “Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten all about that night. Probably because of how unmemorable it was.” I shrug, acting like I don’t relive it every day.
He stops a foot away from me, looking me up and down. “If I were to frisk you, would I find any weapons?”
Excuse me. The nerve of this guy. He’s using that deep voice and those smoldering eyes along with both his dimples? And now he’s adding innuendo while threatening to feel me up?
That’s low. Even for a gutter-dwelling rat like him.
“Other than the vase,” he adds through a tight-lipped grin as he reaches for it.
Knowing it’s a pointless weapon, I pass it to him. But I roll out my lower lip when I do it so he knows I’m doing it under protest. He probably still thinks I’m a petulant child anyhow, so I might as well embrace the pouting.
Nonsense bursts from my mouth. “I bet you count your eyelashes for fun.”
Reaching to the side, he sets the vase down on the credenza. I use the brief moment when his eyes aren’t on me to take stock of the situation.
He’s in my home. Uninvited. Unwanted. And likely about to haul me to jail.
Plus, he’s using my former crush on him to lure me into a confession.
Sadly, my reprieve doesn’t last, and those beautiful brown eyes burn into me a second later. And just like that, I can’t remember ever hating him.
Wait. Yes, I can remember it.
I blink free from the hold he has on me and exit his space bubble. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to talk to you.”
I hit him with my most plastic smile. “I hope you’re a fan of disappointment. I have nothing to say to you.”
“That’s not what you told me earlier tonight.”
My head draws back. “Huh? I think you need to get your hearing or head checked. I most certainly didn’t say anything of the sort.”
“Not with your words, Lila.”
“Oh, so you’re a body language expert now?”
His gaze caresses every inch of my face and neck. Why does he look at me that way?
And why do I like it?
This is Reed. His attractiveness should be tempered by how big a D-bag he is. And he’s the biggest one of those in the state.
Second, if you count Silas’ D-baggery.
“Some bodies are easier to read than others,” he grits out, sounding pained.
His throat bobs with a tight swallow.
“Talk to the wall—at your own house—because you and I have nothing to say to each other.” I brush past him, steaming toward my bedroom. “Lock the door on your way out.”
Once I’m in my room, I close the door and drag my palm down my face. As if I could wipe away the lust.
After a dozen or so cleansing breaths, I toss my clothes in the hamper, throw on my pajamas, and get ready for bed.
He better be gone when I get back out there, or I will call the cops. Not sure it will help, though. Knowing him, he’ll play the whole I am the law routine.
With a washed face and minty fresh breath, I cautiously open my bedroom door. It’s silent out there, which gives me hope that he may have left.
However, it was also silent when I first walked into the living room to find him there. So the odds aren’t great.
But a girl can dream.
Padding quietly down the hall, I peek around the corner at the couch. “Excellent,” I say to the empty room.
Ignoring the blend of disappointment and relief in my gut, I enter the kitchen.
And scream at the top of my lungs. Again.
Maybe I’m finally turning into a rooster with all this screeching.
This time, I don’t have anything to throw at him other than my fists, which I’m not ruling out.
“Argh! Reed!” Pointing a stiff arm toward the front door, I huff and stamp my foot. “Get out of my house.”
He doesn’t even flinch, just trails his gaze up and down my body. His eyes linger on my chest. And I don’t even give a hoot.
All I want is him gone.
“You need to leave,” I restate in a calmer tone, hoping it conveys how done I am with this.
Leaning against the counter with his legs crossed at the ankles, he flatly asks, “Where is Kenzie?”
I’m certainly not answering that, so I resort to random distraction. “I’m beginning to suspect Humpty Dumpty was pushed. Do you have an alibi for that night?”
He groans, shoulders drooping with his exhale. “Where is Kenzie?”
“I recently fell in love with doors. Especially those slammed in your face.”
“Where is Kenzie?”
Here’s to hoping I can get through this interaction without lying to a federal agent.
“She’s not here.”
“That isn’t what I asked, Lila.”
“Do you still yell ‘cows!’ when you see one?”
He cricks his head to the side, darkening his eyes at me. “Where. Is. She?”
I turn my foot outward and park my fists on my hips. “I don’t make it my business to track her every move.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“How’s your toe fungus? Get that cleared up yet?”
He rolls his head around. “Lila, quit it with the random distraction shit. Answer my questions. Where is Kenzie, and how long has she been gone?”
Raising my chin, I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t have to answer you. I’m not under arrest, am I?”
“Should you be?”
And that’s another question I won’t be attempting to answer for fear he’ll see the truth. “What is your problem with me, Reed? Why are you really here? For that matter, why have you been hanging around my table all week?”
I cut myself off before I ask why he’s been watching me for months before that. I’d rather not know the answer.
My coworker Katrina told me I had a fan who was hanging out at her bar for hours, staring at me half the time. I told her we had a harmless history and left it at that.
Maybe I should have told her it was a nasty history so she could have had him escorted out or banned.
Why am I so nice to someone who’s been such a jerk to me?
He doesn’t answer my questions, not that I expected him to. “Who was the guy watching you last week? What does he want?”
Heat flares through my chest. This time, it’s from anger rather than arousal. “The one you had me hauled into my manager’s office to question me about with the head of freaking security? At my farking job, Reed. I was humiliated. Is that the man you’re talking about?”