Callum chuckled.
Reno glanced over his shoulder at me from his place beside Karma. “If you don’t want her, you should cut her loose and give the rest of us a chance.”
“I ain’t cutting her loose,” I barked. “She’s mine.”
“Yeah,” Reno cut out sarcastically. “Sounds like it.”
“She’s my woman. The fact I respect her enough to hold off on the bedroom gymnastics doesn’t mean shit. And don’t think I’m clueless when it comes to you, Reno,” I added. “Atlas told me you’d thrown your hat in the ring. Joke’s on you, seeing as she’s not fuckin’ interested.”
“You’ll fuck it up,” Reno declared. “Already are by the sounds of it. That’s when I’ll slide in, literally.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. “Not fuckin’ it up.” I drained my beer and stood from my stool. “Heading over there now, as amatter of fact. All this talk of my girl’s ass has got me thinking my drought’s about to end.” I turned to Reno and gave him The Smirk while telling Callum, “Thanks for the chat.”
Reno let out a snort before turning his attention back to the TV.
“Good luck,” Callum said under his breath.
Checking my pockets for my cell and wallet, I grabbed my keys from the bar top.
“Thanks, bro. Think I’m gonna need it.”
—————
For the past five minutes,I’d been having a humdinger of a fight with Rosie through her front door. I’d never been more grateful that her nearest neighbor was two fields away and as deaf as a post, because if he lived any closer and got wind of what was going on, I’d have been taken away in handcuffs by now.
“Let me in or I’ll break the fuckin’ door down,” I yelled.
“I’ll call the cops,” Rosie shrieked before tagging on, “And Atlas.”
That stopped me in my tracks.
She would, too.
Right, time to change my approach.
“Let me apologize, baby,” I crooned.
“Oh, just fuck off, O’Shea,” she shot back.
I tipped my head back and cursed at the sky.
If I could just get inside, I knew I could get her to listen to me. Rosie was a Taurus, which meant she saw red and had a temper, but it didn’t take her long to calm down. I just needed to get herover the seeing-red part and into the calm-down zone, and then I’d be golden.
My choices were limited. She obviously wasn’t going to open the door to me, so that meant I had to hark back to my misspent youth and reenact a spot of B and E. I always kept a toolbox in my truck, so that wouldn’t be a problem. I was a good lock picker thanks to that aforementioned misspent youth, and I could always race home, get my drill, and unscrew the door hinges in a pinch; though that would be noisy and Rosie would get wise to my game in about three seconds, giving her a window to call the cops on me. I had no doubt she’d do it, if only to piss me off.
Sauntering to the truck, I swung into the back and grabbed some tools before returning to the house, humming under my breath. Then I went around to the back door, knelt down, laid my pouch of tools out on the ground, pulled out two tiny tension wrenches, and got to work.
Seven minutes later, I pushed the door open with a grin.
The downstairs rooms were in darkness apart from a beam of faint light glowing from the upstairs hallway, and that was where I headed.
The patter of paws sounded on the wooden floor, and I reached down to give Barney’s head a pat. He licked my arm, turned around, and then sauntered off back to his dog bed.
Rosie kept a clean, tidy, and comfortable home. The walls were painted in soft, pale colors and lined with a plethora of family pictures and trinkets they’d picked up during various vacations and trips, but I hardly noticed them as I climbed up the stairs leading to the bedrooms.
As I reached the top, I heard the faint creak of a door opening. My chin jerked up as a loud shriek filled the air, and what seemed like a wrecking ball, containing a flurry of arms and hair, came flying toward me.
I managed to move away from the stairs just in time because Rosie, who incidentally was wearing an extremely sexy, pink, short, strappy nightie with red roses on it, careened into me, taking me down onto my back so hard that I let out an “Oof.”
