The Promise (Neighbor from Hell Book 10) Read online

  “You’re thinking that I’ve made promises in the past, but this time is different,” Jen said with a shrug and a small sigh.

  “I’m sure it is,” he said, glancing up in time to see Joey head out the door and realized just how late it was. He should have left a half hour ago, he thought as he quickly glanced at the clock.

  “It is,” she said, nodding. “It really is.”

  “Really?” Reed drawled as he shifted his attention back to his emails.

  “Really,” Jen said with a firm nod. “I’ve changed.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in detention?” he asked when he came across an email that needed a reply today.

  “Yes, yes, I am, but I thought that perhaps the two of us could discuss the situation and come to an amicable solution that would benefit everyone involved?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

  “Or I could just call your uncle and let him know you’re-”

  “So, I’ll just be heading back to detention now,” she said, quickly getting to her feet and heading for the door, leaving him free to head home and focus on something else for a change.

  When he looked up again, he found that something else that he was planning on focusing on walking back inside and heading for the front desk. Biting back a smile, he wrote a quick reply, put his laptop in his bag and went to find out what the woman that he’d been thinking about all day needed.

  “Do you have AAA?” Mrs. MacArthur, one of the secretaries that ran the front office, was asking Joey when he opened his office door.

  “Not anymore,” she said with a hesitant pause that had his eyes narrowing and making him wonder what she did.

  “Is everything okay, Dr. Lawson?” he asked as he closed his office door behind him and locked it.

  “Her car won’t start,” Mrs. MacArthur said, already reaching for the phone.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Joey said, giving Mrs. MacArthur a reassuring smile.

  “Does it happen a lot?” he asked, moving to join them by the front desk.

  “No, it’s usually pretty dependable,” Joey said with a soft sigh that had him nodding.

  “I’ll call Joe’s. They’re usually pretty quick and if the driver can’t figure out what’s wrong then they’ll tow it to the shop,” Mrs. MacArthur said as she searched her rolodex for the number.

  “Don’t bother Joe, Mrs. MacArthur. I’ll have a look, and if I can’t fix it then Matt should be able to,” he said, gesturing for Joey to lead the way.

  “Are you sure?” Joey asked, worrying her bottom lip the same way that she had this morning in the kitchen when he’d slid his hand beneath her skirt so that he could slide his finger inside-

  “You’re such a good man, Mr. Bradford,” Mrs. MacArthur said with a warm smile as she put the phone down.

  “He really is,” Joey said, nodding solemnly with a watery smile that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

  “Have a good weekend, Mrs. MacArthur,” Reed said, following Joey to the front doors.

  “What happened when you tried to start it?” he asked, placing his hand against the small of her back as he led her over to his truck, somehow resisting the urge to slide his hand down and cup her ass, something that he’d been thinking about doing all day.

  “Nothing. It didn’t start. Nothing came on,” Joey said with a small sigh.

  Nodding, he opened the passenger side door and gestured for her to get in. “Sounds like it’s the battery. I’ll take you home and grab some jumper cables.”

  “It was working fine this morning,” Joey said with an adorable frown as she reluctantly climbed inside his truck.

  “It’s probably nothing,” Reed said, wanting to reassure her so that she didn’t spend the rest of the night worrying, especially since he already knew what was wrong with her car.

  “Are you sure? Maybe I should call a tow truck,” she said, worrying her bottom lip.

  “I’m sure,” he said.

  “Thank you,” she said, giving him a grateful smile.

  “You’re welcome,” Reed said as he closed her door and headed around the truck. By the time he’d climbed in, she was already lost in a book on Pompeii and completely fucking oblivious to the world around her.

  She didn’t look up from her book when he pulled out of the parking lot, when he took the back roads, or when he pulled onto the old dirt road that cut through his woods that he hadn’t used in years. As he drove down the old road that he’d put to good use back when he was in high school, he glanced over to find Joey still lost in her own little world, completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to-

  “So, you stole the spark plugs out of my car and disconnected the battery,” she said, making him chuckle as he carefully pulled the truck out of the woods and onto the grassy banks of the lake his family had lived on for more than a hundred and fifty years.

  “Yes, I did,” he said, barely finished putting the truck into park when she climbed onto his lap.

  “And why would you do that?” she asked as she settled on his lap, making sure that her skirt was out of the way.

  “It was the only way that I could get you alone,” he said, cupping her hips so that he could run his hands over that generous ass that he’d been thinking about all day.

  “And why would you want to get me alone at Base Camp?” she asked, making him wince at the moronic name that they used to call this place when they’d planned on bringing a girl here to-

  “Tell me that Jackson didn’t tell you why we called it that,” he said with a wince, deeply disturbed by the idea of Joey, twelve and too fucking curious for her own good, finding out why they used to beg to borrow a pickup truck every weekend.

  “I figured it out,” she said with a sexy little smile that had him giving her ass another squeeze as she reached up and slowly began to unbutton her blouse, revealing an incredibly sexy black bra edged in lace.

  “And how did you do that?” Reed asked, licking his lips hungrily as he pushed her shirt open so that he could cup her breast.

