Page 2 of Hold Me Until Morning

The place had been empty and posted for rent for the last month, and I’d heard it on good word from the neighborhood gossip that it’d been rented. Never once in the last week had Millie failed to come around to speculate about who might be moving in.

Poor old lady was always sure it was bound to be a serial killer.

It appeared I was about to find out, and not under the best of circumstances.

But hell, it seemed a prick move to pull into my garage and act like I hadn’t noticed someone was trying to move their shit in during a storm, which in my humble opinion was a bit on the reckless side.

Like it was offering proof, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky before a crack of thunder followed, and I was huffing again as I pulled into my garage, killed the engine, and climbed out.

I hesitated for only a second before I ducked out into the pelting rain.

A torrent pounding from above.

In an instant, my hair and tee were soaked, the pummeling only getting worse and spreading to my jeans as I jogged across the lawn that separated the two houses.

I rounded to the back of the U-Haul to the trailer and found the ramp was extended out and the rolling door was open. The minimal light that still remained cast a faint glow into the trailer.

Boxes were stacked on furniture, and the woman I’d seen come darting out had her back to me, frantically rifling through the boxes.

She wore shorts and a crop top as she bent over to hunt for whatever she was searching for. The action emphasized thick, lush thighs and the most delicious ass I’d ever seen.

My dick kicked, and my stomach gripped in a fit of lust.

Fuck me.

My new neighbor was perfection.

It was no secret that I loved women. Loved to touch and tease and fuck. But this smack of greed hit me like nothing I’d ever experienced.

I sucked the reaction down because I didn’t know a single thing about this woman.

Hell, she could be married for all I knew, and ogling someone else’s wife was not my thing. Though if the douche was sitting inside as she was out here in the rain? He and I were not going to be friends.

I hopped into the bed of the truck.

“Hey, there,” I called, though my voice was drowned by the rain battering against the metal roof.

Apparently, she wasn’t expecting any sort of neighborly welcome because a scream suddenly ripped out of her. The piercing sound ricocheted against the confined walls.

In the same second, she whirled around. Drenched locks of this dark, honey-kissed blonde hair whipped around her shoulders.

The box she’d just picked up toppled out of her hands and thudded to the floor right as these cute, dainty little fists came out in front of her like she was ready to throw down.

A vicious little thing who clearly was prepared to claw my eyes out.

I held back the chuckle that threatened. All I could think was she and Millie might be kindred spirits, only this woman had been sure she was moving in next to a serial killer.

I didn’t laugh, though. Not when I could feel it—actual fear rolling off her in waves.

I couldn’t make out her face in the shadows, but that didn’t hide the ferocity that lay beneath it, seeded deep in her bones.

I lifted my hands in surrender. “Whoa, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, darlin’.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Sneaking up on me like that?” Her voice was low and throaty and skating over my skin.

At the sound of it, a strange sensation pulled at my stomach.

A clench of uncertainty.

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