Chapter Five - Neveah

Lucy and I decided to stay at the gym until Dad closed. I hadn't wanted to spend an awkward day with Cooper. Lucy beat me to the house and bounced like a rabbit on the front porch waiting for me.

My laugh was short lived when I noticed Cooper's truck in the driveway. I guess I'd hoped he'd go home tonight, but that prayer had gone unanswered.

Cooper sat at our bar with his head in his hands when we walked in.

"How is he?" Dad asked from behind me.

Cooper lifted his head, and his gaze landed on mine. That gaze had once sent jolts of adrenaline through me. "He's better. He's eating, and I changed out all of his bandages. He'll be able to walk normally in a couple of days."

Dad walked over to the phone. "I'm ordering pizza. What kind do y'all want?"

Cooper waved him off. "I'll eat anything." His eyes cast back toward mine. "What about you, Neveah? Still like meat lovers?"

The way he said my name pissed me off. "Dad knows what I like," I said, patting Lucy's head.

"How is Phoenix?" he asked, leaning against the bar. His eyes were all over me, and I tried my best not to squirm underneath his gaze.

"I love it." Or I did.

Cooper narrowed his eyes. "What about that fiancée?"

I gave Dad a dirty glance over my shoulder which he ignored. Why would he tell my business to Cooper? "I don't have a fiancée anymore."

"Oh, sorry. I had no idea."

I shrugged. "It's fine." Suddenly I didn't feel like company. "I'm going to my room. Let me know when the pizza gets here."

***

I ate in my room like a sulky teenager because I was too embarrassed to face Cooper. The smile on his face when I told him I didn't have a fiancée anymore told me he knew something went wrong, and that's what he told me would happen if I moved off by myself.

And the number one assumption is cheating, and that was it. I was cheated on. I hoped Cooper was happy. He jinxed me from the beginning.

Unable to help it, my fingertips wrapped tightly around my windowsill. Cooper went to check on Declan an hour before and was already snoring from our spare bedroom across the hallway.

I knew it wasn't a good idea to go look but some invisible force pushed me forward. I shoved my window up and the humid breeze nearly sucked the breath from me.

Lucy sat at my side, but I didn't want to risk her barking and waking up the house so I put my finger up. "Stay."

She whined but didn't move as I slid through the window to the muggy ground, scolding myself the entire time. The lights were off in the guest house, but I could see the nightstand lamp dimly lit.

Adrenaline soared through me. I had no idea why I needed to take a look at him, but I did. The window blinds were pulled up a couple of inches, and it gave me enough space to see into the room.

The room was quiet, but the hammering in my chest beat loudly in my eardrums. It took my eyes a minute to adjust but when they did I saw him. The way my heart jumped to my throat sent waves to no man's land. Have mercy. He was lying on his back in the small twin size bed, arms and legs hung loosely over the sides since the bed was too small for him.

The lamp gave me enough light to see that sweat formed on the ridges in his stomach and each breath tightened his muscles. He was so real and raw that it made me ache to get closer, I felt like I needed a closer look.

Biting my lip, I grabbed the windowsill when Lucy let out a loud bark from my bedroom window a few yards away. I froze and tossed her a don't you dare do it again look. When I glanced back inside, Declan stared at me from his bed.

I was so embarrassed that he'd caught me looking but couldn't make myself turn away from him, our eyes were focused on one another. A low steady hum of electricity burned bright in the pit of my stomach. His square jaw was locked tight, and his hands clutched to the sheets beneath him. Lucy barked again, and I jumped back and sprinted into a run toward the window.

I climbed back into the window, locked it, and turned to glare at Lucy. She lowered her head and avoided eye contact. Aggravated, I slipped back into my bed and shut my eyes, pretending none of it even happened.

***

"Do I have to?"

My dad glanced over the rim of his glass of orange juice. "Yes. I'm late to open the gym, and the guy needs to eat. Just bring it out to him, Neveah."

I bit the inside of my lip and pulled at my bright pink yoga pants. He'd seen me peeking in his window the night before, and I did not want to relive that humiliation of being creepy, or thirsty for that matter. It was obvious I was lusting after him. I had hoped we could avoid each other until he was gone.

"Whatever," I mumbled.

Dad ruffled his hair. "You've got to get used to him because I offered him a job at the gym when he gets better."

"You what?" I yelled.

Dad frowned. "I thought you were all for helping this kid out? You're the one that didn't want to take him to the hospital because he asked you not to."

That was before he'd caught me watching him. "Okay, Dad. I'll do it."

Dad gave me a bored look. "Please don't make me relive the teenage years."

I eyed the bowl of soup. "Aren't you late?"

"I'll see you later. Call your Aunt Shelly today."

"I will."

Dad kissed my forehead, grabbed his things, and then hurried out the front door. The silence that fell over me was the loudest silence I'd ever heard. All I could think about was his food getting cold. I palmed my forehead and sighed.

