Chapter 6

six

. . .

Demi

Pompous.Arrogant. Self-righteous.

Romeo Knight was an asshole.

And he held all the power right now because all he had to do was open his mouth. Make one call. Tell his friends. And this would be all over town by lunch tomorrow.

I had to put my trust in a guy who couldn’t stand me.

“Excuse me? You think you can tell me where I’m sleeping?”

“The front door is smashed in. I agreed to your ridiculous plan of not telling anyone what happened and protecting your scumbag brother. Not because he deserves it, but because you do.”

I’m offended and touched at the same time.

I shook my head and moved closer, tipping my chin up to meet his dark, stormy gaze. The man always looked so pissed off at the world, and now he was judging me?

“If I go to my parents’ house, they’ll find out what happened. Hell, if I go to a hotel or a friend’s house, they’ll find out. You know how this town is.” I shrugged. “I’ll wait until morning, and I’ll say someone must have thrown a rock through the window. I’ll get the glass company out here first thing tomorrow.”

“And you think you’re going to sleep here, while anyone can just walk in?”

“You seem to have all the answers. What is it that you think I should do, ole wise one?”

“Personally, I think you should report his ass and tell the police. Tell your parents that the fucker robbed you. That’s what I think.” He held his hands up when I started to speak. “But I know you aren’t going to do that. And for whatever fucking reason, I’ve agreed to go along with your fucked-up plan. But you’re not sleeping here.”

Loud laughter escaped my lips. I was on edge. My brother had, in truth, scared the hell out of me. His eyes were wild, and he looked at me like he didn’t know me. It had been terrifying. But tomorrow, I’d find him, call the program, and help get him back to Boston. The whole thing had been a bit more dramatic than I’d let on. But Romeo was acting like a righteous prick at the moment, so I was trying to keep things as tame as possible.

“And where, exactly, do you think I’m sleeping?”

He glanced around, taking in all the broken glass, and he cursed under his breath. “You can sleep at my place. It’s just behind the gym.”

Well, this is unexpected.

“You want me to sleep at your place? You better not get any creepy ideas. I’m not sleeping with you to keep my secret.” I raised a brow, my chest rising and falling faster now. He may be an arrogant prick, but he was the best-looking guy I’d ever laid eyes on.

A wicked grin spread across his face. “Don’t get excited, Princess. You’re the last girl I’d sleep with. You’re a Crawford, after all.”

I didn’t want to sleep with him.

I had no interest in him.

So what if he was ridiculously good-looking?

I couldn’t stand the guy.

But hearing those words hit me hard.

Being hated for your last name. Being called Princess because you have a wealthy family was old fucking news. I’d worked hard my entire life, but people made judgments about me before they even knew me, and I was sick of it.

And saying that I was the last girl he’d ever want to sleep with?

That was low, even for him.

But I was too tired to be hurt or angry or strong at the moment.

Everything was hitting me all at once, and before I knew what was happening, my hands covered my face and hysteria left my lips.

I am ugly crying in front of the sexiest guy in town—who I also despise.

And I couldn’t stop if I wanted to.

Two strong arms wrapped around me, and I wailed and cried against Romeo’s chest.

I didn’t care how weak I looked at that moment. I’d get my mojo back tomorrow. But tonight, I’d had enough.

And he just held me there.

I wanted to hate him, but this was the first time since that alarm went off that I actually felt safe.

I cried for what felt like hours but was probably more like ten minutes. Which was a pretty damn long time to cry in the arms of your nemesis.

My tears slowed. The lump in my throat eased.

I was taking deep breaths to calm myself, and I tipped my head back to look at him.

“Sorry about that. It’s just been a bad night.” I could hear the exhaustion in my voice.

“I was being a dick,” he said, the corners of his lips turning up the slightest bit. “You’re not the last girl I’d sleep with. I mean, Midge Longhorn scares the shit out of me. She’s definitely at the top of the no-fuck zone.”

Midge owned the Golden Goose and was a terrifying woman who also happened to be in her mid-sixties. She’d snap at customers and had the worst case of resting bitch face I’d ever seen. She’d gone through three divorces, and she didn’t hide her disdain for people well.

