And that right there made my day.
Now I just had to deal with my brother and tell him that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t bring myself to like Cuddlebug.
I finished out the rest of my day filling orders and making a few deliveries. I’d fallen behind by wasting so much time with Scarlet, and by the time I got home, I was beyond exhausted and in no mood to deal with my brother.
But he was home, and he’d want to know how the lunch went. I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the car, especially not when I saw a woman run up to JR’s house and knock on his door.
Embarrassingly, I pressed my nose to the glass to get a better idea of what the woman looked like. Long brown hair, slender…beautiful.
And when JR opened the door, he tugged her inside quickly. Like he couldn’t wait to push her up against the door and have his way with her.
“Ugh, I really need a life. Or a man. Preferably not my neighbor.”
Even though my neighbor filled every single one of my dreams and had been the object of my fantasies for the past several nights. Still, even I had standards and would not allow my fascination and desire for the man to cloud my judgment. If he wanted to take some floozy home, that was his prerogative.
I would not sit around pining for a man who didn’t want me.
I marched into my house, determined to ignore my neighbor and do something sensible for the evening, like make dinner and watch a movie. But the second I walked through the door, the sounds started up.
Oh, Sawyer!
Yes, harder!
And various other sounds and phrases that would make my ears bleed if I stayed a second longer. I hurried out the door, slamming it behind me. It looked like I’d be wandering around town for a little while longer.
23
JR
I suckedin a breath when I saw her on my porch, with tear-stained cheeks and a bruised face.
“Alyssa,” I murmured, tugging her inside and holding her to me as I slammed the door.
A broken sob tore from her throat as she buried her face in my chest and released the pain I knew she was constantly keeping hidden. I wasn’t sure what happened this time, but it would inevitably be like all the rest.
She thought she found a winner this time.
She gave him everything, and he destroyed her.
And she loved him right up until he started using her as a punching bag.
“Hey, come on,” I whispered, walking her over to the couch.
Sinking down into the cushions, I held her to me and let her release every tear that was building up inside her, wondering who I would have to kill this time.
And I wasn’t fucking messing around.
Leaning back, I tipped her chin up, but she refused to look at me. Those beautiful green eyes were devastated, ashamed…broken. The bruise morphing around her right eye was at least two days old.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“You know why,” she whispered, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“Who was it this time?”
She shook her head slightly. She wasn’t going to tell me. “Does it matter?”
“Yes, it fucking matters,” I snarled. “I need to know who he is so I can protect you.”
