Page 3 of Stars and Swipes

“Not a damn thing, sweetheart. I’m looking forward to getting to know you a lot better, that’s all.”

Grunting, I stomp away, glancing back at him. “There’s nothing interesting about me at all, sparky. So you might as well not even wonder.”

He eyes me with a knowing look in his eyes that I don’t like. “I bet that’s not even remotely true, sweetheart. There’s a whole helluva lot I want to know about you!”

My heart skips a beat and my lower body clenches even as I glare at him then stomp off.

This guy’s just passing through. I’m sure I won’t see him again.

But my good mood is gone and I stalk up to Petra who’s dancing with a flirty guy who’s eyeing her like she’s his main course for the night.

“Hey, I’m gonna head out. I’ve got a headache.”

Petra groans. “Oh no! You need me to walk with you!”

“Nope. There’s nobody that’s gonna bug me. You have a good time. I’ll talk to you later.”

She nods and blows me a kiss over the guy’s shoulder.

I grab my jacket and slip it on, feeling the night-time chill in the air as I step outside. I look up at the moon and feel the cool breeze on my flushed cheeks and then I start walking, pushing the stupid men out of my mind.

But pale green eyes sparkling with desire are the last thing I think about as I pull my sheets up to my chin and drift off to sleep.

CHAPTER 2

Kade

The saw cuts into the rotten boards on the front porch and I pause for a minute, adjusting my noise-cancelling headphones, bobbing my head in time to the heavy metal 80’s song that I’m listening to.

I like all kinds of music but heavy metal fits my mood this morning. My body has been humming with energy since I met the gorgeous redhead last night and had my hands all over those luscious hips of hers.

I have been busy since then but all I can think about is finding her and touching her again.

Something touches my leg and I scream and jump up in the air. A streak of ginger, black and white scrambles under the porch and I groan.

“Hey, kitty kitty.” I put my saw down and carefully slip down off the porch and peer under it. A pair of glowing eyes stare back at me. “Hey, kitty kitty! Come on! I’ve got some tuna that you can have….you want some tuna?”

Instead of moving towards me, the little kitten moves backwards, pushing herself even further under the porch. I groan and lay down flat, moving like a worm under the porch. “Hey, sweetie! Come on…I’ll get you something to eat and take you to to the vet so we can find you a new home, little one. All you’ve got to do is come to me.”

“Meow,” it says softly and I chuckle.

“You’re alright, little one. Just come here.” But she slips further and further away from me and I groan. “You’re gonna make me go get the tuna and crawl back under here, aren’t you?”

The little monster ducks back even further and ducks her head into her paws.

“Fine. I’ll be right back.”

I shimmy my ass out from underneath the porch and grunt, getting to my feet quickly and walking into my parent’s house, now mine. I spot movement at the little cottage next door to mine that’s next to the antique store that my parents loved to visit. I know that they liked the owner and often visited with her. They both always wanted me to go meet her but I hadn’t had time to visit since I graduated from college. I’d worked my ass off all through school to make sure that I had the best options for jobs after school. And I got my dream job a year ago. But it’s made it impossible for me to come home to see my parents after they settled in this little town.

But for as long as they’ve been here they’ve been talking about their next-door neighbor. How great she was. How sweet she was. How much they liked her.

To tell you the truth, sometimes I hated that woman. They seemed to think that she could do no wrong and that’s a hard thing to hear from your parents when maybe they don’t think the same about you.

I know that they wanted me to come back here and see their new place. But honestly…they weren’t that old and I thought I had plenty of time. I was growing in my new job and working non-stop. They came to see me last year at Christmas for a week but it had been a little rough for me since I am not much of a cook. I hired a chef so that my mother didn’t have to help me but she was actually a bit insulted about that so it backfired on me.

But that’s often how our relationship went. We tried and we loved each other but sometimes it was just a struggle because my goals were not the same as theirs.

But now that this happened…I’d decided to come back to their home and restart my life. I was going to use my business degree for more than just making money for the company that I worked for.

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