Back in my dorm, my home for another two weeks, I paced the small open-plan living space—a postage stamp, really; the kitchen, study area, and bedroom smooshed inside. The confined space seemed to be closing in on me. My irritation grew.
How in the hell could something beoverjust because of a stupid unexpected but mind-blowing kiss? My contact with Jack Griffin usually amounted to “where’s Max?” or with my pen poised over my pad, “what will it be?”
Gah! I dragged my fingers through my hair. How could this have happened? Now, he was in my thoughts. I wanted to kill him. I didn’t have time for distraction.
Dammit, Max! This is all your fault with your stupid rules.
I flopped onto the small couch near the open window and glared at the ceiling.
Movement had me glancing back. A scrawny gray-and-black cat leaped down to the floor and sauntered off to the kitchen area. A loud, annoyed grumble reached me seconds later.
“Hello to you, too.”
Wilbur the Cranky had returned from his alley-catting. When I first came across him several weeks ago, he loitered outside the dorm. I’d given him my lunch sandwich. After a few days, he’d somehow found me on the sixth floor. I had no idea how the heck he’d scaled the walls to get there, but he’d snuck in through my window. Ever since, he’d made my place his, and I didn’t have the heart to shut him out.
He was company. Company who hated me.
A dish clattered, the sound reverberating in my quiet studio, and I sighed.
The stubborn creature refused to eat anything but tuna—the sandwich I’d first fed him. He wouldn’t even touch the kibble. Lord knew I didn’t always have enough money to feed the bottomless pit, not when I had to feed myself, too.
I sat up and found him sitting amidst the mess he’d created near his overturned, blue plastic bowl. He eyeballed me with unblinking pale green eyes as if to say, “how dare you?”
“Really?” I growled, glaring at the kibble littering the floor. Thankfully, he didn’t leave any gifts of dead birds or rats. I got the small brush and dustpan out from the cupboard under the sink. At least fighting with Wilbur kept my mind off Jack as I cleaned up.
“I have to get two jobs, one just to feed you,” I grumbled.
Thinking about jobs, I still had no feedback from any of the positions I’d applied for. At this rate, I’d probably end up working full-time at the bar because I didn’t want to accept help from Dad. Not with Mom’s continuous medical bills. He didn’t need the added pressure.
Exhaling roughly, I stored the brush and dustpan, consoling myself that Dad would call if anything had happened to Mom—
Wilbur suddenly struck, swiping at me.Dammit!I reared back, but not fast enough to escape him. A stinging burn on my forearm was the thanks I got for caring about the feline from Hell.
“Really, cat?” I muttered, rubbing my arm. “I should just throw you out of the window you slunk in through. Argh. I don’t know what I did to attract both you and Jack into my life!”
Still fuming, though not at the feline, I opened a can of tuna and tipped it into a clean dish, flaked it with a fork, and set it down. The king of my studio circled it once, probably making sure I didn’t poison it, and then settled in for his meal, happy with his offering.
Hands washed, I forayed into my near-empty mini-fridge and got out the last of the cold meats and left-over pizza. While the microwave reheated the latter, I made a sandwich, then I grabbed a large glass of water. I mean, I had to have something healthy to offset my feast, right?
Setting my food on one side of the two-seater couch, I sat down and got out my laptop, opened Netflix, and scrolled through the lists. Movie selected, I settled in to watchTangled, a show I’d seen like a gazillion times. Hey, one could never get too much of a good thing. And I needed the distraction.
As I took a bite of my sandwich, my phone buzzed. I reached for it, and at the name,TomCaton the display, I frowned and glanced at the message.
This isn’t over.
Jack.
My breath caught, and the nest of wasps buzzing in my stomach rampaged into an uproar as my traitorous mind hurtled straight back to that kiss. Grrr!
3
Jack
Bright security lightsflooded the courtyard garage as I parked the bike alongside the Bentley and Mercedes SUV. Moments later, I made my way into my grandfather’s three-story mansion in Sea Cliff, still moving like a robot on autopilot, my thoughts spinning, the kiss replaying in my head. Something seemed to have gotten ahold of me. I only knew that I couldn’t let this go.
I had to find out what the hell it was about Ray that, with just one kiss, she had me in a tangle. None of the women I’d been with in the past had caused this kind of reaction with a mere kiss. No, this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
Had she replied to my message yet?
