“Doesn’t matter,” Matt said, shifting his attention back to the closed kitchen door.
“It’s Joey,” Reed said, chuckling when Matt choked on his next bite as he threw a panicked look toward the closed kitchen door.
“Joey Lawson?”
“The one and only,” he said as he debated stopping to grab something to eat on the way to work only to immediately dismiss the idea since he had too much shit to do this morning.
“Why’s she here?” Matt asked as he threw him a curious look.
“She’s on sabbatical,” Reed said, still wondering about that, because something told him, mostly the fact that she came back here after she’d sworn that she would never set foot in this town again, that there was something more to this story than she was telling him.
“So, she’s staying here?”
“For now,” Reed said, sighing heavily as he tossed the empty box in the trash.
“She can share my room,” Matt said, making sure to sound put out.
“Speaking of your room…” Reed drawled just as Joey walked into the kitchen.
When Matt opened his mouth, most likely to say something that was going to get him bitch slapped, she held up her hand to stop him. “I’m only going to say this once. We don’t talk about what happened this morning, mention it, or even think about it,” she said, stopping to slowly exhale before she said, “and in return for your cooperation, I will make my grandmother’s famous chocolate chip cookies for you once a week until I leave.”
At the mention of her grandmother’s cookies, Matt went still. “With the extra chocolate chips?”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh and a nod.
“Every week?” his brother asked, clearly debating if it was worth it.
“Unless you piss me off and I’m forced to kill you in your sleep.”
Matt pursed his lips as he thought it over. “Am I allowed to ask any follow-up questions?”
“No.”
“What about that tattoo on your-”
“I will chemically castrate you,” she said.
With a nod and a shrug, Matt said, “That sounds fair,” while Reed stood there, wondering about that tattoo and hating that the little bastard saw it first.
Chapter 10
“This is hopeless,” Joey mumbled as she stood at the edge of her driveway, taking it all in.
“There, there,” the annoying little bastard that she couldn’t seem to shake said with a condescending pat on her head. “It will be okay,” Matt said, following that up with an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, which made it easier for her to reach over and-
“Shit!” he yelped, immediately letting her go so that he could rub his side and she could return to staring at the depressing sight before her.
It was actually worse than she’d thought.
So much so, that she was actually starting to have seconds thoughts about coming here. Then again, she’d been having those since last night when she’d realized that the man that she’d publicly humiliated after she’d decided to drink her first beer to see what all the fuss was about, still lived next-door. The incident in his bed this morning hadn’t helped, and neither had the incident where Matt startled her, which unfortunately had led to her screaming, stumbling, and losing her towel.
But this…
This had her rethinking her entire plan and seriously considering telling Jackson to go ahead and put the house on the market. The only problem with that plan was that she had nowhere else to go. After Anderson congratulated her on her sabbatical, it had been decided that it would probably be for the best if she stayed somewhere else. Since she’d lived in faculty housing, giving up her apartment hadn’t been an issue. The only problem had been deciding where she was going to live for the next year.
She’d briefly considered staying with her brother, but since he mostly lived out of a suitcase and had a habit of treating her like she was ten she’d decided that it would probably be for the best if she came up with another plan. It also didn’t hurt that he didn’t know that she’d been put on sabbatical since that wouldn’t end well for her. She’d debated traveling for a while, seeing the world, and finally doing all those things that she’d never had a chance to do, but she really didn’t want to do them alone. More importantly, there was no one that she wanted to go with her. That had left her with only one option, come back home and pick up where her grandfather left off. There was only one problem with that.
She had no idea what she was supposed to do now.
“It’s really not that bad,” Matt said with a lazy gesture toward the house that was going to take a miracle to fix, especially on her budget.
“It’s worse,” she said, taking in the messy front yard filled with holes, rocks and matted weeds that had been destroyed over the winter, the remains of the small fence that her grandfather had planned on replacing, the dirt driveway that disappeared into the lawn, and the briars…everywhere.
That was bad enough, but the house…the house was just…
“Is there any chance that the damage is mostly cosmetic?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip and really hoping that he would lie to her, but one look at the old house with missing window panes, broken shutters, missing shingles and so many more things that she would really like to pretend weren’t broken told her that this wasn’t going to be the simple renovation that she’d been hoping for. Well, that and the man standing next to her destroying all her hopes and dreams.
“No, not a chance in hell,” he said, punctuating his words with another pat on her head as she stood there, wondering how she was going to do this.
“How bad do you think it’s going to be?” she forced herself to ask as she absently swatted his hand away.
“Considering that this house hasn’t had an upgrade beyond the basics that your grandfather did…” he said, letting his words trail off with a sigh before saying, “I think it’s going to take a lot of work, but at least it won’t be a complete gut job.”
“That’s good, right?” she asked weakly as she rubbed her hands down her face.
“Normally, but since your grandfather registered the house as a historic home it’s going to be a nightmare getting permits, finding someone who has the skills to restore it, and knows what they’re doing without completely screwing you over,” he said with a shrug as she slowly exhaled and considered her options.
“And if I decided to put it on the market the way it is?” she asked, realizing that she might not have a choice.
“You’d have to find the right buyer, someone who wants a historic home and is willing to sink a shit load of money into this place to restore it. If your grandfather hadn’t registered it, you probably wouldn’t have a problem selling it. The land alone is worth a lot, but with that registration…” he said, letting his words trail off with a shrug.
“I’m screwed,” she finished for him, finally realizing why Jackson had washed his hands of the old place years ago.
“And if I managed to find someone to buy it?” she forced herself to ask.
“You probably wouldn’t even get half of what your grandfather paid for the old place,” he said, before adding, “But I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can do this,” he said with another shrug.
“Really?” she asked with a hopeful smile that was quickly destroyed by the little brat that used to hide in her house and wait for hours just so that he could jump out and scare the crap out of her.
“For a price,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
“What?” she asked, narrowing her eyes on the incredibly handsome man grinning down at her.
“Tell me about the tattoo,” Matt said as she slowly nodded, realizing what she had to do.
---
“Tell me that you’re not back in my office,” Reed said, telling himself that this wasn’t happening.
“I would. I really would,” Jen said with a heartfelt sigh, “but didn’t you tell me that it was wrong to lie?”