Page 28 of Reckless Harmony

Immediately annoyed by being ignored, he said, “Is there a reason you’re in my yard, Ms. Abrams?”

“Molly got out again,” she said. “Have you seen her? She’s the pregnant calico cat - orange and black and white.”

“I haven’t seen her,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he said.

She turned to face him, snowflakes catching on her lashes as she chewed at her bottom lip. Even in the dim light of the flashlight, he could see the worry on her face. She swept the flashlight around his yard before pushing past him. “Okay, thanks.”

He watched in astonishment as she grabbed the top of the fence separating their properties and nimbly pulled herself up and over it. She dropped into her yard with a soft grunt, and he marched over to the fence.

“What are you doing?”

She was studying the dark forest behind their yards. “I’m getting warmer clothes and a better flashlight and searching the woods for Molly.”

“There are wolves in the woods, Ms. Abrams.”

“I’m aware,” she said.

Before he could say anything else, she headed across her yard and toward her house.

Thrown off by his immediate anxiety over her going into the woods, he shouted, “It’s just a cat! You’re going to get eaten by wolves over a damn cat?”

Without turning around, she held her hand out and popped her middle finger at him.

“Real mature,” he snapped, his anxiety for her disappearing in an instant.

He stalked back into his house, slamming the back door before walking toward his bedroom. “She’s crazy,” he said. “Certifiably insane. She’ll get herself killed, and then I’ll never get her damn property.”

You can’t let her go out there alone. It’s too dangerous.

“Fuck!” he shouted before stalking toward the closet. If he was about to be tromping through the fucking woods as a potential snack for wolves, he wasn’t wearing a goddamn suit for the festivities.

He paused in front of the closet. He’d left the door half open this morning, and he cocked his head at the soft meow coming from inside of it. He opened it fully, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

CHAPTER 12

Rayna ignored the pounding on her front door as she searched through the kitchen junk drawer for batteries for the good flashlight.

“C’mon,” she snarled, yanking the drawer open further as a flurry of pencils, receipts, and tape dispensers fell to the ground. She pawed through the contents, her heart thudding and her stomach churning. Where the fuck were the batteries?

The pounding grew louder, and she shouted, “Fuck!” before stomping down the hallway to the front door. She yanked it open. “Can I help… what do you want?”

She glared at Stark, who glared right back. “I found your stupid cat.”

“What?” She went still, relief washing over her. “You found Molly?”

“Yes. She’s in my goddamn house.”

“You let her into your house?” she said, confused.

“I didn’t let her into my house,” he snapped. “I have no fucking idea how she got into my house, but you need to come get her immediately.”

“Fine,” she said. “Christ, you don’t have to be such a dick about it.”

He didn’t answer, just turned around and stomped down the porch stairs. She shut the door behind her and followed him silently into his house. She didn’t say a word when he led her past the kitchen and living room and down a narrow hallway papered in horrible wallpaper that featured oversized shiny pink roses and… were those sparkles?

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