Page 50 of Crave Thy Neighbor

“Right. No harm, no foul, yeah?”

The words sound snippy even to my ears, and I wish I could take them back because Nolan was right. We should forget about that night.

Besides, nothing happened.

I mean, it would have, but it didn’t. So it’s no big deal, right?

He tips his head to the side, studying me.

His penetrating gaze has me shifting on my feet.

I sigh. “I don’t want you to keep thinking I’m some sort of charity case who needs someone to rescue her all the time. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I know you have a soft spot because your dad went through something similar, but I’m not him, okay?”

I’ve felt trapped and helpless in a relationship before, and I don’t want to feel that again. Sure, this isn’t a relationship, but the principle is the same.

When this is all said and done, I don’t want to feel like I owe Nolan anything, and unlike when I walked away from my marriage, I’d like to come out the other side of this with my pride still intact.

His lips pull into a hard line like he’s annoyed, but I can’t tell whether it’s at me or himself.

Finally, he nods once. “Okay.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I blow out a breath. “Can we go eat pizza now? I’m starving.”

8

Nolan

As annoyed as I was with Maya about how upset she was about me buying a few things, I’m more annoyed with myself because I dared to give a shit in the first place. Inserting myself into her life, simply buying things for her, is opening too many doors for me to get sucked through and end up attached to her, and I can’t afford that.

I’m already treading in dangerous territory allowing her to stay here when I find her so damn attractive, never mind she’s barely been my tenant for a full twelve hours and I’ve already opened up to her more than I have to anyone other than Dean.

I’ve always been careful about how close I get to anyone, and in a matter of hours, she’s already torn down too many barriers.

Like when I found myself getting jealous of her being all smiley with Cooper. Which was fucking ridiculous on my part.

One, he’s with Caroline. He has no interest in Maya.

Two, Maya is nobody but my new temporary roommate. That’s it.

And I need to keep reminding myself of that.

She’ll be gone soon, like everyone else. No reason to let my guard down, no matter how much I want to kiss her.

With a huff, I punch my pillow and roll over for the millionth time in the last thirty minutes. Usually, I have no problem passing out once I click off my TV for the night, but I can’t fucking sleep for shit right now.

And I’m pretty sure it has everything to do with the beauty across the hall.

I need a distraction, something to ease my mind.

I need a book.

Problem is, everything is in my library.

Where Maya is.

I close my eyes, trying to force myself to sleep and clear my mind, but another ten minutes pass and it’s still not working because all I can think about is how cute Maya looked hauling boxes into the back of my truck today.

She didn’t sit there and let me do all the work like the women I’ve been with in the past would have. Hell, I think she was actually a little pissed I called Cooper to help.

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