Page 14 of Suddenly Dating
“I’m Lola Dunne, and I’msupposedto be here.”
Her tone implied that she thought he was the one doing the trespassing. “Well so am I, cupcake. My permission comes from Zach Miller, who happens to own this house.”
“Oh yeah? My permission comes fromSaraMiller, who also happens to own this house.”
Harry suddenly realized what had happened. So did this Lola Dunne person, judging by the way her eyes widened with shock. For several moments, the two of them stared at each other. His thoughts were racing with lightning speed, and he quickly deduced that while he didn’t know what to do about this, he had no other place to go. “I was here first,” he said, voicing the first errant thought to make it to his mouth.
“Then apparently,” she said, folding her arms, “that was your leftover crap I threw into the spare bedroom?”
“You moved my things?” he said, incredulous. “What the hell gives you the right? Listen,” he said, pointing at her. “You can’t stay here.”
The woman settled her weight onto one hip. “Youcan’t stay here.”
“Like hell I can’t,” he said, and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ve been here a little more than three weeks. I have squatter’s rights. I’m going to just give Zach a call and see what he says.”
“Go ahead. I’ve been here over a week. I’ll just give Sara a call, too. I am sure she’ll bedelightedto know what Zach is up to.” She grabbed her phone from the dining room table.
They stood there, both wielding a phone.
Harry was suddenly reminded of Zach’s warning:“This is on the down-low,”he’d said.“You can’t imagine the shit show if Sara finds out. There’s an injunction against both of us from using this house until the court decides who gets it.”
Jesus, what the hell was he going to do? Harry warily eyed his adversary. He noticed she had not dialed her phone, either, and was glaring at him just as warily.
She threw down the first gauntlet. “I’m not leaving.”
Harry didn’t say anything.
“I sublet my apartment for the summer because Sara said I could stay here.”
“Yeah, well, I sold my apartment, and I’ve got stuff in the works here. So I’m sure as hell not leaving.”
Her lovely blue eyes narrowed on him. “We can’tbothstay here,” she said, unnecessarily. “I don’t evenknowyou.”
“I don’t know you, either, but I’m definitely not leaving.”
“You can’t intimidate me!I’mnot leaving!”
“How am I intimidating you?” Harry exclaimed. “I’m just stating the facts, lady. I’ve been here longer than you, and when I arrived, you most definitely were not swimming in my pool. I have permission to be here, I am working here, and I’m not going anywhere. If that intimidates you, that’s your problem.”
“My problem is you,” she said, folding her arms. “Because I have permission to be here, I am likewise not going anywhere, and I get the master bedroom.”
Harry laughed darkly. “Oh, I don’t think so. I’ve already taken the master.”
“And I’ve already moved you out,” she said pertly. “I moved all your caretaker-looking things to the mother-in-law suite.”
“My caretaker-looking things?” he repeated, indignant.
“How was I supposed to know? I assumed all those boots and flannel shirts belonged to the caretaker that Sara fired! Anyway, I’m all moved in now, all my clothes are in the closet, and myshoes—”
“Okay,” he said, throwing up a hand in surrender. He was not going to argue about a bedroom in the middle of this fiasco. “But I’m not going to put up with that kind of a mess,” he added, nodding toward the kitchen.
“What mess?”
“Are you kidding me right now?Thatmess,” he said, pointing to the kitchen.
She looked, too, as if she hadn’t seen the dishes piled there.
“Please clean that up,” he snapped. He snatched up his bags and started down the hall to the mother-in-law suite. He swore he heard her mutter something unflattering under her breath and he halted, jerking back around to look at her.
