Dane - A MacKenzie Novel Read Free

narrowing her
eyes.
    “I can see that worked out well for you. I
take it he couldn’t manage to bring himself to the altar?”
    “Something like that,” she said softly, the
old feelings of not quite being good enough surfacing before she
could tramp them back down.
    “Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was out of
line. I promise I’ll leave everyone on the whole damned street
alone if they’ll leave me alone.”
    Bayleigh felt the beginnings of a headache
forming at the back of her skull. Between the lack of sleep and the
one-two punch her new neighbor had just delivered, reminding her of
her former fiancé and the myriad of inadequacies she hadn’t
realized she’d had until she’d met him, she decided she wasn’t in
the mood to be nice after all.
    “Oh, no. No need to apologize. If anything
it’s my fault for getting in at one this morning after working a
fourteen hour day,” she said sarcastically. “It was inconsiderate
of me to expect you to move in after the sun came up. Tell you what
I’ll do to make it up to you.”
    She smiled—a smile that her brothers would
recognize as trouble. Her new neighbor must have recognized it too,
because his eyes narrowed to black slits and the muscles in his
arms bulged as he crossed them in silent warning.
    “You don’t really mean that about having
everyone leave you alone,” she said sweetly. “You seem like such a
friendly and outgoing guy. I’ll make sure to mention how great you
are to everyone over the next couple of days. Before you know it,
the whole street will be knocking on your door and introducing
themselves. It won’t be a month before you’re hosting the
neighborhood barbecue. You’ll also be picking up prescriptions,
mowing lawns, and eating macaroni salad with every meal so you
won’t hurt their feelings.” She batted her eyelashes at him as he
seemed to pale before her eyes. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
    Laughter followed her into the house and she
slammed and locked the door behind her. She knew it hadn’t been him
laughing. Dollars to donuts a smile had never cracked that face.
The Devil didn’t smile. It would pay to remember that. And so what
if she’d been slightly attracted to him. Bad boys were supposed to
be attractive to the opposite sex. It was a hormonal rule. But then
he’d had to go and open his mouth.
    Tears threatened to fall as she recalled his
words. He’d been exactly right. She’d been engaged for over a year,
and Paul hadn’t been able to go through with the actual wedding.
He’d liked her well enough as a friend, but she was too outspoken
for a corporate attorney’s wife. Her body was too curvy. Her
language not lady-like enough. And how could she expect Paul to
spend his life with a woman who didn’t respond to him in bed?
    It’s not that she couldn’t have orgasms. She
had great orgasms with her vibrator. It was just that sometimes it
took her longer to get there than her lovers had thought was
reasonable. She’d just be warming up, and all of a sudden, they’d
twitch and groan and it would all be over. The last date she’d been
on was three years ago, and she hadn’t even bothered to move it
into the physical stage. The thought of disappointing anyone else
had been more than enough to keep her celibate.
    Paul had been a bastard. She knew that now . But at the time he’d chipped away at her self-esteem
until she’d barely recognized the person she’d become. She barely
ate, trying to slim down the curves he found so distasteful. She
barely spoke, knowing if she didn’t talk then nothing would come
out of her mouth that would embarrass Paul. And she faked her
orgasms just so he would think she was putting a little effort into
their lovemaking.
    She knew Paul had been a controlling prick by
the time their wedding date had come around, and she thanked God
every day that he hadn’t shown up to the church that day. He’d
saved her a hell of a lot of grief in the long run, but he’d
damaged