Read Online Next to Die by Marliss Melton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marliss Melton
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ears caught the words he finally growled. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
She was dying to look back but worried that the smirk on her face might push him over the edge. He’d looked a little unpredictable there toward the end, and it wasn’t her intent to incite him to violence, just to open his eyes to Penny’s virtues.
Dazed, Joe shut the door against the cold.
He stood in his chilled foyer, processing the awful fact that a third person had witnessed the exchange between him and Florence Nightingale. He cringed to consider that she’d probably heard every nasty word he’d said.
Her scolding words returned to him.
If you knew what Penny gave up for me when our father died, you’d be licking the soles of her feet
.
Who do you think has been raking your leaves and feeding your cat, for God’s sake?
Okay, so Lieutenant Price had tended his yard and fed his cat while he was gone. Go figure. Apparently, in addition to being nosy, she was quite the do-gooder. He applauded her selflessness, but he’d never asked for her help.
He limped back to his leather sofa and eased painfully onto one end while checking the score to see what he’d missed. On the widescreen TV, his alma mater, USC, was getting the snot beat out of them.
His gaze flickered to the carpet. If Penny Price hadn’t scrubbed it last night, he’d have cleaning professionals crawling all over the room.
With a mutter of annoyance, Joe snatched up his beer bottle. “So that makes me a selfish, self-righteous jerk?” he asked his cat, taking a swig.
Felix sat at his feet, glowering, and Joe realized that he’d forgotten to feed him. With a groan, he pushed to his feet.
Okay, so maybe he was a little self-absorbed, enough to keep him from seeing what his neighbor was up to. Honestly, he’d never given her much thought, except to notice that she was in the Navy, just like him.
She wasn’t the type of woman he tended to notice. She had a trim but unremarkable figure, did nothing with her hair, wore very little makeup.
He dumped the contents of the can into Felix’s bowl and slowly straightened. Her face was pleasant but not striking. In fact, only her Caribbean blue eyes could truly be called beautiful.
They seemed to see right through him, which he found totally disconcerting.
She’d looked at him like that last night, when he’d been sitting ignominiously on the toilet seat. His breath caught as snatches of their conversation returned to him.
Where’d you go this morning?
Funeral.
Who died?
One of my men.
I’m sorry. That must have been awful for you.
Shit. He’d prided himself on being circumspect about SEAL business. The Inquisition could not have gotten him to confess the tiniest detail of any given mission. But with two short questions, Penny Price had him telling all and blubbering like a baby.
He’d actually cried in front of her!
With a gagging sound, Joe tossed the can in the trash. How humiliating!
His memory fast-forwarded, and he froze at the vision of her lying in his arms, her eyes glimmering like aquamarines in the semidarkness. He could still feel the texture of her lips under his. She’d tasted so sweet, almost familiar.
“Oh, no!” Joe breathed, as the possibility that he’d slept with her had every hair on his body prickling in alarm.
He couldn’t have.
He wouldn’t have. Or would he?
He dragged his fingers through his hair. God forbid that she accuse him of sexual misconduct. Wouldn’t that be the nail in his coffin?
He swiveled and hobbled to his bedroom. Thrusting his door open, he approached the rumpled bed, seeking evidence that might suggest what he’d done.
His beige sheets appeared pristine, hardly used at all.
He stripped them, all the same, and carried them to his laundry room to run a load of wash. As the washer hummed and swished, Joe took a long, sobering shower, then shaved the bristles off his face.
What does she want from me?
he wondered, so distracted that he nearly cut himself
She was dying to look back but worried that the smirk on her face might push him over the edge. He’d looked a little unpredictable there toward the end, and it wasn’t her intent to incite him to violence, just to open his eyes to Penny’s virtues.
Dazed, Joe shut the door against the cold.
He stood in his chilled foyer, processing the awful fact that a third person had witnessed the exchange between him and Florence Nightingale. He cringed to consider that she’d probably heard every nasty word he’d said.
Her scolding words returned to him.
If you knew what Penny gave up for me when our father died, you’d be licking the soles of her feet
.
Who do you think has been raking your leaves and feeding your cat, for God’s sake?
Okay, so Lieutenant Price had tended his yard and fed his cat while he was gone. Go figure. Apparently, in addition to being nosy, she was quite the do-gooder. He applauded her selflessness, but he’d never asked for her help.
He limped back to his leather sofa and eased painfully onto one end while checking the score to see what he’d missed. On the widescreen TV, his alma mater, USC, was getting the snot beat out of them.
His gaze flickered to the carpet. If Penny Price hadn’t scrubbed it last night, he’d have cleaning professionals crawling all over the room.
With a mutter of annoyance, Joe snatched up his beer bottle. “So that makes me a selfish, self-righteous jerk?” he asked his cat, taking a swig.
Felix sat at his feet, glowering, and Joe realized that he’d forgotten to feed him. With a groan, he pushed to his feet.
Okay, so maybe he was a little self-absorbed, enough to keep him from seeing what his neighbor was up to. Honestly, he’d never given her much thought, except to notice that she was in the Navy, just like him.
She wasn’t the type of woman he tended to notice. She had a trim but unremarkable figure, did nothing with her hair, wore very little makeup.
He dumped the contents of the can into Felix’s bowl and slowly straightened. Her face was pleasant but not striking. In fact, only her Caribbean blue eyes could truly be called beautiful.
They seemed to see right through him, which he found totally disconcerting.
She’d looked at him like that last night, when he’d been sitting ignominiously on the toilet seat. His breath caught as snatches of their conversation returned to him.
Where’d you go this morning?
Funeral.
Who died?
One of my men.
I’m sorry. That must have been awful for you.
Shit. He’d prided himself on being circumspect about SEAL business. The Inquisition could not have gotten him to confess the tiniest detail of any given mission. But with two short questions, Penny Price had him telling all and blubbering like a baby.
He’d actually cried in front of her!
With a gagging sound, Joe tossed the can in the trash. How humiliating!
His memory fast-forwarded, and he froze at the vision of her lying in his arms, her eyes glimmering like aquamarines in the semidarkness. He could still feel the texture of her lips under his. She’d tasted so sweet, almost familiar.
“Oh, no!” Joe breathed, as the possibility that he’d slept with her had every hair on his body prickling in alarm.
He couldn’t have.
He wouldn’t have. Or would he?
He dragged his fingers through his hair. God forbid that she accuse him of sexual misconduct. Wouldn’t that be the nail in his coffin?
He swiveled and hobbled to his bedroom. Thrusting his door open, he approached the rumpled bed, seeking evidence that might suggest what he’d done.
His beige sheets appeared pristine, hardly used at all.
He stripped them, all the same, and carried them to his laundry room to run a load of wash. As the washer hummed and swished, Joe took a long, sobering shower, then shaved the bristles off his face.
What does she want from me?
he wondered, so distracted that he nearly cut himself
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