Chapter 2
Riley Rogers couldn’t sleep. After kicking Miles out, she’d cleaned her apartment for hours. Her ex was a slob. Dirty dishes in the sink, never throwing his trash away, leaving used glasses and plates with old food on her coffee table while he played his stupid video games. Disgusting.
After cleaning, she paced, thinking about everything that had happened that night. Her argument with Miles, his threats…and her neighbor.
Miles had scared her. She’d been afraid he would refuse to leave, might even get violent with her, but when she’d opened her door and had seen her huge neighbor standing there, clearly listening, Riley was relieved.
Porter had stood there with his arms crossed, glowering at Miles, and magically, her now ex-boyfriend had backed down and left with only a few more threatening words.
Her neighbor had actually said his name was Oz, but she figured that was a nickname because she’d gotten his mail in her box once by mistake, and it had been addressed to Porter Reed.
She’d been happy to introduce herself tonight…
because God forgive her, she’d eyeballed the man more than once.
It was wrong. She’d been in a relationship, but she couldn’t help it.
Every time she’d seen the man, he was polite and helpful, which was already nothing like Miles.
Riley was so tired of dating losers. She wanted a partner.
Someone she could rely on as much as they relied on her.
But instead, she found parasites, people who wanted her to make all the money while they hung out and watched TV or smoked pot.
And the few soldiers she’d dated from the nearby Army base hadn’t been much better.
At least they went to work, but they hadn’t cared about her as a person, only as someone they could have sex with now and then. It was depressing.
But then there was her neighbor. Tall, muscular, and with shoulders so broad she couldn’t see past them when she was behind him.
He had brown hair, like hers, and unique gray eyes.
Riley didn’t particularly like being shorter than most people she met, but there was something about Porter that made her want to rest her head on his chest and have him protect her from the world. Which was just stupid.
Still, thinking about how he’d stood like a sentinel at his door, making sure Miles knew he was there and watching, made her shiver in delight. He’d protected her, a stranger, when few men in her past ever had.
She’d been on the verge of doing something stupid—like asking if he wanted to come over for a cup of coffee or something—when an official-looking man had walked down the hall with a small boy at his side. He’d told Porter that the boy was his nephew, and that he was handing over custody of him.
The look of shock on Porter’s face made her think he was finding out he was an uncle for the first time. Which was both surprising and heartbreaking. The two had disappeared inside his apartment, and she hadn’t heard anything from them since.
And she’d listened.
The walls in this apartment complex weren’t all that thick.
She frequently heard his TV and music playing, just as he probably heard every harsh word Miles had flung at her while they’d dated.
It was embarrassing, but in a way, it had been the catalyst for finally kicking him out.
Knowing her neighbor had heard some of the things Miles had said to her in the past, and she still hadn’t broken up with him, was pretty humiliating.
Riley knew she wasn’t the most beautiful girl on the block.
She was pretty ordinary, actually. At five-four, she was shorter than most women, but her weight was average.
She wasn’t super skinny, and she wasn’t overweight.
She had her problem spots—her thighs and ass, mostly—but all in all, she was content with her looks.
She didn’t have a lot of friends, didn’t have any family, and spent most of her life behind the doors of her apartment.
As a transcriptionist, she worked from home and relied on the internet to get jobs.
She received audio files from doctors, authors, and anyone else who needed their words typed out, listened to the files, typed what was said, and sent the documents back.
She was lucky enough to have many repeat customers, which kept her income steady. She didn’t make a ton of money, but it was enough to keep a roof over her head, her bills paid, and food on the table.
She’d met Miles online, as she had a few of her previous boyfriends, and was done going that route. She hadn’t had any luck so far, and while the internet allowed her to work from home, it obviously wasn’t conducive to finding true love.
She probably needed a nice long break from men in general. It was very likely the tenants on her floor thought of her as the weird neighbor, anyway. The one they never saw and who didn’t have any friends. So be it.
That was better than being the girl who was murdered by her abusive boyfriend she refused to leave.
Sighing, Riley was about to head to bed when she heard a knock on her front door.
Freezing, her heart beating out of her chest, Riley wondered if Miles had returned.