  “By hiding in the back of his truck,” Joey said as he ran his fingertips along the edge of the lace over one large breast as his other hand gave her bottom another squeeze.

  “And why did you do that?” he asked as he ran his fingers along the edge of her other breast.

  “Because I overheard him promising Kelly Stevens that she’d see stars,” she said, making his lips twitch as he hooked his fingertips behind the lace trimmed cup and pulled it down until the large pink nipple was freed.

  “And you wanted to see the stars,” he guessed as he traced the large nipple that had his cock trying to push its way free.

  “I really did,” she readily agreed.

  “What happened?” Reed asked as he trailed his fingertips over to her other breast and pulled her bra down.

  “I learned what it means to strike out,” she said with a pitying shake of her head and a sigh as he cupped her breasts.

  “Poor bastard,” he said, chuckling as he leaned in so that he could brush his lips against hers.

  “That’s what I thought until he chased me up a tree,” she said as she took off her blouse and dropped it on the floor.

  Lips twitching, he asked, “How long did you stay in the tree?”

  “Until I realized that it was covered in poison sumac,” she said with a sad shake of her head before adding, “It was my first and only experience parking.”

  “No one ever took you parking, Joey?” he asked, having a hard time imagining any guy being able to resist the urge to pull over and-

  “I was twelve,” she reminded him with an amused twist of her lips as she reached back and unhooked her bra. “Besides, once the hives went away I did a little research on the matter.”

  “I’m sure you did,” he said dryly.

  “Mmmhmm, you’d be surprised what you can learn when you’re hiding under the bleachers,” she said as he slid her bra down her arms.

  “And what did you learn?” he asked, leaning i
n to press a kiss against the side of her neck as he cupped her breasts.

  “Probably a lot more than I should have,” she admitted with a sigh as she wrapped her arms around him.

  Chuckling, he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. “Then you know that we’re not out here to admire the lake, right?” he asked, pressing another kiss against her neck as he gave her breasts a squeeze, earning a soft moan.

  “I was afraid of that,” she said with a disappointed sigh as she ran her fingers through his hair. “Are we at least going to study?”

  Lips twitching, he pressed one last kiss against her neck before he kissed his way back up to her mouth. “I didn’t bring my books with me.”

  “I see,” she murmured sadly, even as she reached between them and began working his belt loose. “Will you promise that you’ll only put the tip inside?” she asked, innocently making him groan because she was definitely going to be the death of him.

  Chapter 27

  “Joey, are you okay?” Matt asked as Joey paused mid-shift in her chair.

  “Fine,” she said, blinking as she forced herself to sit still when all she wanted to do was kick the large bastard responsible.

  “Are you sure?” Matt asked as he got up to grab another pizza off the kitchen island.

  “I’m sure,” she said, although she’d never been more unsure about anything in her life. God, her ass hurt, she thought, biting back a wince as she reluctantly accepted the fact that the steering wheel was not her friend. At the very least, it probably shouldn’t be utilized during sex.

  It definitely shouldn’t be utilized during sex, she amended a moment later when the bruise that she was afraid was forming across her ass had her biting back a wince when she shifted again. Narrowing her eyes, she turned her head to shoot the man that had thoroughly demonstrated the benefits of parking earlier a glare only to find his chair empty.

  “He went upstairs a few minutes ago,” Julie, who’d showed up a little while ago with a stack of pizzas and a murmured, “I didn’t want to miss the show,” said as she reached for a slice of mushroom pizza only to end up sighing when Matt beat her to it.

  “Oh,” Joey said, frowning as she sat there wondering how she’d missed that.

  “I wouldn’t take it personally,” Matt said with a shrug as he went to take a drink of his soda only to find it empty and-

  “I give up,” Julie said when Matt plucked the soda out of her hand and finished it.

  “That’s probably for the best,” Matt said, deciding to take that as an invitation to help himself to the abandoned pizza crusts on Julie’s plate.

  “What shouldn’t I take personally?” Joey asked, taking a sip of her soda as she slapped the large tan hand reaching for her plate.

  “Reed,” Matt said, pulling back his hand with a pout that probably worked on most women, but unfortunately for him, she’d grown up sharing a dinner table most nights with Reed, so she was used to dealing with food thieves.

  “What about him?” Joey asked, trying to remember if she’d packed her bottle of Advil.

  “He’s always working,” Julie answered with a shrug as she grabbed her empty plate and headed toward the sink.

  “Pretty much,” Matt said, nodding in agreement as he searched the boxes on the table for more pizza.

  “Except for some reason I don’t think that will be a problem anymore,” Julie said, shooting her a wink that had her glancing at Matt to find him glaring down at the empty boxes in front of him.

  “I don’t remember the last time he took a day off,” Matt said, sounding thoughtful as he reached over and-

  “Damn it!” he said with a wince as he pulled his hand back while Joey sat there, wondering why she’d never taking a day off.

  Probably because she was pathetic, she thought, biting back a sigh.