“I’m flattered. Don’t worry, Romeo. No one wants to sleep with you here. If you were the last guy on Earth, I’d take a vow of celibacy.” It was the best I could do in my current state.

My wittiness wasn’t on par. I’d just survived a devastating encounter with my brother, I’d had to put my trust in a person who despised me, and I was standing barefoot in a T-shirt that barely covered my ass.

Witty comebacks were low on the priority list at the moment.

But his tongue swiped out and ran along his bottom lip, and I squeezed my thighs together as hard as I could, because I was suddenly remembering that it had been a long time since I’d had sex.

Which should be the last thing I was thinking about right now.

“A vow of celibacy, huh?”

“What can I say? You’re not my type.”

He smirked. The cocky bastard. “Go get dressed. We’re not walking out the door with you in only a T-shirt.”

“Such a gentleman.” I backed away from him, careful not to step on any glass, and ran upstairs to throw on some sweats and slip on my tennis shoes. I pulled my coat on because it was freezing outside and came down the steps to find Romeo duct-taping black trash bags over the shattered door. All the glass had been swept into a pile in the corner.

He looked up, eyes perusing me from head to toe, just like he’d done earlier. For a man who claimed he wasn’t interested, he sure didn’t look at me like I was the last woman on Earth that he was attracted to.

But that didn’t matter at the moment.

He’d agreed to keep my secret, and he’d offered me a place to stay.

“Can you lock your apartment so that if anyone gets in here, they can’t break into your place?”

“Yeah. It’s double bolted.”

“Do you have any money in the register or in a safe?”

“No. He took everything from the register, and I did a bank run earlier today, so there’s nothing here.” There was that lump again. I’d have to go to the bank first thing in the morning and pull out some cash to have in the register tomorrow. On top of the cost of the door, it was going to be a bad hit.

We’d just opened, so I’d invested a lot into the kitchen appliances and stocking up on supplies. Money was lean at the moment.

Obviously, I had a safety net. My family would always help me.

But I was not going to tell them that I’d been robbed. My father would know immediately that it was Slade.

I now felt pretty confident about what had happened with my brother and my parents. If Slade had behaved that night at the house the way he had here tonight, I understood why they were cautious.

Fearful, even.

So, I clearly couldn’t tell them what happened, or I’d never repair my family.

A teenager throwing a rock through the window was an easier sell.

“Before you freak out, I called my buddy, Brett Rogers.” He held his hands up to stop me from losing my shit, because Brett Rogers was a cop. “Relax. He’s a friend. It will look more suspicious that you didn’t call the cops when it happened. I told him that I was walking home right as the alarm had gone off, so that way, he can write it up, and there won’t be any questions tomorrow. He’ll be here in five minutes, and then you can deal with the door in the morning.”

“Good thinking. Of course, I’d call if the door got smashed by teenagers. Thank you.”

Brett Rogers arrived and wrote up a quick police report. Romeo surprised me when he told him that he’d come out of the gym just as a couple of teenagers ran off, laughing down the alley.

The officer didn’t question anything about our stories, and he told me it wasn’t safe to stay here tonight. I’d made it clear that I would not be staying here, but thankfully, he didn’t question where I was going.

I’d come back in the morning to deal with this mess.

We said goodnight after he ran caution tape all over the front door and said he’d have a car parked out front so we wouldn’t risk anyone else vandalizing the place tonight.

“Ready?” Romeo said, and his hand found the small of my back while we stepped out the back door. I bolted all three locks, which made him laugh, considering the front door was covered with a plastic bag.

“Thanks for that,” I said, keeping my voice low. “And for letting me stay at your place.”

“What am I going to do? Let you sleep in the alley? I’m not a complete dick.”

“Is that your story?” I said, my voice all tease.

We walked a few paces across the alley to his house, which sat right behind the gym. He pushed the door open, and I took in the space. It was small but very cool. The ceilings were vaulted, with raw wood beams forming a peak at the top. Cement floors ran throughout the studio space. There was a modern kitchen in the center, with a couch on one side and a bed on the other. It reminded me of a loft that a friend of mine had in the city.

