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“Okay, my bad,” she said. “You are six years older than I am and you don’t seem to like me very much.”
“I’d say that’s something that we have in common then,” he said. “I mean, you don’t seem to like me very much either.”
“That’s not true,” she breathed. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I like you more than I should.” She didn’t wait for him to give a response. Trixie grabbed her things from the backseat and opened the door to jump down out of his truck. And all Blade could do was watch her slam his door and walk to the porch. She looked back as if she expected him to follow her and let her into his house, but Blade felt frozen to his spot in the driver’s seat. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the brain fog that always seemed to stick with him every time Trixie was around, and got out of his truck.
“What the fuck does that mean?” he asked before he even stepped onto the porch.
“It means that you are the most obtuse man that I’ve ever met. You might be six years older than I am, but you’re a child when it comes to understanding human feelings, Blade.”
“I am not,” he insisted. He fished the keys to his house out of his jeans pocket and opened his front door, letting Trixie breeze past him. God, she smelled like honeysuckle and just the scent of her drove him wild. He needed to stop sniffing his sister’s pretty best friend if he was going to keep his hands off her. That was what he planned on doing, but when she said stuff like, “I like you more than I should,” he questioned his whole plan.
“Listen, I don’t want to fight. Honestly, I’ve had very little sleep over the past few days and would love a nap. Can you just point me to my room, and I’ll leave you to your silence.” That was the best idea he had heard since his sister’s wake-up call this morning.
“Great,” he said, “it’s just up the stairs to the right. You can take whichever room you’d like.” The masochist in him hoped that she would pick the room closest to his. Hell, he hoped that she’d actually pick his room to bunk in, but then, keeping his hands to himself would prove impossible.
“Thank you,” she mumbled on her way up the stairs. He stood at the bottom, watching her lug her bag along with her, and Blade thought about offering to give her a hand, but he knew she’d just turn him down. Trixie was the most stubborn woman that he had ever met, and that list included his sister.
“Do you want me to wake you?” he asked.
“No, I can set an alarm on my cell phone,” she said back over her shoulder. She took the room at the top of the steps and shut the door behind her. It was the bedroom furthest from his and all he could think about was moving her into his master bedroom. What the fuck was wrong with him? He was an idiot—Trixie was correct about that one thing.
* * *
The next two days with Trixie were spent in near silence. He’d ask her if she was hungry, to which, she’d tell him that she was a grown woman who could fend for herself. They’d sit in silence while they drank their morning coffee, ate their meals, and even watched television. The only time Trixie actually spoke to him was to ask if he had heard from Wren and to complain about his choice of television programs. Blade felt like he was losing his mind and that had everything to do with the woman now sharing his home with him.
This morning had begun the same as the others. He found Trixie in his kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee, her hair pulled up on her head and her long, bare legs crossed as she sat back with her eyes closed, savoring every sip. The woman only wore over sized t-shirts to bed and pranced around his house that way, driving him insane, not that he’d tell her that. Blade worried that if he pointed out her lack of clothing, she’d figure out that he was bothered by it and find a way to wear less. That would fucking kill him.
Blade poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip as he grabbed his cell phone from the charger. “Shit,” he grumbled. “Wren has tried to call me five times.” Trixie stood from her seat and made her way over to his side, trying to see his phone screen.
“Is she okay?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” he growled. “She didn’t leave a message.” He quickly hit redial and waited for his sister to answer. “I knew that I shouldn’t have left my phone in the kitchen last night.” He had lent Trixie the charger from his bedroom when hers broke, and he was too lazy to take his phone up to his bedroom last night.
Wren finally answered on what felt like the hundredth ring and he breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Good morning to you too,” Wren teased.
“You fucking called me at three in the morning and then tried me four other times. You’ll excuse me if I dispense with the pleasantries.”
“You know, I sometimes forget that you are college educated,” Wren teased. “But when you use those big words and talk all formal like, I remember.” He had gone to college and also got his master’s in business, not that he liked to remind any one of his education. Hell, half the guys in the Royal Bastards were one percenters and the other half were military. He was probably one of the only guys besides Savage, who was a fucking rocket scientist, who had a master’s degree hanging on his wall.
“We can talk about my vocabulary and my education later. Right now, I’d like to know why you called me at three in the morning.”
“I’m not sure if I overreacted, but at the time, it felt like I wasn’t,” she said.
“What did you possibly overreact about?” he asked.
“The fact that I think someone was watching me,” she whispered into the phone, causing Trixie to gasp.
“Why are you whispering?” he asked. “Do you think that you’re still being watched?” He pulled his laptop from the kitchen table, where he had left it last night, and opened it. He’d be able to tell if anyone had tripped the security system.
“I don’t think so,” she admitted. “I checked my cameras, but they said that they were all offline. I’m not sure why. I have internet, so they should be working right?” She was correct—they should be working, but they weren’t. He got the same error message when he tried to access them.
“Give me a few minutes to get dressed, and I’ll be over. I’m bringing Trixie with me since I don’t want to leave her here by herself.” She shot him a look and he could tell that she was beginning to hate being treated like she had to have a babysitter.
“Good, I’ll visit with her while you check things out,” she said.
“I’ll download your camera system onto my phone to see if there was anything that they picked up before your system failed. If someone tampered with them, we’ll be able to find out soon. Lock your doors and don’t answer them for anyone but me, Wren,” Blade ordered.
