Rayna jumps down from the front seat of the truck as soon as she sees me barreling down. “Now, Milo, just calm down. She’s fine. For whatever reason, she doesn’t want to stay here and that’s her business, so I say Bran and I take her to our place, and she can sleep on the couch.”
I’ve slept on their couch. One night when Bran and I were overserved, I passed out on the miserable thing, and I don’t think my neck has been the same since.
And, besides, I need to see her. Check with my own eyes that she’s okay. It makes no sense, but there it is.
I yank open the back door of Bran’s extended cab and there she is, that caged panther ready to claw my freakin’ eyes out. Her hair is in a wild halo around her face, free of the confines of that ridiculous hairdo from earlier. I can see the deep blue of her eyes even in the weak overhead light of the cab, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were burning.
“Don’t be stupid, Jill.”
“I am not stupid!” Oh, yeah, there’s a fire all right.
“I didn’t say you were. I said don’t be stupid now.” I gesture to the ground, knowing she gets my meaning.
“I’m not staying here.” Her arms cross, and I’m about two seconds from hauling her ass out of the cab and spanking it red. It takes everything I have to rein in my temper.
“Now is not the time to be all self-righteous and shit, Jill. You know I’ve got the room, so get on out of there and let everyone get a good night’s sleep.” There’s plenty of time later to figure out what the hell has her so broke she’s risking her wellbeing for a night’s sleep.
Her eyes dart to Rayna who’s climbed back in the cab—probably to protect Jill from me. I can see her wavering.
“It’s too late to go looking for another place, and Bran and Rayna’s couch is no picnic,” I continue.
Rayna shrugs. “It’s true.” Then she tacks on, “But you’re welcome to it if you want.” Solidarity among stubborn females. Jesus.
I jerk my hand toward the house. “In sixty seconds, I’m locking the door of my bedroom and going to sleep. Either you come in and sleep in a real bed, the couch, or the damn porch—doesn’t matter to me. But you’re not going back to that motel.”
I’m done with this. But before I can move another muscle, Bran pushes past me, reaches into the cab, and pulls Jill out in a fireman’s hold. She’s too shocked to resist at first, but when Bran turns and bends, her upper half comes flying toward me, and I barely have time to react. I catch her and pull her entire body to my chest, legs bent over one arm and back against the other.
She yelps and starts squirming, but Bran tosses her purse on her lap and slams the door shut. “Stay!” He shouts like he’s talking to an unruly dog, and I’m tempted to laugh out loud if I didn’t think it would get me two black eyes. Five seconds later, the truck is spewing gravel as he pulls out of my drive.
Rayna leans out the window and waves. “I’ll see you tomorrow! Get some good sleep!” And they’re gone.
There’s no telling what Jill might do if I set her down, so I stride to the house the best I can with her still in my arms and somehow manage to get through the doorway without dropping her. It’s like a caveman carrying his feral bride over the threshold.
“Welcome home, Sunshine,” I say, and then drop her on her ass in my entryway.
That was, quite possibly, the worst night of sleep I’ve had in a decade—and that includes more than a few nights crashing on a beach with nothing but the moon and sand fleas to keep me company. I pull on my t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and wander out to the kitchen, my face splitting in an enormous yawn. Apart from its usual noises, the house is quiet, but I can still feel her lurking somewhere within its walls.
I meant what I said last night about going to bed in sixty seconds—even if good sleep never found me. After dropping Jill on the floor, I didn’t pause on my way to my room, tossing only a few words over my shoulder as I went.
“Felicity’s room is up the stairs.”
Jill didn’t respond, to my relief, and I shut my bedroom door behind me. My phone pinged with a text from Rayna, but I only glanced at it before sinking down on the bed, ready for the day to finally be over.
But I’ve never been a particularly lucky guy, as was evidenced by the knock on my door five minutes later.
“What?” I shouted from my pillow.
“She’s not there.” Jill’s voice had lost a little of its petulance.
“Who’s not where?”
“Felicity. She’s not in her room.”
I was not getting up. “I know. Go to sleep or whatever you want to do, but don’t wake me up.”
“Aren’t you going to wait for her to get home? She’s only sixteen.” I could picture Jill standing outside my bedroom door, hands on her hips and a disapproving frown taking center stage.
For Christ’s sake.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and pushed to sitting before getting to my feet and going to the door. I opened it just enough to see Jill standing there in that crazy dress with the expected frown, but not enough that she could barge in and punch me in the nuts.
“That’d be a hell of a long wait considering she won’t be back until Christmas.”
“What?! This is ridiculous!”
“Calm your ass down. What do you care? The sooner you go to sleep the sooner we can be rid of each other. Goodnight.” I tried closing the door, but she wedged her shoe in the crack. “Dammit, Jill! What now?”
She took a breath and relaxed her posture, which just served to make me even warier. “Do you have a phone charger?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, can I borrow it?” She tried for a smile and… was she batting her eyelashes at me? Nice try, sweetheart.
“That depends.”
“On what?” Yup, she was definitely giving me flirty eyes.
“If you’re gonna use it to charge your phone and call an Uber.”
She gasped, and I held up my phone. “Rayna texted.”
The smile and doe eyes were long gone as Jill swiped her hand out to snatch my phone, but I shoved it down the front of my jeans before she could grab it. What? It was the easiest place to reach. Her hand grappled for it out of reflex, and then she jumped back like a startled cat when she realized where her hand was going. I took the opportunity to shut the door and lock it.
“Goodnight!”
I heard some grumbling and muttering, but it soon faded, and I was left to toss and turn until the sun coming through my window woke me up for good.
“You don’t have any food.”
Jill’s voice scares the crap out of me from the corner of the kitchen.
“Jesus. Warn a guy, would you?” I reach up to scratch my beard as I glance over. And I almost swallow my tongue.
Standing in the corner of my kitchen is a goddamn goddess. Her hair is sleep-tumbled where it falls around her shoulders and face, and there’s not a trace of make-up on her. Instead, her skin is dewy and fresh with full pink lips pouted and laced with dampness from what could only have been her tongue dragging across them.
My dick goes hard in my sweatpants, and I can’t help the sweep of my eyes down the rest of her body. She’s wearing one of those flimsy white camisole tops that barely contains her breasts, and it’s paired with hot pink boy shorts that show off her long legs and the swell of hips to perfection.