Chapter 20 Josie #2
“Shh!” I hissed, continuing my way across the lawn.
“Awfully early in the season to be wearing only a t-shirt out. A little chilly?”
God, his voice was carrying. Everyone in the neighborhood was going to hear.
JR was going to hear, and then he’d come out and laugh at me, or worse, question why I was running out of his house, stealing his shirt.
There was only one way out of this. I ran toward Remi’s cruiser, hoping he didn’t say anything else on the way. By the time I reached him, I was out of breath and he was laughing hysterically at me.
“This is not what it looks like,” I said quickly.
“So, you’re not leaving your neighbor’s house at the crack of dawn, wearing nothing but his shirt?”
I glanced down, frowning at his assessment.
“Are you wearing underwear?”
I tugged the hem of the shirt down further, but it did nothing to help the situation.
“Look, it’s exactly as it looks, but what you’re thinking happened in there is not at all what happened.
In fact, it’s the complete opposite of what you think happened.
I would go so far as to say that there has been the biggest misunderstanding in the world! ”
“Between you and JR?”
“No!” I snapped. “Between you and me!”
“But…I wasn’t misunderstanding anything. You came out of his house dressed in his shirt, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“And you’re sneaking back to your house, because no woman tiptoes in a run across the grass this early in the morning.”
“Sort of, but—”
“And you don’t want him to know; otherwise, you wouldn’t keep looking over your shoulder to see if he’s watching. Which he is.”
“What?” I gasped, my gaze whipping around, but I couldn’t see a damn thing.
“Oh, he’s there. You might not see it, but he’s watching, and he’s either enjoying every minute of this, or he’s thanking his lucky stars that he escaped you.”
“He didn’t escape me because nothing happened!” I hissed. “And don’t you go spreading any gossip about me.”
“I would never,” he said, holding up his hand.
Well, at least I had his word on the matter.
“But I can’t say the same for every other busybody on the street who is right now calling every single person they know to tell them about the half-naked woman making a mad dash in the early morning for her own house.”
“I’m not making a mad dash!”
“Of course, now everyone in town is going to assume the two of you are together, and you’re sleeping together. Are you?”
“What?”
“Either one. I’m not picky.”
“We’re not together or sleeping together. I was arrested. You know this!”
“Detained,” he grinned. “But that still doesn’t explain how you ended up at his house at the end of the night. I heard he picked you up in the afternoon.”
“Yes, and he took me to the bar so I didn’t have to see my brother and his cougar fiancée.”
“Ah, so he got you drunk first.”
“No!” I pounded on the car.
“Oh, so you were easy.”
“That’s not what I said! There was no drinking. There was no sex. There was simply me going home with him to spend the night so I had someplace to stay away from Cuddlebug and Boo Bear!” I shouted.
Chuckling, he nodded at me, then something behind me.
Spinning around, I pulled the shirt lower to cover my ass, though I had a feeling it was already too late.
“Am I interrupting something?” JR asked, his eyebrow quirked in interest.
No words would come out. No matter how hard I tried, I was at a loss, and no amount of explanation would make any of this better.
So, with as much dignity as I could muster, I simply turned and marched back to my house and let myself inside, refusing to believe that JR just saw my ass hanging out of his shirt.
Hurrying to my room, I plopped down on my bed and groaned in humiliation. How could I have done that? I was so stupid! And I was still wearing his shirt!
Sniffing it, I moaned. It smelled like him. God, I could live in this thing and die a happy woman. But that would be bad. Very, very bad.
No, from now on, I was going to stay on my side of the property line and only wave if I saw him around town. There would be no more sleepovers or borrowing his clothes. I wouldn’t go into the bar, and I would be damn sure that Remi knew not to call JR under any circumstances.
“I have to get to work,” I muttered, pulling my shit together.
I hurried through my morning, skipping my cup of tea until I got to the shop. I would need a pot instead of the usual two cups if I was going to make it through this day.
Luckily, Sawyer and Cuddlebug were still asleep, or at least pretending to be asleep, allowing me to slip out without either of them aware of my existence. I wasn’t sure how I was going to live in the same house with either of them, but I’d work that out later.
For now, I grabbed the keys to the convertible that Cuddlebug had basically stolen and made my first stop of the day.
Frank’s Dealership.
A winning name if I ever heard one. The man had the ability to sell a rhinoceros to a giraffe, yet he couldn’t think of a single good name for his shop. It was amazing.
Slamming the door on the shiny, green car, I strode toward his office. When he saw me coming, he rushed for the door, trying to lock it, but I got there first and pushed as hard as I could against his weight until he stumbled backward.
“Frank,” I warned. “You and I are going to have a discussion.”
“I swear,” he fumbled over his words. “She said it was okay. She said you would love it!”
“Where’s Delilah, Frank?”
“Why would you want that old hunk of junk back?” he asked, his beard twitching along with every other piece of his body as he backed away from me.
“Frank, I did not ask for my car to be traded in. Nor did I want the accompanying five-hundred-dollar payment every month. You know how much I love Delilah!”
“Josie,” he smiled. “Be reasonable. She’s going to die eventually. Why not just cut your losses now?”
“Because I don’t have five hundred dollars a month to pay you with, and neither does the woman who convinced you to trade in Delilah,” I snapped. “Now, if you ever want to get any money for the car outside, you’re going to put her back on the lot and bring me my car. Now!”
Scrambling to the back, he grabbed the keys off the hook and nodded quickly as he exited the office. Within ten minutes, I had Delilah back and I was headed into my shop for my much-needed tea.
Scarlet may have won the battle yesterday, but I was determined to win the war.