Page 95 of Joker in the Pack

Spike had helpfully left the door unlocked, and I followed Nye into the hallway, anger simmering inside me.

“How dare you invite a criminal into my home?”

“Do you mean Spike?”

“He said he’d been in prison.”

“He did three months for beating up the drunk driver who killed his wife.”

“Oh.” My indignation leaked away. Who wouldn’t want revenge in those circumstances? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken like that.”

“And I should have explained. In the interests of transparency, Spike was a burglar—one of the best—but the police never got near him.” Nye must have seen the steam coming out of my ears, because he hastily added, “He’s gone straight now.”

“How do you know that? He could just be, what do they say, casing the joint?”

Nye chuckled. “Trust me, babe, he’s not. When he was inside, he spent three months away from his baby daughter, and he won’t take the chance of that happening again. As soon as he got out, he started his own company. Now he advises householders how to stop people like him.”

“You’re absolutely sure he’s safe?”

Nye walked over to me and took both of my hands in his. “Liv, believe me when I say that if there was the slightest doubt in my mind, he wouldn’t be here.”

Just like that, I went weak at the knees again. How could Nye do that to me with one look? One long, smouldering look.

A beeping noise sounded from outside, and I rushed to the front window in time to see a truck reversing up the driveway.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

I wasn’t expecting any deliveries. With the cottage still stuffed to the gunwales, I hadn’t been remotely tempted to follow in Aunt Ellie’s footsteps.

“I’m redecorating my apartment, and I had a spare sofa going, so I got someone to deliver it here. I figured you could do with somewhere to sit.”

I reached the truck as two men carried the first piece of a luxurious pale grey leather sectional onto the tail lift.

“Nye, that looks brand new.”

He shrugged. “I’m not home much.”

“It’s very kind of you, but I can’t possibly accept it.”

“I knew you’d say that, which was why I didn’t tell you it was coming.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off before I could speak.

“You’re doing me a favour, taking it off my hands. I need the space.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. And it’ll save me from spending another night on the floor.”

I understood he was trying to be kind, but those words stabbed me in the heart. I’d offered him my bed, and he’d made his position quite clear.

But I had to be gracious. “I’m very grateful.”

“Anything for you, Liv.”

Nye parked himself in front of his laptop while I started lunch. Nothing fancy, just a few sandwiches seeing as we’d already eaten pastries at Carol’s. But I’d only got the fillings out of the fridge when Tate phoned.

I saw his name flash up on the display and stifled a groan. It was a conversation I didn’t want to have. Yesterday, once it finally clicked that Tate was basically Edward with more tweed, I’d vowed I wouldn’t go running back to him, especially after the way he’d dismissed me so rudely. Even though Nye didn’t want me either, I’d rather be single than mould myself into a man’s accessory once more.

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