Page 8 of Never Kiss the Bad Boy

Kyle waits one more painfully long second, his icy eyes making sure Joshua understands exactly what pain and suffering will come his way if he even considers saying or doing anything else. Kyle must eventually see whatever surrender he’s looking for in Joshua’s eyes because he lets him up, but Kyle still seems on the edge of throwing hands. Or worse.

Whatever charming, smiling asshole he was is completely gone, replaced by a snarling, menacing asshole instead.

Brushing himself off, Joshua glares at Kyle before he stalks around the side of my house, swaggering like he did something even though Kyle’s crew next door and several trucks’ worth of guys out front saw exactly what happened.

When it’s only the two of us, Kyle turns his attention on me, his eyes going concerned and even soft in a blink. “Are you okay?” he asks gently, reaching out to touch my cheek like I’m fragile and made of glass.

His gesture makes something fluttery happen in my belly, and that pisses me off. A guy like him, making me feel like I just gulped an extra bubbly can of cola? I don’t like it. Not one bit. And I for damn sure don’t like Kyle. Or that he was watching the whole scene of Joshua asking me out, me saying no, and Joshua following me.

I’m not his responsibility. Not his to take care of, or to watch over, or… something.

I’m nothing to him, just the neighbor of his latest job. And he’s worse than that to me. He’s the asshole who’s ruining my work and now pissing off my customers.

I mean, I was this close to telling Joshua’s crew that they’re cut off from lunch, but that was my call to make. Not Kyle’s. And if I’d made the call, I could be the one to eventually undo it when Damien got Joshua under control. But now?

Since Kyle’s the one who made the declaration, I look weak in front of everyone. And there’s one thing I’m definitely not… weak. So I don’t appreciate Kyle making me look like some damsel in distress who needed him to swoop in to my rescue because I couldn’t handle things. I can rescue myself, thankyouverymuch.

Plus, the whole dick-measuring ego challenge isn’t something Joshua is going to let go. Kyle might’ve saved me today—not that I needed it—but he’s made the problem worse.

I jerk away from his touch, as if his thumb is white hot. “I had things handled. There was no need for you to play hero, especially when it’s gonna cost me money because that crew were regular customers.”

I’m mad. At Joshua, at Kyle, and at myself. One, for not foreseeing that Joshua was getting ballsy, and two, for my visceral reaction to Kyle’s touch.

“I’ll pay his daily,” Kyle says, his tone hard and not inviting argument. “Plus keep an eye out for him.” Despite the statement, his gaze hasn’t left me. In fact, I think he’s still checking me over as if Joshua’s hug might’ve hurt me in a more physical way.

“I’m still not feeding you or your crew,” I shoot back. “And I don’t need a damn bodyguard. I can take care of myself.” I stand a little taller, narrowing my eyes and daring him to say otherwise.

“I don’t care,” Kyle says evenly. “I’ll pay anyway.”

As if that’s all it takes, he turns and hops back over the fence like some sort of blue collar Batman, shouting to his crew, “Show’s over. Back to work.”

His yell’s not directed at me, but he’s right. I’ve got a lunch rush to get through. I just have to do it without somehow thinking about what Kyle did for me, easily and without asking for anything in return.

Yeah, right.

CHAPTER 4

KYLE

Ihad a meeting this morning with the tile vendor, so I have to wait in the small amount of traffic down Riverdale Drive before I arrive this morning. Carefully, I pull in front of Dani’s house, backing up as much as I can in an attempt to stay out of her way.

It’s the least I can do after that shitshow yesterday. It was totally instinctual. I didn’t think. I was over the fence and looming over that jerk before my brain caught up to what was happening. Oh, I’d been watching the whole spectacle of him kneeling in Dani’s front yard and her throwing a bag of food at him. Everyone watched that. I even stayed put when he started walking her way, ready to watch her fire and fury smack his cocky arrogance down a notch or ten. It wasn’t until he touched her that my vision went red alert and the next thing I knew, I was snarling threats and barely holding myself back from wiping his flirty grin off his stupid face. Permanently.

So yeah, my shot at a better parking job isn’t nearly enough. There’s a clear difference in the two lawns, showing the property line, but my front wheels are clearly on Dani’s side while the rest of my truck, not so much. In front of me, there’s a length of curb still, but it’s only big enough for a car, not the full-size trucks her customers drive.

I’d back up more, but Wayne’s truck is parked behind me, the trailer stretching out in front of Kathy’s house, and behind that is the space necessary to unload the digger. I’m going to have to do something about this situation today because I’m less than a week into this job, and I can see that Dani’s right about the traffic flow down the street. This is definitely cramped quarters.

“Hey, Wayne! How’s it going?” I call out as I approach him. He’s supervising Zeus, our youngest crew member who’s driving our mini-digger. I wish we could use a bigger machine, but there’s no way in hell we could navigate that trailer down this street.

The glare Wayne sends my way is answer enough, especially when he jerks his head toward Kathy’s house. “Deal with her,” he warns in a low voice, “or I will.”

Great. I’ve been worrying about Dani, but apparently, the bigger issue today is our client. Why am I not surprised? On some jobs, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, glancing at the house. “She’s not outside chewing you out, at least. That’s gotta be a good sign, yeah?”

“Not exactly,” Wayne says as he comes closer, grumbling like a pissed-off bear. “She was out here first thing, telling me that we weren’t digging properly.” He snorts at her unmitigated gall… as if Kathy Wilson has any idea about hole digging. “Said the pile of dirt was blocking her view out the nook window. She apparently likes to have her morning coffee and gaze out over the peasants.”

He mimics sipping from a teacup with his dirt-covered pinkie finger out and frowning snottily as he flicks his eyes over the mess of a yard. It’s a fair approximation of Kathy’s mannerisms based on our conversations during the quote phase of the job. “Not sure how the fuck she thought we were gonna put a pool in and not disturb the view.”

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