Page 26 of Kissing Chaos
Her eyes cut over to where Jett and Reece are talking by his truck.
“Does she know who you used to spend your nights with? Does Reece?” If looks could kill, I’d be the squirrel pancake in the road that I passed earlier. The look has me chuckling again. “Still hiding your past relationships from the people who matter. Got it.”
She turns her back to the people below, her voice a harsh whisper. “Keep my past mistakes to yourself, Noah. None of that needs to get back to my family.” She points angrily toward Jett and Reece. “And that girl and her brotherarefamily. Got it?”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “Hey, no judgment here. But I’d suggest keeping ourpast encountersto yourself as well. From what I hear, the guy you’ve got googly eyes for isn’t a big fan of Trace either.” Those deep blue eyes are going to put someone under one of these days. I glance over her shoulder to see the three amigos unloading items from the trailer on the street. “I won’t say anything to her about either scenario. We can just say I fixed your studio’s elevator one time. No harm done.” And it’s true. Her workout studio is on our company’s service route.
“Is that what we’re calling almost becoming in-laws? Just fixing elevators?” She chuckles before setting her iced coffee by the door and heading down the stairs to help unload as Jett makes her way back to me.
“Want some help with your things?” I ask her, hoping she’ll say yes.
One shoulder shrugs up, the same oversize sweatshirt sliding off to expose smooth, tanned skin. Instead of giving in to the urge to see how soft it is under my fingertips, I lift my eyes to hers and wait for a response.
“You don’t have to help me just because we ran into each other, you know.”
I nod. “Yeah, but it’s the neighborly thing to do.”
She snorts. “Oh, is that it? I thought you wanted in my pants.”
I feign a hurt expression, but my ego takes a small hit at the insinuation. “Do you always shoot guys down before they have a chance to ask you out, or am I a special case? I’m not sure if I should take offense at such a generic rejection or feel special for receiving such special treatment from such a beautiful girl.”
The slight blush overtaking her cheeks is adorable, but she turns away too quickly for me to get a good look at her expression as she slips the key into the lock and turns the knob.
As she opens the door, she turns back to me. “If you want to waste your day helping us unpack, I won’t stop you. But you know nothing about me except that I got stuck in one of your elevators. My statement from the other week still stands. Don’t waste your time, Noah Slater.”
“You don’t get to decide what I consider wasted time, Jett Taylor,” I say as I step around her and unlock my own door. “Once I let Sadie out, I’ll be able to help.”
I can hear the tippy-tappies from her crate before I step through the door.
“Hey, Sadie Bear. You have a good day? Wanna go outside for a bit?” I keep talking to the best girl as I open her kennel, and she barrels toward the back door, her little whines stringing together as if she’s having an actual conversation with me. Hell, she probably is. “You wanna stay out here for a bit, girl?”
She yips in response.
“Behave yourself,” I tell her as I pull the door closed. She’s not quite trustworthy to have free rein over the house. Australian Shepherds are most definitely a challenge, but I refuse to own any other breed. They are the most loyal, trustworthy, and protective companions.
When I come back out the front door and close it, Jett is standing in the doorway.
“You just leave your door open all the time?”
“It’s Havenwood. What, you think someone’s going to come in and steal something? I’d like to see them try it ’round here.”
She stares at me like she wants to deliver a witty comeback, but she tortures that lower lip instead. I almost—almost—reach up to smooth it from her grip, but she steps outside again before I can.
Probably for the best.
***
I don’t think Jett expects it to take as long to unpack the trailer as it does, and I know for a fact her brother would prefer that I head to my loft and avoid his sister. At least Jace is a friendly face, even if he has a tendency to overshare. Like when he tells Jett that Drew dipped out when they got back to town to meet up with Kristen.
“I don’t think he’d appreciate you airing his dirty laundry like that, man,” Reece says.
Jace shrugs unapologetically, and after what I learned recently about Drew, I can’t say I blame him.
“We all have our issues,” he says. “I am tired of him hiding behind me and his brother all the damn time.”
“So, what?” Jett questions. “Does everyone in this town go to Kristen for therapy?”
I try to stifle the chuckle slipping up my throat, but Jace cuts his eyes at me as he answers. “Havenwood is all about family and community. If you aren’t willing to handle your problems healthily, or you aren’t willing to talk about your problems to someone, those problems tend to leak through the town’s gossip channels pretty quickly. Especially the ones that sit at my bar or at the bakery across the street.” Meaning gossip spreads at the Riley-owned establishments.