  “He works nights, weekends, summers, and holidays,” Julie said as she paused by the stack of pizza boxes on the kitchen island and helped herself to a slice of Hawaiian pizza while Joey had to admit that sounded a lot like her.

  “He needs a vacation,” Matt said with a heavy sigh as he reluctantly grabbed his plate and headed toward the sink that had her nodding in agreement because she could probably use a vacation as well.

  “He really does,” Julie said with a pointed look in her direction as she went to take a bite of her pizza only to sigh when Matt managed to pluck it out of her hands.

  “The most that he would do is a weekend camping trip, but even that might be asking too much,” Matt said before adding with a heavy sigh, “God, I miss camping,” that had Joey frowning because she’d never been camping.

  She’d never done a lot of things now that she really thought about it.

  She’d never taken a sick day, taken a vacation, gone on a road trip, gone to Disney World even though she’d promised herself a million times that she’d go one day, or even been on a plane for that matter, she realized, feeling her shoulders drop at the realization that she’d-

  “I think your phone’s ringing,” Matt said, making her frown, because yes, yes, that did sound like her phone.

  “It’s probably work,” Joey said, unable to help but hope that it was a telemarketer because she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that phone call just yet.

  “My money’s on Jackson,” Matt said with a shrug as he reached for her plate.

  “It’s too soon,” she said because she figured that she had at least another week before he called and risked making her cry.

  Whoever it was, was persistent, she thought with a resigned sigh as she reluctantly pushed her chair back, send a heartfelt apology to her ass and made her way toward the living room where she’d left her phone charging. As she pushed open the kitchen door and headed down the long hallway, she couldn’t help but think about all the things that she’d never been able to do.

  When she was little her grandparents hadn’t been able to afford to take them on trips, but that never bothered her because they’d made sure that she was well taken care of, had taken her to the library when she ran out of books, always encouraged her to be herself those times when she wished that she was different so that she could fit in, and made sure that she knew just how much they loved her. They’d done the best that they could and she would always love them for that.

  Besides, she could have gone with the Bradfords any one of those hundreds of times that they’d invited her to go with them when they’d gone camping, fishing, visited amusement parks, Disney World and all of those places that most kids would have killed to visit. She probably should have gone, but she’d figured that Jackson could use a break from her. Well, that and she didn’t think it would be a good idea to put herself in a position where she might be tempted to shove Reed from a moving vehicle.

  Speaking of Reed…

  “What are you doing?” she couldn’t help but ask when the closet door was suddenly opened and she found herself being pulled inside before the door was promptly closed behind her.

  “Keeping my promise,” he said as he moved to stand behind her so that he could wrap his arms around her.

  “And what promise is that?” she asked as she watched his hands make their way down to the fly of the jeans that she’d changed into earlier.

  “The one where I promised to look after you,” he whispered, pressing a kiss against her neck as he slowly unsnapped her pants and pulled the zipper down.

  “And how exactly is this looking after me?” Joey asked as he pushed her pants down.

  “Because,” he said, pausing to take her hands into his and raise them so that he could place them against the doorframe, “I’m making sure you’re okay.”

  “That’s what it feels like,” she said, nodding solemnly only to moan when he pressed a kiss against the back of her neck as he slid her panties down.

  “And what does this feel like?” he whispered seductively as he slowly kissed his way down her back.

  “Like we’re going to get caught,” she said, closing her eyes on a moan when h
e pressed a kiss against the small of her back as he cupped her bottom in his hands.

  “We’re not going to get caught,” he said, giving her bottom a gentle squeeze as he pressed a kiss against one cheek.

  “Then what are we doing?” she asked on a soft moan as her grip tightened on the doorframe.

  “I’m making you feel better,” he said as he pressed a kiss against the other cheek while he lightly ran his hands over her bottom, soothing away the pain and she had to admit that it was definitely working.

  Chapter 28

  “You’re missing the best part!” the little bastard that had taken his seat said as he shoved another handful of popcorn in his mouth while the small woman that he was risking over twenty years of friendship for continued staring down at her iPad.

  Jackson had been his best friend since they were seven years old. They’d grown up like brothers and he’d never thought that he’d do anything to risk that. But then again, he’d never thought that he’d ever want anyone the way that he wanted Joey, which was the problem.

  He was going to have to tell Jackson.

  Granted, he’d known the second that he’d decided to cross that line that he was going to have to tell Jackson. He just wasn’t sure what he was going to tell him, because there was nothing that he could say that was going to make this right. But every time he tried to tell himself that they shouldn’t be doing this he remembered just how good it felt to touch her and found it difficult to care how this ended.

  “You’ve seen this movie already,” Reed pointed out as he shifted his attention to the stack of files on the coffee table, reminding himself that he should be working.

  “But she hasn’t,” Matt said, gesturing to Joey with a handful of popcorn.

  “And somehow I’ve managed to survive,” she said with a nod as she continued staring down at her iPad while he sat there, wondering what he was going to do about her.

  For a moment, he sat there contemplating his options. He could end this now before it was too late or he could continue sitting here pretending that he wasn’t thinking about her. It was definitely for the best if he didn’t think about her, he decided.