Page 32 of Bombshell

“She won’t,” Micah snarled.

I spun around and glared up at him. “Go,” I snapped and shoved past him and out the door.

He closed it, but I didn’t stop walking. I stalked toward the stairs, annoyed by the way he had acted toward Walen.

“You sure are moving on from Canyon real damn quick, Tink,” he said, entirely too close to me.

I reached the top step and spun around, then tilted my head back to look up at him. Ugh! Why did he have to look like that? So, so panty-droppingly gorgeous. I hated him. I hated him. I had to remember that while looking at his bare chest. Jabbing said chest with my fingernail, I made an angry growl in my throat.

“I went to help Mrs. Mildred pay her bills. That was her great-nephew. He is there to take her with him before the storm hits. That was all that was going on, not that it is your business. You didn’t have to be rude.”

Micah grabbed my wrist to keep me from the constant jabbing I was doing with my pointed almond-shaped nail. “Sure didn’t seem like he was just there for his aunt. He was ready to take me on for you.”

“Because you are all biker dude right now with the lack of proper clothin’ and messy, windblown hair. He was worried about my safety.”

Micah smirked. “No, Tink. He was pissed that I’d come in and messed up his time with you. He’d have asked you out before it was over.”

“Go back to the club, Micah. I am just fine without you being here.”

Brick cleared his throat, reminding me that he was up here. “Are we good here, or do I need to stay?”

“Go,” Micah replied, not looking away from me.

“STAY!” I shouted over him.

A low chuckle from Brick didn’t sound very promising that he was gonna side with me.

“It’s a fucking miracle you’re not married already. You can’t go anywhere and not draw a man in,” Micah said, surprising me.

I crossed my arms over my chest, not sure if that was meant as an insult or not. “I was visiting my neighbor,” I said through clenched teeth.

He smirked then. “So naive.”

That was it. I was done with him. Dropping my arms to my sides, I headed for the door. Brick was watching me, but I didn’t make eye contact with him. I reached for the doorknob and bit back all the things I wanted to shout at Micah. I wasn’t making a scene so that all my neighbors could open their doors and watch.

“I’m not here to fight with you, Tink,” Micah said.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. It didn’t help. I couldn’t stop myself. “Good. Because we both know I’m too slow to keep up!” I replied, jerking the door open and getting inside. Away from him. I didn’t want to see his face or listen to his stupid lies about what I had heard him say.

“Fuck,” Brick muttered just before the door slammed closed.

I paused at the closed door and listened to see what Micah would say, if he had any explanation.

“What the fuck did you say to her?” Micah demanded.

“I didn’t. Jesus, I wouldn’t tell her that. I was on the phone, talking to Jars. She must have overheard me. I didn’t know she was back.”

The door swung back open behind me. Micah was pressed against my back, and his arm went around my front with his palm flat against my stomach. I didn’t move. I wished I didn’t need to inhale because he smelled really good. And his hard body was warm, leaving no part of my backside untouched by it.

When his breath brushed against my ear, I shivered despite myself.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” The thickness in his tone made the bones in my body feel as if they had melted. “It was cruel, wrong, and I’m sorry.”

The way the last two words had come out fiercely, I believed him. But that didn’t change it.

“You’re sorry that I heard Brick say it. That I know that’s what you think of me,” I said just above a whisper.

His hold on me tightened. “Yeah, Tink. I did think that. When you were younger, you were different. But the woman you’ve become is clearly not slow. I said that before I spent any time around you or talked to you like I have the past few days.”

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