Better get it over with.

Lucy and I walked the short distance to the guest house and stood at the door. The soup burned my hand but my feet were stuck to the porch. I pressed my ear to the door, but I couldn't hear anything.

Lucy whined while pawing the welcome mat. I hurried and knocked before she decided to start barking.

"Come in."

The door felt heavy against my palm, but I shoved it opened. Greedily, my eyes searched the room. I found him lying in his bed, the cover thrown on the floor, in nothing but a pair of my dad's red Underarmour underwear which looked completely different on him than my dad.

"Oh," he said.

He obviously expected my dad, but he didn't grab for the covers, he stayed sprawled in front of me, his thick thighs wide and his chest sweaty from the heat. I was hardly winning the battle.

My eyes caressed down his torso to his thighs, my hormones reliving those teen years my dad hated so much. "I thought you were Wes."

My fingers tightened around the bowl, and my gaze traveled down the ridges of his taut stomach.

"Stop that," he growled.

I jumped backwards and hit my head against the wooden door with a thump. "Stop what?"

The way his eyes swept me from head to toe had my body burning from the inside out. "Stop staring at me."

Embarrassment flooded me. There he was with bandages wrapped around his bruised body, and I was ogling him like a piece of meat.

And it was worth every second. "I'm not."

His dark brows shot up to his hairline. "Oh, really? It looked like it to me."

Lifting my chin, I gave him a  sarcastic smile. "I guess you need to go to the eye doctor. I was just bringing you your breakfast because my dad asked me to."

Those dark eyes watched me carefully until I squirmed in the doorway. "Are you going to bring it here, or do you want me to get up and get it?"

I gritted my teeth before taking a leisurely step inside. Lucy bounded forward and took liberty on herself to plant her front paws on the side of his bed.

Declan's gaze cast down to her. "Hi, girl. You found me the other day, didn't you?" he cooed, running his fingers against her head.

Something wicked swelled between my legs. I need to get out of here. But—once again—my feet took a permanent residence on the floor. Lucy's tail wagged in a steady rhythm as he cooed and brushed his knuckles against her, which only drew attention to how massive his forearms were.

God, I really need to get out of here—like yesterday.

Stepping forward, I offered him the bowl of soup. Dragging his eyes from Lucy to my own, he carefully eyed the bowl, and then let his gaze travel back up my breasts to my eyes. I'd only been that close to him when he was covered in mud and blood.

With his face clean, I could see every flawlessly imperfect thing about him. The fresh scar on his lip only intensified how full they were. A five o'clock shadow was light on his strong jaw. His heavy eyebrows were perfect naturally, because I knew he wasn't the kind to get pampered.

Things were stirring inside of me that I had never felt in my short twenty-one years on this planet. He reached forward, the tips of his fingers skimmed down the path of mine until he palmed the bowl and brought it down to his chest.

His hand jerked outward, his fingers encircled my wrist, and he flipped my palm upward. Shock raced through me, but I didn't snatch away as he examined my reddened palm from the bowl.

"It's hot. Why didn't you put it down?"

Oh God. What was I supposed to say? I'm so incredibly attracted to you that I couldn't move too close to you. "It's not hot."

I dropped my gaze to the wooden floor.

His fingers tightened around my wrist, he jerked me closer to him, and my body pulsed from the bluntness of it. "Stop lookin' away from me, it's annoying."

I jerked away from him. "I'll look wherever I want, thank you."

His eyes cast down to his abs, and my sex clenched tighter. "Obviously." He met my gaze. "I saw you last night."

The heavy pressure in my ears doubled from embarrassment. "I wasn't lookin' at you last night. I was checking on you."

The leg closest to me dropped to the floor with a loud plop. "I saw you checking—Angel."

"You're mistaken, but I'll let it go."

A wide grin blessed his face, and he could have been the fault Adam wavered with Eve. A seductive evil that was so beautiful that you didn't care the consequence. "You like to be in control, don't you?"

Heath always complained that I had to be in control of every situation but in reality he was just weak. "No."

"You do," he said back. "But that's okay, because I'm the master of control, and its tough shit for whoever doesn't like it."

Something about the tone of his voice told me that he spoke the truth, and by the look of him, he'd have another woman underneath him to fill that void the disappoint left behind, quickly.

"I'm not falling for your tricks," I said. "I know you want me to fall for this bad boy façade but douchebag really isn't my style."

His jaw twitched, and he sat his soup to the side. "I'm not trying to seduce you, Angel. I'm trying to make sure you don't fall for anything and into this bed, because it doesn't need to happen. It won't happen."

I stepped back like I'd been slapped. Not that I cared, but I was sure he liked what he'd seen when I walked in. "Piss off, I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man on earth."

