Every day when he’d forced himself to punch in at the old-time clock to do a job that he’d hated, he’d dreamed of the day when he would be able to buy an old house and restore it. He’d waited over fifty years for his chance, and when he got it, he’d suddenly found himself with two small children to raise when his daughter died in a car crash, and their father decided that leaving them on their grandparents’ doorstep in the middle of the night was for the best.
But he never complained. He’d simply rolled up his sleeves and did his best. He’d taught Jackson how to be a man, how to do the right thing, and how to work hard to get what he wanted, and with her…
He’d simply smiled and did his best to ensure that she didn’t end up accidentally burning down the house or end up being torn apart by an angry mob. Her grandparents had done an amazing job, making sure that they were well taken care of, had clothes on their backs, and food in their stomachs even though it meant putting aside their dreams to make sure that they found theirs.
When she went off to college, she’d figured that her grandparents would finally get a chance to enjoy their retirement. What she hadn’t planned on was her grandparents both passing away before the first semester was over. After that, she hadn’t seen a reason to come back here, not with Jackson in the army, but now…
She was determined to see this thing through for her grandfather.
With that in mind, she headed toward the house, slipped, tripped, and stumbled along the way, but eventually, she made it to the back door. After taking a deep breath and telling herself that there was no other way, she picked up a rock, closed her eyes, and—
Realized too late that her brother had installed an alarm.
---
Wondering why Jackson refused to sell this dump, Reed grabbed the baseball bat that he kept by the back door as he kicked the broken glass out of the way and headed toward the sounds of squeaky footsteps, noting that the burglar had managed to shut off the alarm. From the open doorway of the large living room, he watched as a small silhouette stumbled around the room. Shaking his head in disgust, he reached over and turned on the light.
“Don’t move,” he said, praying that it was just some kid here on a dare so that he could kick him out and call it a night.
There was a surprised gasp before the small burglar tried to turn, only to slip, stumble, and fall over Mrs. Lawson’s old tea table with a pained grunt. It took a moment before he realized that the burglar was soaked to the bone, covered from head to toe in mud, trembling, and most likely female. His suspicions were confirmed when she reached up and shoved the long, dark wet hair out of her face. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of him standing there. He watched as she licked her lips nervously, moved to stand up, only to slip on the small puddle she’d created and fell back on her ass.
“I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t leave immediately I’ll be forced to call the police,” she announced, taking him by surprise as she held up a dripping wet cell phone to show him that she was serious.
He had to bite back a smile when the cell phone battery slipped out and fell to the floor with an ominous “clank.”
She looked up at him and noticeably swallowed. “Damn,” she whispered with an adorable frown.
Reed decided to take pity on the little wet rat. He lowered the bat and gestured toward the front door. “Just get out of here and I won’t call the cops.”
Large beautiful blue eyes widened even further at that announcement a split second before they narrowed on him.
“Not happening,” she said firmly.
Whatever patience he had snapped. “Look, enough is enough, woman,” he said with a heavy sigh as he stalked forward, grabbed her by the arm, and hauled her to her feet only to drop her a split second later when she raised a small metallic tube and sprayed him in the face.
---
Joey cringed back from the very large man that didn’t seem fazed by her peppermint breath spray as he glared down at her while she struggled to come up with a way to save herself and admittedly drawing a blank on this one.
“I’m accident prone,” she heard herself mumble, really hoping that he didn’t put Jackson’s old baseball bat to good use.
“What exactly does that have to do with spraying me in the face with breath spray?” he asked with a frown as he wiped the last of the peppermint spray off his face while she took this opportunity to check out her burglar.
And frowned.
She wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but something told her that the large, incredibly handsome man with neatly combed black hair, wearing a tie, shirt, slacks, and polished shoes wasn’t a burglar, which brought up an interesting question…
Why was he here?
Worrying her bottom lip and wondering if Jackson had finally followed through with his threat to sell this place, she took a step back and slipped in the puddle she’d made when she’d tried to find a lamp and would have fallen on her ass if he hadn’t reached over and steadied her.
“Thank you,” she mumbled automatically as she tried to straighten her wet clothes and figure out how she was going to afford to buy Jackson’s share of the house and still be able to afford to restore it to its former glory.
She wasn’t going to be able to, she realized pretty quickly as she bit back a groan, wondering how she was going to convince Jackson to give her a chance when they both knew that he was going to say no. He didn’t want the house, never had. The only reason that he hadn’t really pushed her to sell it yet was because he knew just how much it meant to their grandfather, but sooner or later sentiment wasn’t going to be enough.
“Well?” the man that she was afraid was a realtor said.
“I don’t carry mace-”
“So, I’ve figured,” he cut her off dryly.
“-because with my luck I’d end up spraying myself in the face or mistake it for breath spray,” she admitted with a shrug.
His lips twitched. “I see.”
She glared, slipped, caught herself, and glared again.
He smiled.
She made a small growl of frustration somehow causing herself to lose her footing. He chuckled as he caught her, again.
“I’m Reed Bradford, and you are?” he asked with that devastating smile that brought it all back.
It also made it kind of difficult to breathe as she stared at her childhood nemesis, the boy who’d made her life a living hell and had made her feel like a third wheel in her own house. He’d made an art out of glaring at her, and the man that she’d publicly humiliated. As she stood there, trying to think of something, anything to save her from the ass whooping that he’d promised her if he ever saw her again, she couldn’t help but regret her decision to come back here.
Granted, when she’d made her decision to come home and pretend that her life wasn’t falling apart, she hadn’t exactly been thinking straight because if she had, she would have considered just how stupid that was and never would have taken the risk. Deciding that perhaps it would be for the best if she was anywhere but here, she mumbled, “I’ll just be going now,” with a somewhat hysterical smile as she slowly backed up toward the door only to go still when the smile on his incredibly handsome face slowly died and was replaced by the glare that used to haunt her dreams as the realization that she was the girl who’d made him a YouTube sensation hit and when it did…
She decided that it would be in her best interest to see if the pantry still locked from the inside.
Chapter 4
“I said I was sorry!” the little brat who had made his life a living hell yelled while he stood there, glaring at the locked pantry door as his hands twitched with the need to finally give her the spanking that she should have gotten a long time ago.
“No, you didn’t,” he bit out evenly through clenched teeth as the memory of everything the little brat put him through nearly knocked him on his ass.
“Well,” she said, pausing to clear her throat, “it was implied.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said, narrowing his eyes on the door.
“I tried, but Jackson felt that it was for the best if I gave you some space until you were able to get your homicidal urges under control.”
“Then you came back too soon,” he bit out, looking around the kitchen for something to use to take that damn door down.