Page 79 of Average Joe

When he kissed that ugly mutt? Panties melted.

Oh, shit. Lilly was right. Maybe I was whooped. Perhaps I’d made a mistake asking him to be neighbors with benefits. Maybe I wasn’t capable of halfhearted affairs.

Or maybe, though I’d never say it out loud, I was less scared or vulnerable when Joe and I were together.

Or perhaps, like Joe, I was just lonely.

One thing I knew for sure—I needed a dog.

* * *

Dry lips and a wet tongue made for torturous pleasure, whispering along that spot on my neck that always made me squirm.Joe moaned, hooked my waist, and rolled, placing me on top of his warm body, chest to chest.

My skin buzzed, gearing up for round two, until Joe asked, “Wanna tell me why Harper paid you a visit today?”

My post-coital haze fizzled like lit dynamite plunged into a tub of ice water. “How do you know Harper visited me today?” I sat up straight and rested my butt on Joe’s knees, doing my damndest to keep my voice in check. “You spying on me?”

He studied me long and hard, those Nordic blue eyes darkening, a small dent forming between his brows. “My best friend works for the SPD. Harper’s on everyone’s radar. Local law. Feds.” Strong fingers pressed deeper into my waist, not hard enough to bruise, but firm and sure, a silent communication that he would not let me slink, storm, or pout my way out of the conversation. “Tell me. Is he harassing you?”

“Not any more than usual,” I blurted. “But again, how is it okay that you know this?”

“Not any more than usual?” He ignored my question. “How long has he been bothering you?”

Joe was genuinely concerned for my safety, evident by the crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

He cared, and sweet caramel macchiato, what a delicious sensation knowing someone worried for me. Joe officially had the power to hurt me.

How careless I’d been to let that happen.

I tried to rise. My beautiful, too patient neighbor held me in place.

The bastard enjoyed our size difference, always holding me close or tossing me around in bed like I was his personal bendy blow-up doll.

When he took charge in the sack, my body ignited. However, when he acted the overprotective brute, my internal furnace overheated, nothing but steam and smoke piping out my ears. “Crossing a line here, Joe.”

“Not crossing anything,” he stated, absorbing my glare and countering with a scowl. “If my friends wanna keep tabs on my girl and report back, nothing I can do to change their minds.”

My girl.Ugh. If I weren’t so heated, I might’ve swooned, but I was Marley, and I had an argument to win. “I can handle my own business.” I crossed my arms and huffed. “My encounters with Harper do not concern you or your friends.”

Joe glared hellfire, jackknifed to cage me in his massive arms, then pulled me flush against his sweaty chest, back to where we’d started, stretched out on his mattress. “You make me fucking crazy, you know that?”

“Back off.” I shoved at his chest. “I have this covered. I don’t need babysitters.”

“You don’t want to tell me about Harper.” Joe lifted me off his lap and deposited me to his left. “I can’t make you talk, but I won’t let the subject go.” On his way to the bathroom, he said, “You’re good at what you do, but nonetheless, your line of business is not safe.”

“Says the criminal,” I tossed back, bitch mode kicking in.

“I’m serious,” he yelled from across the hallway. “You’re not selling your body, but you’re in the sex business regardless. That’s a dangerous place to be.”

The toilet flushed, water ran, then stopped. Joe’s naked frame filled the doorway. I held my gaze above his shoulders with great effort because, man, that guy could make a girlstoopid. My wits needed to remain firmly intact.

“You say you love your girls.” His voice came too gentle, too calm.

“I do,” I mumbled.

Arms crossed, he leaned against the jamb. In my periphery, his giant cock swung and bounced with his movement, a heady temptation, but I would not falter my glare.

“They’re not safe,” he stated. “Guys like Harper won’t stop preying on you.”

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