Page 27 of Sexy Bad Neighbor

That voice sounds really familiar…

“Thanks a lot, even though you’re right. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. So I think I’ll pass on breakfast.”

“Well, at least give me the grand tour first. I haven’t got to see the digs yet—holy hell, what is that monstrosity hanging from the ceiling?”

I know why that voice sounds so familiar. Because it’s just like my boss, James. It’s a little creepy, actually. He has a pretty distinct tone, so it’s crazy to hear someone else with the same inflections.

“It’s called a chandelier, numb nuts.”

“It’s horrendous. Why haven’t you replaced it?”

“Actually, that is the replacement. The original was a bunch of antlers and shit.”

“And this is an improvement? This doesn’t fit your style at all. The antlers would have been better.”

I have to agree with him.

“It’s hers, isn’t it? She picked it out.”

Wait. She who? Not me. I’d never in a million years select something so gaudy and so incredibly phallic.

“Just shut up and go away, James.”

James? James? It’s a common name, but what are the odds? My boss—the guy standing downstairs, talking to Paynter—is it really a coincidence?

As carefully and quietly as I can, I slide to the edge of the wall and lean out, peeking over the railing at the two men standing in the foyer, one wearing nothing but plaid pajama bottoms and the other in an impeccably tailored three-piece suit. I whip back around and make a startled eep sound before slapping my hand over my mouth.

Why the hell is my boss visiting Paynter on a Saturday morning—or at all for that matter? How do they know each other? Okay, it’s feasible they know each other through the business world—but well enough to come calling on Saturday morning?

Running my hand through my dishevelled hair, I tug at the strands until my scalp prickles. It’s a habit I developed after Marcus stole my promotion. In one ten-minute meeting, he’d managed to alter the course of my life. I’d felt as though I had to start over—everything. My career, my plans for purchasing a home, my love life.

Now, in retrospect, I can admit that I deliberately purchased the home next door to this one when there were half a dozen other perfectly acceptable houses in this same neighborhood that would not have forced me to look at what I lost every single day.

But that reminder kept me going, like that morning I’d backed my car out of the driveway and prepared to meet James for the first time, to convince him he should hire me because I would be a damned important asset to his company. I’d pressed the brake and stared at the still-empty house, the one I could no longer afford, and vowed to never let another man interfere with my career again.

My first instinct is to run, but I know Paynter will come after me when he realizes I’m gone. Besides, I’m damned curious as to how they know each other, and why the hell my boss is calling on a Saturday morning. Paynter doesn’t know where I work—does he?

Shit. This isn’t a re-enactment of my relationship with Marcus—it can’t be. Paynter has no reason to sabotage my career. He’s a computer programmer or coder or whatever, for crying out loud. I broker corporate real estate deals. While computers are involved in every damn career on the face of the earth, I cannot see how stealing my promotion will make any difference to his own career. At least with Marcus it made sense; he and I did the same thing, had the same aspirations. It’s just that he’d lied and told me he didn’t feel he was ready for the promotion, when it turned out he needed me to smooth the way to him getting in front of the president and pleading his case. Sneaky bastard.

Paynter isn’t sneaky. At least, I don’t think he is. But I don’t really know him, do I? I hadn’t realized Marcus was, either, until he was shaking hands with the boss while I stood out in the hall, watching the entire thing from the sidelines and unable to interfere, to convince them they were wrong in their decision to choose him over me.

I can’t let that happen again. I can’t let a man get in the way of my goals.

For all I know, Paynt is ruining my shot at partner. I should make my presence known, stop him from destroying my life, but I can’t seem to move from where I’m glued to the wall, my heart pounding a million miles a minute, my breathing ragged, my head swirling with all the pent up frustration after watching my career handed over to my now ex-boyfriend.

And then there’s the sound of the door opening and closing and footsteps beating a path up the stairs. When Paynter sees me standing there, he pauses, his hand on the wooden railing.

“Hey. I was just coming back to join you. Sort of hoping you weren’t quite ready to get out of bed yet.”

I shake my head. I can’t speak.

“Something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost. Was it a spider? This house was empty for a while, so they’re all over the damn place. Do you need me to kill a creepy crawly for you?”

He’s trying to be funny and charming, and actually, he is. But I can’t do this. I didn’t see a ghost or a spider, just my boss, standing in his foyer. Which, really, is so much worse than either of the other two options, no matter how scared I am of arachnids.

I still don’t know why James was here or how they know each other, and suddenly, that’s far less important than it was a few minutes ago. With an agonized sound that I’m pretending wasn’t a sob, I flee, running from him, from myself, from everything I’ve been afraid of since Marcus screwed me over.

I won’t change who I am, who I want to be. I already did that once. I don’t have the energy to do it again. I shouldn’t have to. It’s my life, I should get to live it however I damn well please, so long as I’m following the rules set forth by my country and my homeowners’ association.

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