The Promise (Neighbor from Hell 10)

The look Matt shot Joey only confirmed it.

Really fucking great, he thought as he grabbed the bowl of scrambled eggs, barely noticing the heavy sigh that followed or the mumbled, “I’ll just grab something on the way to work,” while he sat there wondering how long it would take before the little bastard went running to Jackson.

“You’re my problem,” Matt bit out as he grabbed the platter of French toast.

“Hey!” someone said only to sigh when Matt stabbed his fork through several slices of french toast and put them on his plate before shoving the platter away.

“Thank-” someone started to say only to end up sighing heavily when Reed picked up the platter.

“I had to sleep in the shop because of you last night, asshole,” Matt said as Reed’s glare was shifted back to Joey as she grabbed the platter away from him with a sad shake of her head and held it out to-

“Thank you,” Julie said, making him wonder when she got here.

“What was wrong with your room?” Reed asked, helping himself to several slices of toast.

“It should probably be condemned,” Joey said, not bothering to look up from her book as she reached over and plucked a piece of toast off his plate.

With an offended glare in Joey’s direction, Matt said, “I couldn’t sleep in my room last night, because of all the screaming.”

Aw, shit!

He should have known that they wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret, but maybe that was for the best, he thought only to frown when the woman that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his hands off decided to help.

“They were really loud,” Joey said with a little sniffle and a sad look on her face that had him wondering what the hell she was up to.

“You were screaming?” Julie asked only to sigh when Matt grabbed the platter of sausages.

When Reed went to answer Matt cut him off. “All. Damn. Night.”

“All night,” Joey said, nodding in agreement as she turned the page, leaving him sitting there shaking his head because there was no way that they were going to believe that she hadn’t spent the night with-

“What the hell is wrong with you bringing some bar bunny home while Joey is staying here?” Matt demanded, shaking his head in disgust as he resigned himself to going along with this bullshit story.

At least, until he figured out what he was going to do.

“We weren’t that loud,” he said with a glare pointed at Joey because if anyone had been loud last night it had been her.

“Really? Because I could hear you all the way out in the barn,” Matt said with a glare as he dumped the entire bowl of hash browns on his plate.

“He really was loud,” Joey added with a little sniffle as she turned the page while he sat there, drumming his fingertips against the table as he glared at the little brat.

“Where the hell is she?” Matt asked, frowning as he shifted his attention to the kitchen door.

“She left,” Reed said evenly with a glare that let her know that she’d pay for this later.

“I don’t blame her,” Joey said with a sad shake of her head as she turned another page.

“It did sound like she was faking, didn’t it?” Matt murmured, sounding thoughtful as Reed sat there, narrowing his eyes on the little bastard, barely aware of the snort of amusement from his right.

“It really did,” Joey said with a sad shake of her head while he sat there deciding that yes, yes, he would be spanking her ass.

Soon.

*-*-*-*

Perhaps she’d pushed him too far? she thought even as she risked a glance up and-

Yup, she’d definitely pushed him too far, she thought as she shifted her focus back to the book that she’d helped herself to from the Bradford family library and couldn’t help but regret her decision not to grab that book on medieval plagues when she had the chance. She could get it now, but that would require her leaving the safety of the table and walking past the man that was sitting less than two feet away from her, glaring.

Since that most likely wouldn’t end well for her, or more to the point, her ass, she decided to wait out the next thirty-two minutes and eighteen seconds left before she had to go to work sitting at this table with absolutely nothing to do except worry about what the very large man glaring at her was going to do to her bruised ass as she did her best not to make matters worse. She really hoped that she didn’t make this worse, but unfortunately for her, he was making her really nervous, which never ended well for anyone. Perhaps she shouldn’t have teased him? she thought as she looked up and realized that they were alone.

“They left five minutes ago,” Reed said on that familiar long-suffering sigh that she was painfully familiar with as he leaned forward and grabbed her chair.

“Oh,” Joey said, unable to help but frown as he pulled her closer because she’d kind of been counting on them to keep the large man that was pulling her closer from-

“Lost you again,” he said, sounding amused as he leaned in and kissed her.

“It happens,” she admitted, reaching up so that she could cup his freshly shaved jaw in her hands as she kissed him back.

“I sensed that,” he said on a groan as sh

e found herself pulled onto his lap.

Smiling, she shifted on his lap so that she was comfortably straddling him as she wrapped her arms around him. Once she was settled, she felt herself relax. There was just something that had to be said about being in Reed Bradford’s arms, she thought even as she had to admit that she could easily become addicted to this.

“Faking it, huh?” he asked as he ran his hands down her back so that he was cupping her bottom.

“I felt that it was prudent to throw them off my trail,” she said, nodding solemnly only to moan when he used his hold to pull her closer.

“And it didn’t bother you to screw me over like that?” he asked, making her breath catch as she felt him harden beneath her.

“It did. It really did,” she said with a nod as she licked her lips and tried to focus.

“You looked really heartbroken about it,” he said on a groan as he used his hold to move her against him.

“I really was,” she said only to tilt her head to the side on a moan when he kissed his way down to her neck.

“You’re going to make my life a living hell, aren’t you, brat?” Reed asked, not really sounding all that upset about it, which was probably for the best since she had a feeling that he was right.

Chapter 26

“So, I’ve decided to forgive you,” Jen said with a heavy sigh as she sat down in her favorite chair and helped herself to the bowl of candy that was starting to run low.

“That’s really generous of you,” Reed murmured absently as he finished saving the changes that he’d made to next week’s newsletter before he checked his email to make sure that there weren’t any last-minute surprises waiting for him before he finally called it a night.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Jen said with a sad shake of her head as she popped a piece of candy in her mouth.

“And what’s that?” he asked, scrolling through his emails, making sure that there was nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.