He’d done it before, come crawling back after a fight, begging for her forgiveness and telling her how much he cared about her.
Whatever. She wasn’t falling for it this time.
It was obvious he’d just wanted a place to hang out, sitting on his ass and being lazy. She was well and truly done with him.
Tiptoeing to the door so she could look through the peephole to see who was knocking at this hour of the night, Riley was shocked to see her neighbor, the gorgeous Porter Reed, standing on the other side. He looked agitated and kept glancing back down the hall toward his apartment.
Without thought, Riley took the chain off and unlocked the deadbolt before opening the door.
“What’s wrong?” she asked without preamble.
“I… What do boys eat for breakfast?” Porter blurted.
Riley blinked. “What?”
“I…uh…you saw that I just got custody of my nephew. He’s sleeping—I’ve got the bedroom door open, and the one to the apartment, so I haven’t left him alone—but I got to thinking about the morning, and he didn’t want anything to eat tonight, but I have no idea what he’s going to want for breakfast in the morning. ”
“What do you eat?” Riley asked.
“Um…a protein shake, usually,” he said sheepishly.
Riley couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose in disgust.
“I know. I figured he wouldn’t want that, but I don’t know what he would want.”
“Do you want to come in?” Riley asked.
“Thanks, but I can’t. I need to watch my apartment and listen in case Logan wakes up.”
That’s right, he’d said that, but Riley was completely thrown by him showing up at her door and asking such an easy question. “Right, sorry. Um…let’s see…cereal, Pop-Tarts, pancakes, maybe scrambled eggs, granola bars…he looks like he’s probably not all that picky.”
But instead of her words making her neighbor feel better, they seemed to stress him out all the more.
“Shit,” he said under his breath. “I don’t have any of that.
Not even eggs. I need to go to the store—fuck, I can’t go to the store with him in the apartment!
I can’t leave him alone. Should I wake him up and take him with me?
I really don’t want to. I’m not sure the kid even likes me.
He’d probably like me less if I woke him up in the middle of the night to go to the freaking store. Damn it.”
Riley’s heart melted for the man. It was obvious he wanted to do the right thing for his nephew, but had no idea what that was at the moment. “Wait here,” she ordered.
She hadn’t meant to sound so abrupt, but instead of getting upset with her—or telling her to shut the fuck up and not tell him what to do, which is what Miles would’ve said—he merely nodded. His lips were pressed together in agitation and his forehead was furrowed with stress lines.
Riley left her door standing open and she walked quickly back inside her apartment.
She headed for the kitchen and grabbed one of the reusable grocery bags she kept handy for trips to the store.
Opening her pantry, she filled the bag halfway with odds and ends that she thought a kid might enjoy.
Luckily, Riley wasn’t a health nut, so she had plenty to choose from.
Then she opened her fridge and threw in the carton of eggs, which had six left, a half-eaten container of cream cheese and the half-gallon jug of milk, which had just enough left in it for a bowl of cereal.
She grabbed the package of bagels from her counter, and the three-fourths-full box of Froot Loops.
At the last minute, she threw in two bananas and three apples. The bag was overflowing by the time she was done, and Riley worried that she might’ve gone overboard, but decided the man and boy next door needed this food more than she did, and she wanted them to have plenty of options.
She rushed back to her door, hoping Porter hadn’t left. He was still there, standing with his back against the wall across from her apartment. He didn’t look any less stressed; if anything, he looked more concerned.
“Here,” she said, holding the bag out to him.
But instead of reaching for it, Porter just stared at it in confusion. “What’s that?”
“Breakfast stuff,” she said. “It’s all been opened, sorry, but I had several things that I’m sure your nephew will eat.
You can find out in the morning what he prefers.
I threw in some granola bars—the soft kind, the hard ones are disgusting—eggs, bagels, cream cheese, cereal, cheese sticks, some fruit, and peanut butter, just in case nothing else appeals to him.
All kids eat PB&J sandwiches, I think. There’s also some other junk in there—don’t judge, I have a sweet tooth. ”
“I can’t take that,” Porter said, still not reaching for the bag.
“Why not?”
“Because, it’s your food.”
“Porter, it’s fine. I’m not wasting away, as you can probably see.”