Page 12 of The Crush Next Door

Dogstar

"Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody."

"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them."

Oh, Mr. Darcy. Just you wait. Lizzy and her fine eyes will have you under their spell in no time.

I was in P&P heaven complete with a proper dinner in my belly and a sweet goodnight phone call with my very own Mr. Darcy. Sure, there had been an awkward moment or two when I'd told him about the game-watching with Josh. And I totally understood. But after a few reassurances, Devon came around.

Neither of us was really the jealous type. But we were in a strange situation right now with him in New York for work. We were being tested like never before. I knew, however, that we'd survive it with flying colors.

A sudden knock on the bedroom wall startled me, a little different than the usual. Since Josh wasn't observing me, I didn't squelch the eye-roll as I knocked back.

Then, I heard Josh's muffled voice. "I'm coming over," he said. Or I thought he said.

Pardon me? What was that? He was seriously coming over? "What?" I shouted back.

But he didn't answer, and a second later, I heard his front door slam shut. Scrambling out of my bed, I threw on a hoodie even though it was like a hundred degrees outside. There was no way in hell I could let Josh see me braless in my white tank top.

What was he even doing?

Heading into the living room, I glanced around. God, my place was a mess. Complete and utter chaos everywhere.

And now he was knocking on the front door. What the heck?

Despite his warning, I still looked out the peephole. And there he was, scratching his head, staring straight at me. Could people see your eyeball when you looked out? I always wondered that.

I unlatched the two locks and opened the door, ready to give him an earful for interrupting me and Mr. Darcy for the second night in a row. But I was stunned into silence when Magic ran into my apartment like he belonged there.

"What's going on?" I asked Josh, stepping back to look for Magic.

Josh just walked right in, not even waiting to be asked or anything. And did the guy ever put on a shirt?

"Please, please," I said, sweeping my arm in an exaggerated motion. "Do come in."

"Sure, thanks," he answered, already inside and completely missing my sarcasm. "God, your place is kind of disgusting."

I hugged my hoodie tighter. "Well, I wasn't exactly expecting company." I resisted the urge to run around picking up. "Sunday is my cleaning day."

Josh laughed. "Oh, really? So what? You just let it go all week and then clean it up on Sunday?"

"Exactly." That was my system now that I was living on my own. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Holding out his hands, Josh stopped eyeing my place and turned towards me. "Whoa, bro. I come in peace."

"And why exactly are you here anyway?" I said, tossing him a glare through my narrowed eyes.

He scratched his head again like he was a little uncomfortable, and his biceps bulged, not that I noticed or anything. "Well, I was out walking Magic before bed and I had an idea."

"Okay?"

"You know how you're a big wienie who's scared of the dark and all?"

I shut my eyes so he wouldn't see my internal eye-roll, which only amplified the sound of his laughter.

"Joking," he said. "So anyway..."

Opening my eyes, I studied his suddenly serious face. "Yeah?"

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