Chapter 5
HOPE
I’m going to strangle my little sister. Absolutely strangle her. It’s nearly two-thirty in the morning, and my sister isn’t in her bed sleeping. Nope, she’d fallen asleep at my neighbor’s house.
My very, very, HOT neighbor. One who I’d seen opening night at Keeper’s Temptation, sitting at the same table as my boss. He’s also the same man I can’t stop thinking about.
I don’t get why.
He’s obviously a taken man, considering he’s got a daughter. From what I’d seen of her, she’s adorable as well.
He’s also the one who texted me, having gotten my number from my sister, but he’s the one who messaged me all the same, that my sister was asleep on his couch.
This was not good.
Not good at all.
What was Promise thinking?
This is why I was walking across the yard, hoping not to wake his daughter, but to get my sister up and get her home.
The door opens before I reach it to a sexy Styxx standing in the entryway. He looks good even in the dark of night, and the low lights from inside shine behind him. Styxx was standing there in a pair of low-hanging sweats and a fitted black tank that made him look that much hotter.
“I’m so sorry about this,” I blurt out before I can help myself.
“It’s all good.” Styxx steps back as I get closer and lets me into his house. “She passed out after pizza and wings while watching the game with us.”
Pizza and wings.
Watching the game.
God knows I’m going to have to talk to my sister. She just invited herself over to Styxx’s place.
“Again, I’m sorry. I’ll get her up so she can get in her bed,” I whisper.
“She’s good. Nothing to apologize for. She ate, played with Eabha, and made us all laugh as she fussed at the umpires for stupid calls they made.
” I open my mouth to say something about the whole situation, but clamp it shut when Styxx moves in closer to me and continues, “I know it doesn’t look good, but that’s all that happened here.
I’m not some asshat who pervs on little girls. ”
“I didn’t think that,” I mutter.
“Good, but what I’m getting at is, your sister is welcome here anytime you’re working and needs somewhere to go so she’s not bored or home alone for hours at a time.”
My heart tightens and my stomach flutters. His offer is sweet.
“I wouldn’t want us to be a bother.” I hate asking for help and taking from others.
“Wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t want to offer. My daughter seems to like Promise.”
“Won’t your wife have something to say about that?” I blurt before I can stop myself.
Styxx cocks a brow and crosses his arms over his beefy chest. “Maybe so if I actually had a wife.”
“Your girlfriend then.” God, kill me now.
“No girlfriend either.” Styxx grins. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were fishing, mo chathú. But to set your mind at ease, there is no woman. Eabha’s mother died before she was born.”
My heart hurts at hearing this. I want to ask, though it’s not my business, so I’m not going to. I also wanted to know what mo chathú meant, but I hated to ask, afraid of what it meant.
“I need to get Promise home,” I say, changing the subject back to what it needed to be about. “Thanks for this.”
“Not a problem. Give me a second, and I’ll carry her over there, so you don’t have to wake her. I just need to grab the baby monitor.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” The words spill quickly out of my mouth. “There’s been many times I’ve woken her to get her home from the babysitter.”
“Well, tonight, you’re not gonna wake her,” he says and leaves the room. Not even a moment later comes back holding a baby monitor. “Here, you hold this.”
Styxx hands me the monitor and moves to my sister, swiftly, yet gently picks her up without so much as jostling Promise. Together we make our way out of his house and over to mine. I unlock the door, push it open, and step aside so Styxx can carry my sister through.
“Her room’s down the hall on the right.” It was the only other room besides mine.
I follow behind them the whole way, and my heart tightens at how Styxx handles my sister, carrying her and tenderly putting her to bed.
I can only imagine how he is with his daughter.
Sweet. Compassionate. Loving. All things my sister lost when our parents died.
I did my best to give her what I could, but I never thought it was enough.
I can’t give her what a parent would give their child.
Styxx steps back from Promise, and I move in, covering her with her softball throw blanket, before leaving the room with Styxx right behind me.
I walk toward the door and hand him the baby monitor. “Thanks for this. I do appreciate it.”
“Not a problem,” Styxx grunts and takes the monitor, his fingers brushing mine. “She’s welcome anytime.”
“Okay.” I nod, trying not to sound breathless as my lungs seem to be wanting to seize up from the simple touch.
As Styxx steps out onto the porch, I get a glimpse of his backside and can’t help but think he’s got one fine ass in those sweats. Not to mention the tattoo that’s on his arm and goes up his shoulder and his back. If he didn’t have a shirt on, I’d be all about looking at it more thoroughly.
“Lock up, Hope,” Styxx orders, glancing back at me. “I’ll wait until I hear the locks click.”
“Um, okay,” I murmur and do as he says, locking the door. I lean against the blasted thing and let out a heavy sigh, shaking my head.
Turning out the lights, I make my way to my room, strip out of my clothes, and fall right in bed. Sleep claims me nearly instantly, but my dreams were filled with the same man who’s consumed them every time since opening night.
“Thanks,” I whisper for the seventh time in over two weeks.
“No problem,” Styxx grunts as he does each time.
Promise has gone over to his place nearly every day and spent time hanging out there with his daughter, Eabha.
Most of the time, she’s eaten over there as well.
Only seven days out of the two weeks has she fallen asleep on his couch.
He even went to her softball games and picked her up for me since I was working.
It’s one of the things I absolutely hate about my schedule.
I wasn’t able to be at her games. When she was younger, I’d get to go to them since they were always on the weekends.
Nowadays, I miss them, which sucks. Thanks to Styxx, I at least get pictures and clips of her while she’s playing.
There was even one of her holding Eabha while in her softball uniform with one beaming smile after winning the game.
The girl was talented out on the field. I knew she already had scouts looking at her for colleges, and I couldn’t be prouder. Our parents would be beside themselves, bragging to all who would listen.
“She’s got a game tomorrow. I’m not gonna be able to make it, but my sister-in-law, Josephine, will be there. She’ll make sure Promise gets home.”
I’d met Josephine previously, when she and her husband, Scythe, were at Styxx’s place.
It was on a Sunday, and they invited us over for a cookout.
Promise had a field day with both Eabha and Auggie.
I knew she wanted to go to school for early childhood development and work with children.
It was something she loved to do. Something I’m glad she has figured out at such a young age.
Me, I didn’t do what I wanted to do. Granted, I love dancing.
I love being on stage, even more now with the new nightclub.
But it’s not what I wanted to do forever.
My dream was to open a dance studio and teach. Sure, I get to do that a few days a week up in Tyler, but it’s tiring to drive there and back on top of dancing nights.
“She doesn’t have to. I know Promise would understand.”
“Mo chathú, you try telling Josephine that. Woman might argue differently. She’s taken to Promise. Been to all the games I’ve been at.”
There’s that name again. More I liked that my sister had gained a support system.
“I didn’t know that,” I whisper, feeling bad about not being able to go to her games, and I was her sister.
“You know your sister doesn’t mind you not being there, right? She brags about how good of a dancer you are,” Styxx murmurs, stepping closer to me.
“Yeah, I know.” I did know. It’s something I’ve talked to Promise about. She understood, but she shouldn’t have to. “I’ll let you get back home,” I say, ready to end this and get to bed. I was exhausted.
“Right.” Styxx nods. “Lock up. I’ll wait.”
He always did. Each night he carried Promise home, he waited for me to lock the doors before heading back to his place.
Each time, I always leaned against it and sighed in longing.
There was just something about Styxx that had a woman yearning for him.
I knew I wanted his hands on me. Wanted to know what his touch felt like.
How his lips would feel against my skin.
Yeah, I needed my head examined that’s for sure. I wanted a man I knew I couldn’t have.