Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,30

hobbled the short distance over to his chair, and sat down on his lap.

“Saving Halloween,” Charlie said as she picked up his discarded marker, pulled the cap off, and focused on giving the pumpkin a terrifying face worthy of Halloween while the man that had drawn the saddest pumpkin that she’d ever seen sighed as he put his arm around her.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said, only to grumble something when Dustin said, “Yes, it was.”

“Fine. Then let me fix it,” Devin said, reaching to take the marker from her only to drop his hand away when she blindly reached back and absently patted his face with a, “Shhhh, not while I’m working.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a controlling little thing?” Devin asked as he absently caressed her stomach through her shirt while she did her best to focus on the task at hand.

“I prefer holiday perfectionist,” Charlie said, biting her lip as she turned the sad “O” into a terrifying smile.

“And I prefer a pain in the a-” Devin started to say only to get cut off when she was once again forced to reach back and slap her hand over his mouth with another, “Shh, not while I’m working.”

Chapter 14

“Oh, don’t forget my bag,” the woman that refused to listen to reason, said as he debated leaving her in the car for a few minutes while he ran inside to make sure that everything was ready, but…

He’d seen the way that she’d been eying the crutches in the backseat since he managed to get her in the car. If she’d been anyone else, he would have simply helped her out of the car and handed her the crutches, but this was Charlie, who couldn’t seem to remember that she wasn’t supposed to put weight on her bad foot whenever she tried using them.

“And my cousin told you to stay off your feet,” Devin said as he placed her backpack on her lap, handed her the bag of donuts that he’d grabbed from Dixon’s Bakery, and-

“Don’t forget the pictures and the teddy bear!”

-grabbed the items that she’d promised Dustin that she would take to work with her and picked her up before she could argue. Once he had her in his arms, Devin forced himself to ignore just how good she felt, kicked the passenger door shut and headed towards the back door of Bradford Creations.

“Devin, I can walk if you’d let me get the crutches so that I could-”

“Forget that you’re not supposed to put weight on your foot and end up gasping for air, struggling not to cry while I lose my fucking mind trying to convince you to take a painkiller that you’re too damn stubborn to take because it makes you sleepy,” he drawled, watching as her eyes narrowed on him.

“We’re no longer speaking,” Charlie said, slowly nodding as she hugged all the shit in her arms against her chest and pointedly looked away while he shifted so that he could open the door and carry her inside.

“Wait. Where are we going?” the woman that could never seem to remember that she wasn’t talking to him, asked as he carried her past the back stairs.

“To work,” Devin said, making his way to his office.

“Umm, my office is upstairs,” Charlie said, gesturing towards the back stairs.

“Not anymore,” Devin said, still wondering if he was making a mistake by letting her come back to work this soon.

He’d given her two weeks off, but the incredibly fucking adorable woman that had spent the last four days making it difficult to remember why he couldn’t be with her had adamantly refused to stay home one more day. She wanted to come back to work and no matter what he said, Devin couldn’t convince her to wait until her foot was better.

“Wait. What are you talking about?” Charlie asked, throwing a wistful glance over her shoulder towards the stairs that there was no way in hell that she would be able to navigate right now.

“We compromised,” Devin said as he pushed his office door open and carried her inside, careful of all the boxes filled with her things that T.J. packed and brought downstairs for her.

“We did?” Charlie asked as she glanced around their office, taking in the other half of the room set up for the twins before shifting her attention to the two desks facing each other, her mini-fridge plugged in the corner, her computer and monitors that had been placed on her new desk, the