Page 44 of Adoring Delaney

“Hit the sack?”

“I have to be up earlier than normal so I can go to my hotel in the morning and grab my shit before I hit the gym then go to work.”

“Hotel?”

“Babe, why’re you repeating what I’m sayin’?”

“Because I’m confused.”

And I was. I had no idea what was going on.

“About what?”

“Why are you staying in a hotel?”

“Because you’re not ready for me to come home. Though after tonight you may not have an option.”

My body went solid and my temper surfaced. And as much as I didn’t want to argue with him I hated that he was getting his bossy tone back and I really didn’t like him telling me I didn’t have an option about my living arrangements.

“I think our date’s over, Carter.”

“You may be right, but I’m not leaving.”

“Yeah, you are. I already told you I don’t kiss on the first date, so you can take that as I don’t let men in my bed either.”

“That’s enough of that shit, Laney,” he growled. “I told you once, I didn’t want to know what happened with that chump Steve. This time I’ll make it crystal clear, I never, and I mean, never want to hear you reference another man in our bed.”

“It’s not—”

“It is our bed,” he rudely interrupted. “Always has been, always will be. And you don’t have a choice about me staying here.”

“I want you to leave.”

The evening was rapidly declining. Carter needed to go before we got into a kick-down drag-out fight. It wouldn’t be the first argument we’d gotten into but it would be the first time there would be no make-up sex at the end of it. And if I was being truthful, that was the best part of fighting with Carter.

“Not gonna happen.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because someone was in your driveway and slashed your goddamned tires, Laney. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

All the fight drained out of me at the news.

“What?”

“Seriously? I told you all four of your tires were flat.”

He had, but it never occurred to me someone had purposely damaged them. I lived in a nice neighborhood, with nice people. Things like this didn’t happen around here.

“I…I…Why would someone do that?”

“I have no idea. It could be some punk kid being stupid or something else. What I do know is, you’re not sleeping in this house alone until I find out why your car is sitting in the driveway on the goddamned rims. So, go and get ready for bed. I’m gonna check the house one more time and be in in a minute.”

Something cold slithered through my body leaving me shivering. It was more than someone vandalizing my car. They’d been in my driveway and if they’d been there had they looked in? I never kept the blinds drawn, no one did on my street.

I knew my neighbors. They were all nice people. The houses were older, but well-kept, not a lot of closet space so most of us used our garages for storage and parked in our driveways. Some even parked on the street, all of us without fear of our cars getting broken into or our tires slashed.

“What’s happening?” I asked in an effort to stall.

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