Chapter 10 Josie #2
His feet moved swiftly until he was right at the edge of his property line. Broad shoulders loomed over me, his Henley stretched to the brink by those large muscles that filled every inch of fabric so perfectly.
I could still feel the way those rough hands gripped my neck and how tight his body felt as it was pressed against mine.
I would not think of any of that. Not when I was waging a war here.
“Stop feeding the dog on my property.”
“I didn’t feed the dog on your property.”
“The bowl is on my side.”
“You told me not to go on your property, and I haven’t. I haven’t put a finger over the line.”
“Again, the bowl is on my side. You had to cross it to pour the damn food!”
“That’s not true. I could, hypothetically, dump the food from my side into your bowl.”
“The dog’s bowl.”
“Hypothetically speaking, if I had done such a thing, that would not be breaking any of your rules.”
“I told you not to feed my dog.”
“Your dog?”
“The dog,” he quickly corrected. “That dog. The nuisance you keep feeding so he shows up at my door!”
“Well, as I said, these are my treats.”
“They look exactly the same as the food in his bowl!”
“Must be the same manufacturer as the brand that whoever was filling your bowl was using.”
His teeth ground hard as he watched me. Yes, I knew I was needling him, and that wasn’t typically something I enjoyed. I tended to be happy all the time and relished in making others just as cheery as me, but something about this man just made me want to see how far I could push him.
“Keep your damn food off my lawn, and stop feeding the dog.”
As he turned to stalk away, I just couldn’t resist one last jab. “You know, a storm is coming!”
“Good!”
“And we’re supposed to get a lot of snow.”
“Not my problem!” he called over his shoulder.
“Milo is going to get awfully cold outside!” I huffed. “Don’t you care at all?”
Spinning on his heel, he marched right back over to the imaginary line and got in my face. “The dog is not mine. Do you know what I care about?”
“Tell me. I’m dying to know.”
“I care about keeping muddy prints out of my house. I care about fleas and ticks staying outdoors where they belong. No animal will ever live in my house, no matter what!”
I was seething, angrier than I’d ever been in my life. The dog worshipped this man for whatever reason, and he didn’t care at all. The dog didn’t come to my house. He only sat outside JR’s, and when the storm hit, he would freeze to death.
And for what?
Because JR couldn’t be nice enough to open his home to a dog who obviously adored him?
“Josie?” someone called out.
I was so busy in my staring contest with JR that I didn’t hear anyone pull up. Tearing my gaze from his, my eyes connected with the one man I really didn’t want to see. Brody was nice, but his mother had been trying to push us together for years.
“Brody,” I sighed. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh…Ma said to drop these off for you.” He lifted a plate of cookies in the air, but his eyes were locked on the exchange between JR and me.
“Who are you?” JR snapped.
“A friend.”
“Those better not be dog treats.”
Rolling my eyes, I made a point of smiling sweetly to Brody as I walked over. “Well, your mother is very nice. Thank her for making these for me.”
“She sort of forced me since you haven’t been by this week.”
“I only had time to drop off her order.”
“Well, she was worried and kept saying over and over again that something must be wrong and that I had to stop by to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
His gaze shifted warily to my neighbor, who I just realized had come to stand beside me. Glaring at him, I thought he might back off and mind his own business, but instead, he crossed his arms and stared Brody down.
“Next time, stop for the cookies. I haven’t heard the end of it for the last week. She calls me at work just to find out if I’ve heard anything about you.”
“I will. I should have more time this week.”
“Maybe,” JR grunted.
“Excuse me?” I asked, spinning to face him.
“Well, who knows. You might be hiding under my porch or sneaking around with the dog.”
Brody chuckled nervously. “Um…am I interrupting something?”
“Just a neighborly dispute.”
“Yeah, she won’t stop feeding the damn dog.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Brody asked, his eyes searching for the dog.
“It is when the dog isn’t mine.”
“So…she’s feeding a stray dog.”
“She’s feeding the dog on my property,” he bit out.
“Because the dog likes you!”
“That doesn’t make him mine!”
“Okay,” Brody chuckled. “Well, this has been fun. Really. But I think I’ll head out now.”
JR stalked forward, a menacing scowl plastered on his face. “Yeah, why don’t you do that.”
“JR!” I gasped.
“Do we have a problem here?” Brody asked.
“No,” I said quickly, hoping to diffuse whatever pissing match JR was trying to start.
“Why are you really here?” JR asked.
“Because I was dropping off cookies. You can see them. They’re in her hands,” Brody said, his attitude kicking up a notch. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Nope. No problem at all. Just keep your cookies on that side of the property and we won’t have a problem.”
“Well, since I don’t intend on bringing you any cookies, I think we’ll be just fine.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
I watched the back and forth, wondering what the hell was going on. Were they actually arguing over what side of the property line cookies would be?
“Uh, well, anyway,” I said, trying to break up whatever the hell this was. “Thank your mom again for the cookies.”
“I will,” Brody said, his eyes still trained on JR.
“Right.” I backed up a step, then another.
Geez, this was intense. And just when I thought they were about to pull out swords, Brody shook his head and waved before getting in his car and driving away.
And for some reason, this really pleased JR. It was written all over his face—like he had won some sort of imaginary battle.
With a satisfied smirk, he turned to me for just a second and actually looked happy to see me. Then his eyes dropped to the cookies and the scowl returned.
“Keep the food off my property.”
And then he stomped away.