The bed squeaked, his arm snaked around my waist and he dragged me closer to him. Mouth parted, eyes on my lips, his minty breath heaved against me. "Take it back," he whispered against my mouth.

Warmth settled between my legs, and I went liquid. If he hadn't pulled me against his chest, I would have been a puddle of goo on the floor. My fingers sprawled against his tanned skin, and my breast brushed against his own. "Let me go," I whispered, aware of how his eyes hadn't strayed from my opened mouth.

Wetness puddled in my panties as he brushed the pad of his thumb against my lower lip. "I wish I didn't have to."

But he released my waist and allowed me to stand which didn't go very well. I stumbled to the left and caught myself on the small nightstand at the same time he reached forward to catch me.

"Careful," he whispered, and I didn't have to look because I heard the smugness in his voice.

"I'm leaving," I whispered helplessly. "Eat your food. I'll be home today if you need anything."

"And how do you expect me to get you?"

"Here is your phone." I dug it from the leg pocket of my leggings.

He kept eye contact but reached for his phone. "You looked through it."

I swallowed, too stubborn to lie. "Yes."

"And what did you find?"

I looked over at Lucy who rested her head on her front two paws, watching us. "I found nothing."

He nodded. "Good."

We watched each other for several seconds, the obvious he's bad news weighed between us. I needed to leave, because the small voice in the back of my head told me to ask questions that I was sure I didn't want to know the answers to.

"Call me if you need anything."

He nodded once, and I felt his eyes on me as I swayed my hips to the door. Once I shut the door, I used it as a crutch for my wobbly legs which threatened to betray me. God he was tense. I was tense. I was turned on beyond oblivion; a feel of desperation flooded me with need.

This isn't going to be good.

***

"Where is he?"

Aunt Shelly barged into the front door without knocking. She clutched her purse at her side and searched around the room like a mad woman. Her dyed blond hair—that I insistently told her looked better brown—was straightened and not a hair was out of place.

"If the he you are referring to is the guy we found, he's in the guest house out back."

She dropped her purse on the bar and sneered over at me. "And why aren't you over there with him? Come over here and give me a hug. I missed my best-friend."

I sank into her arms and pressed my cheek against her shoulder. She'd always been my mom for a lack of better words, and I missed everything about her. Even the perfume that was way too strong brought tears to my eyes. "So is he cute?"

I went back over to the refrigerator. Cute? God, he's gorgeous, but I'd never admit it. "He's okay."

She squinted her eyes and took a seat at the bar. "Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not," I said, grabbing us both a water bottle from the fridge. "And is this the welcome I get after six months?"

"I missed you, Nev. No one told you to be gone six months either. Have you heard from the limp dick back in Arizona? Is he not worried that you'll find some helpless gorgeous man to nurse back to heath?"

"Well, first off, I told you he's okay. Secondly, I haven't talked to him since I left."

"You didn't even answer the phone and hang up? I was really looking forward to planning this wedding, ya know. You've crushed my dreams, Neveah. And I know he's more than cute, because you won't make eye contact with me."

"Don't be so dramatic. I'll have a wedding one day. And he's okay, like I said."

She pursed her lips. "Well, let's go take a look then."

I lifted a brow. "No, I'm going for a run."

She snorted. "I don't need your permission to go look. I'll just go introduce myself."

"Aunt Shelly, I really don't want to go back out there." And I really don't want you to go back there.

"Suit yourself." She made a beeline for the backdoor.

Lucy looked up at me, and we both went after her. Aunt Shelly had already stepped inside when we made it to the porch.

She stood in the doorway, and I could tell by her tensed shoulders that she knew okay really meant gorgeously rugged. "I'm Shelly. I'm Wes' sister. It's nice to meet you."

Declan's eyes turned toward mine and a smile drew up the corner of his mouth. "It's nice to meet you, too."

She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to me with huge eyes. "Well, I hope you get better soon. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around. I just wanted to introduce myself."

"It's nice to meet you. You doin' alright back there, Angel?"

I tightened my fist, and Aunt Shelly lifted a brow. "I'm fine. Let's go," I snapped.

She gave him a wave which earned us both a wink.

Aunt Shelly shut the door behind her and stared at me. "What the hell, Neveah. You said he was okay and that's much, much better than okay. He's gorgeous!"

I shrugged. "If you like that kind of thing."

She stared blankly at me. "I don't know you anymore."

"Okay, he's freaking gorgeous. Can we get over it now?"

She sneered. "Someone needs to get laid."

"I'm fine."

"Don't act like you don't need some. Since David and I split, I haven't had nearly enough sex. I'm having withdrawals."

I could have gone my entire life without knowing that. "Right, well, I'm not into one-night stands so I guess I'm out of luck."

Aunt Shelly wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "You know nothing compares to sex, but some retail therapy takes the edge off. You down for some shopping?"

"I'm always down for shopping. I mean, if you're paying."