Chapter 1

CHAPTER1

“This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” his brother Craig said with a satisfied sigh as Bryce sat there glaring at the man who better be fucking joking.

“She’s moving in even as we speak,” Connor said with a look on his face that told Bryce that he knew exactly what he was doing and just in case he missed it…

“Payback’s a bitch,” Connor said, shooting him a wink as Bryce sat there looking for any signs that his brother-in-law was lying to him only to feel the first tendrils of fear slowly make their way up his spine when he didn’t find any.

“Rory would never let you do this,” Bryce said, knowing before the words had a chance to leave his mouth that this was definitely something that his sister would do.

“It gets better,” Craig said with that devious look in his eye that told Bryce everything that he needed to know.

It was already too fucking late to stop this.

“Better than the asshole letting the woman that’s obsessed with me move into the apartment across from mine?” Bryce bit out, wishing like hell that he never signed that lease.

God, if he thought for one minute that they’d release him from his lease early, Bryce would already be throwing all of his shit in his truck and getting the hell out of here. He’d barely survived living across the street from her when they were kids and-

He couldn’t do this, Bryce thought, swallowing hard as he found himself glancing at his apartment door, praying that it was locked. Please let it be locked, he thought, trying not to panic as he climbed over the back of the couch and quickly made his way across the living room to make sure. He just needed to figure out a way to get out of this before the little brat could set her sights on him.

He needed a plan.

He needed-

“Rory hired her as the new project manager.”

-to kill the little bastard, Bryce thought, closing his eyes in defeat as he pressed his forehead against the door, praying that this was all just a bad dream. It had to be. There was no fucking way that this was happening to him again.

For thirteen years, he’d lived in fear, forced to check under his bed, his closet, and over his shoulder, knowing that the little brat that couldn’t seem to stay away from him was there, waiting for the right moment to make her move.

Taking a deep breath, Bryce said, “I quit.” Being forced to live across the hall from her was one thing, but being forced to work with her…

He would never survive.

“Rory said you’d say that,” Connor said, sounding thoughtful. “She also said to tell you that if you tried to quit that I should remind you that the Dawson Project was your idea,” making Bryce bite back a groan at the reminder of the plan that sounded like a good idea when he came up with it.

Now, he really wished that he’d kept his big fucking mouth shut.

“What are you going to do?” came the curious question as Bryce looked out the peephole and glared at the apartment across from his that already had a fucking Christmas bow on it.

“Make sure that she knows that it would be in her best interest to move,” Bryce said, knowing that he didn’t have any other choice.

Sean would be pissed, but then again, something told him that the little bastard had something to do with this. He was definitely going to kill the little bastard, Bryce thought, only to swallow hard as he watched the door open and-

This was fine.

He could handle this for a month, maybe two, until she gave up and accepted the fact that there would never be anything between them and finally moved on. Until then, he would make sure that their paths never crossed and-

Oh, fuck…

“Are you going to get that?” Craig asked, sounding really fucking amused as Bryce stood there, swallowing hard when she knocked on his door.

Telling himself that this wasn’t happening, Bryce slowly pulled back from the door and-

Sighed when the little brat that couldn’t seem to stay away from him knocked again. God, it was already starting, Bryce thought as he stood there, trying to mentally prepare himself for what was to come, knocks on his door at all hours of the day with some bullshit excuse just to see him, having her lingering in the hallway day and night with the hopes of catching a glimpse of him, and dealing with her waiting for a chance to corner him in the laundry room.

Resigning himself to the bullshit ahead, Bryce reluctantly opened the door and-

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for Connor. I was told that he was here,” Cayley, the woman that had been driving him out of his fucking mind since her family moved in down the street from him when he was five, said with a warm smile that turned sheepish a few seconds later when he continued to glare down at her. “I’m sorry. I should introduce myself. My name’s Cayley. I just moved into the apartment across from you,” she said, making him frown as she absently gestured to the apartment behind her.

“I know who you are, Cayley,” Bryce bit out, watching as that sheepish smile turned confused as she stared up at him as though she was trying to figure out who he was when he heard it.

A snort of laughter.

“It’s Bryce,” he bit out when she continued standing there, staring up at him as he looked over his shoulder to find Craig and Connor shaking with silent laughter before shifting his glare back down to the woman that really needed to move on.

Blinking up at him, Cayley said, “Okay.”

“I’m Sean’s brother,” Bryce snapped, watching as her frown slowly disappeared and was replaced with a warm smile.

“Oh, my god!” Cayley said, reaching up to pull him down for a hug before he could stop her. “It’s been so long! How have you been?”

“You saw me two months ago at the asshole’s birthday party,” Bryce bit out as she released him.

“Of course, I just…” Cayley said, gesturing absently towards him with a murmured, “I didn’t recognize you,” as her smile became polite.

“We grew up together,” he bit out when she didn’t say anything else.

Clearing her throat, Cayley said, “Of course,” with a look that told him that she had no clue who he was as Bryce stood there, grinding his jaw, knowing that she was lying her adorable ass off. She knew who he was.

Oh, did she fucking know who he was…

She could never get enough of him. He thought about how she always hid under his bed or in his closet, how she made a point to sit next to him whenever she got the chance, and all the fucked-up things that she did over the years just to get close to him. No matter how many times he’d made it crystal-fucking-clear that he wasn’t interested in her, it was never enough. Not that he could blame her, Bryce thought absently as he ran his gaze over her, taking in all the changes that the years had brought and had to admit that she was still fucking adorable. He took in her dark brown, almost black, hair pulled up into a ponytail, the green eyes that he swore shimmered blue, the plump pink lips that looked incredibly soft before shifting his attention to the generous curves filling out the Rerum Highland Construction tee-shirt, down to the old tennis shoes that she wore and everything in between before he went back to glaring at her.

“Is Connor here, Bruce?” Cayley asked, blinking up at him.

“It’s Bryce,” he bit out between clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, of course, it is,” Cayley murmured with a wince and that polite smile that was really starting to piss him off. “Is he here?”

“You know damn well who I am,” Bryce snapped, making him wonder what fucking game she was playing.

“What can I help you with, Cayley?” Connor asked, his eyes lit up with unholy amusement as he joined them.

“I signed the papers,” she said, looking really fucking relieved to see Connor.

“Great. Let’s go have a look,” Connor said, moving past him to join her.

“It was great seeing you again, Bruce,” Cayley said with that same fucking smile as Bryce stood there, glaring at her as he watched her smile turn warm as her focus shifted to Connor as they made their way across the small hallway and-

“Is he always like that?” she whispered to the bastard that looked really fucking amused.

“You know who I am!”