“I can sleep on the couch,” I said, clearing my throat, because we were in a very small space now. I’d always had a keen sense of smell, and suddenly, the scent of cedar and sage was flooding my senses. Like he’d bottled up manly swagger and doused himself in it.

He chuckled. “You can take the bed. I’ve got a rollaway that I keep here.”

He moved across the room, opened the double doors of what appeared to be a closet, and pulled out a twin-size bed, which was on wheels and standing straight up. He moved it near the couch and away from his bed. Thank freaking God for small blessings because sleeping near this man was going to be torture.

Even if I claimed I’d choose celibacy over a night with him, I was fully just trying to save my dignity when I said that.

I imagined sex with Romeo Knight was probably like the kind of sex I read about in romance books. I was an avid reader, and I lived vicariously through the many heroines’ sex lives I’d read about over the years. I’d personally never found sex to be all that memorable. But I would bet my life that this man knew how to please a woman.

He dropped the bed down and then went to the closet and pulled out some sheets and a blanket and pillow, as if this was something he did all the time. I moved closer and took one end of the sheet, helping him make up the bed.

“I’ll take the cot because I don’t think you’d fit on it anyway,” I said, trying to hide my smile. “Do you have a lot of visitors who sleep in their own beds?”

“One of my best friends, Nash, has a little boy named Cutler, and he likes to have a sleepover here once a month, sometimes more if Nash needs a break. He’s raising him by himself.”

“I know Nash. He and Kingston worked on my renovation. They’re both nice.”

He raised a brow as he shook the blanket out and tucked it beneath the mattress. He was full of surprises. I wouldn’t have guessed him to be such a proper bedmaker. “I don’t know that anyone would describe them as nice.”

“Well, they were nice to me.”

“That means they were probably hitting on you, the dickheads.” He tossed a pillow at the head of the bed.

“It happens occasionally. Even if I’m the last person you’d be attracted to, not everyone finds me to be hideous.”

He stared at me for the longest time. “I don’t think anyone could find you hideous, Demi. Your looks have nothing to do with why someone wouldn’t be hitting on you, but you know that, don’t you?”

My cheeks heated at the intensity of his stare. “I don’t know another reason someone would feel that way.”

“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure it out.” He turned away, pointing toward a door. “Bathroom’s in there. If you’re hungry, I’ve got some leftover pizza in the fridge.”

“Thank you. I’m okay. I’ll just go to sleep if that’s fine with you.”

“Yeah. It’s late. I’m ready to crash, too.” He moved toward his bed and tugged the sweater over his head, and my mouth went dry. His back was chiseled perfection. Damn, was this what boxers looked like? Cut and toned, almost like someone had sculpted him from stone. All hard edges and defined lines. Before I could even process what was happening, he kicked off his shoes and dropped his jeans to the floor, standing there in a pair of black fitted boxer briefs.

Holy freaking hotness.

Strong thighs, a lean, tapered waist, and a perfectly hard ass. I hadn’t seen the other side of him yet, but I couldn’t look away. When he turned around slowly, I had no shame in my game as my eyes perused down his entire body. Dark ink on his right arm and his left thigh had his last name written across it. A six-pack that looked like something you’d see photoshopped in a sports magazine. He had a deep V that led down to a light layering of hair, and I stood stunned when I realized I was staring at the outline of his erection. When I finally forced myself to look up, I met his dark gaze, watching me with a sexy smirk on his face.

“Is this the first time you’ve seen a man in his boxers?” His voice was low and deep and sexy.

“Those aren’t boxers. Those are briefs.”

“I guess you’d know since you’ve been staring at my dick for a ridiculously long time.”

“I have not!” I hissed, before quickly whipping around and kicking off my shoes. I climbed beneath the blanket, fully clothed and completely mortified.

And awkwardly turned on.

Because he was right—I was staring at his package.

He just chuckled before the lights were turned off and the room was dark.