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Her hair tumbled over her face in disarray. Her dark skin was such a dramatic vision of golden earthy tones that he felt like he was in the presence of an Egyptian goddess. Was that leftover glitter against her vivid eyes?
“You!” she snarled.
He straightened when he saw those eyes flash at him. He supposed that her glaring was meant to keep him back, but it only drew him in. Was she real? “What are you doing here?” Porter asked.
“I can ask you the same thing,” she spat. “Did Lacy send you?”
Who? His brows went up. “No, I don’t know her.”
“Her?” She seemed outraged by his answer. “He! Are you playing some sort of game with me?”
He laughed at the thought. He needed to keep his wits close to keep up with this woman—she was talking a mile a minute, and a lot of nonsense, too. He raised his hands up, partly as a joke to show that he was ready to surrender. “Emily wanted me to come,” he explained quickly.
“To check up on me?” She tugged down the shirt on those PJs. Clearly, these clothes weren’t hers. They were tight in all the right places.
He averted his gaze before she caught him checking her out.
His momma had tried to raise gentlemen; though she’d failed with most of her sons, he could at leasttryto not be a jerk.
“Emily got my text then,” he listened to her say while her fingers scraped over the bed for her phone. “But…” She tapped on the screen to find her messages. “She didn’t call me back.” Her eyes went back to his, forcing him to look at her again. His heart melted into a cheesy puddle on the ground. He could barely follow what new crazy thing she was talking about. “Wait,” she said. “I saw you together. Yeah… do you have something going on with Emily? Are you dating her?”
His nose wrinkled. Emily was awesome, but agreeing to do her a favor didn’t mean that they had to make more out of this than what was there. Nash liked her, not Porter! He held his hands up in his defense. “Hey, I’m just watering her plants.”
“You came all the way here to water plants? That’s a lot of dedication. I don’t buy it.”
Why was she being so accusatory—though she had a point—but still, how did this woman know how far away he lived from downtown? He tilted his head at her. “The plan is to take them home this time.”
She drew up like a princess, pushing her fists into those delectable hips. “No need. I’m watering them,” she said.
Porter would’ve appreciated Emily giving him the heads-up about this. Of course… he’d never erase the way he’d met this newcomer for the world. He was far too amused, but clearly Emily had told her mysterious friend all about him. She seemed to knowwaymore about him than he knew about her. He was definitely at a disadvantage. “What’s your name?” he asked her.
She crossed her arms. “Really? You’re going to pretend that you don’t know.”
He let out an involuntary laugh. “Okay, if you’re so smart. What’s mine?” She hesitated and he laughed again. “No?” he asked. “You don’t know? So why should I know yours?”
She swallowed and looked down in embarrassment. “Angel.” She looked defiant when she said it. Her eyes flicked back to his. “What do you have to say aboutthat?”
Angel, huh? She didn’t really fit her name. There was nothing angelic about her… besides that face, but she was far too fiery to be Angel, unless she was the Angel of Destruction.
Porter realized that he hadn’t responded. “Nice to meet you,” he said. She seemed surprised by his polite welcome, or maybe she assumed that everything he said would be rude. Either way, now he was positive that Emily had warned her against him because she already had a grudge against him. He hid a laugh because he didn’t want her blowing up again, which was cute, but for some reason he wanted to win her over. “Let’s start over again. I’m Porter.” He put his hand out.
She ignored it. “Tell me what you’rereallydoing here.”
“Emily.” They’d already been over this. “I swear.”
“I’ll text her and find out.” Her big eyes narrowed on him. “How long are you staying here?”
Rude! He couldn’t help his grin anymore. “I was going to leave as soon as I watered the plants, but… how about you?”
“I don’t know. Just don’t tell anyone I’m here, okay? It’s the least you can do.”
“Wait.” This was getting more confusing by the minute. “Emily doesn’t know?”
“Yes,shedoes. She’s the only one and I want to keep it that way!” The stunning spitfire watched Porter like he was a dumb box of rocks. “I just need you to keep your big mouth shut for a little bit, okay? I figure you owe me after everything that you’ve done.”
For startling her awake? The way he saw it, she almost owed him a new head. “What are you talking about? You tried to knock my block off. We’re even!”
She groaned. “Just tell me that I don’t have to see you again after this.”
