“You sound way too excited about the prospect,” I say with a chuckle. “Should I be worried about sleeping next door?”
That makes her laugh. She has a nice laugh, a bit husky. “You should always be worried about a woman who owns copious amounts of lime.” She waves for me to follow her, and I do my best to keep my eyes off her ass as we meander through packed shelves, but I fail. I fail big time. Those tight curves would fit so nicely in my hands.
She comes to an abrupt stop in front of a shelf stacked with white bottles, and I nearly run into her. I’m so close that her ponytail whips me in the face when she turns around.
“Here’s the bleach.” She gives one of the gigantic white bottles a pat. “Need anything else?”
It’s kinda nice talking to someone who actually knows where products are. At bigger stores, including ours, no one seems to know what the hell’s going on. “Cleaning stuff,” I reply.
“Anything specific?” she asks, tightening her ponytail.
I have three sisters. A woman tightening her ponytail should not be hot. But when Jade does it, it is. It really is.
“All the cleaning stuff,” I say. “I’m dealing with a lot of bodies.”
She snaps her fingers and smiles. “Knew it.”
Jade loads me up with so many squirt bottles, wipes, and powders that I can’t carry them all, even though most of them are tucked inside the red bucket I’ve decided to name Reginald. “You take cards, right?” I ask, throwing everything on the counter so she can scan the barcodes. I have some cash, but it’s back in the apartment.
“Of course we take cards.”
I’m not sure why that question bugs her, but from the way she shoves the card reader toward me, she’s definitely annoyed.
I pay, and she stuffs everything into brown paper bags with the Quinn Brothers logo stamped on the front. Even with the bags and Reginald, there’s still too much for me to carry upstairs. I could make two trips, but for some reason, I hear myself say, “Do you mind helping me bring this up? Save me a trip.”
She glances nervously at the door.
“It’s really the least you can do after siccing the grandfather cock lady on me.”
A loud laugh bursts from her lips. “Grandfatherclock, Dylan. Not grandfather cock.” A blush creeps up her throat and cheeks when she realizes what she said.
Did I tease her just to see if Little Jade would say the word cock? Maybe. Was it worth it? One hundred percent. “Oh, yeah. That makes so much more sense. I got really confused when she started talking about swinging pendulums.”
Jade laughs as she hefts Reginald into her arms. “Must be your old man hearing.”
I chuckle, but the little rib stings a bit. I’m notthatmuch older than she is. Still, I decide to lead the way, mostly because I don’t need my “old man eyes” to watch her hips swaying when we head up the stairs to my temporary home. The woman I hired to clean already has the dusty blinds pulled from all the windows and is soaking them in the tub that appears to be free of the carcasses I found earlier.
When she spots Jade, her eyes dart between us, her penciled-in brows lifting all the way to the messy bun at the top of her head.
“Oh, hey, Marjorie.” Jade drops Reginald and one of the bags on the linoleum countertop in the kitchenette. “Didn’t expect to see you up here.”
Marjorie gestures toward me with a yellow-gloved hand. “This handsome young man offered me a job. What’s your excuse?”
“I’m just being neighborly. For my new neighbor.” Jade’s smile appears forced when she glances back at me. “You never need an excuse to help a neighbor.”
“Do you want to say neighbor a few more times?” I murmur so that only Jade can hear. Her spine stiffens when my shoulder brushes against hers on my way past.
Marjorie winks. “Mm-hmm.”
“We’re not together,” Jade blurts out. “Tell her, Dylan.”
She says that like being with me would be the worst thing in the world. And I get it. Given how this town feels about me, it probably is. But that doesn’t stop me from folding my arms over my chest and leaning back against the counter. “You’re handling things just fine on your own, neighbor.” Consider this payback for the clock lady.
Jade’s face turns as red as Reginald.
Marjorie lets out a high-pitched laugh as she noses through the bags and loops a finger through the bleach’s handle. “I’m yanking your chain, Jade. I know you and Nate are going steady or whatever the kids are saying these days.”
So, Jadeisseeing that prick. I have to school my features so that I don’t grimace. Who in their right mind would want to “go steady” with Nate Williams? That guy is a dick with a capital D. I may not know Jade very well, but she’s way too good for him.
