Loving Jared - Nikita Slater Page 0,3

be too surprising given their history. He didn't know why he was suddenly so invested in this family, but he was.

"Right, of course." He let her go, retaining his grip on the containers. Before she could leave, he asked, "Your aunt Judy, the one that lives in New Jersey, why didn't she take you guys… after your parents were gone?"

A shuttered expression fell over her face and she reached for the door, pushing it open and stepping outside. He thought she was going to leave without another word, without answering his question. And to be honest, he deserved it. They barely knew each other before her family tragedy, and he didn't know a damn thing about her now. Except that her body was so smoking hot that it was rocking his world and fucking with his head. It wasn't just her body though. It was her soft, pretty eyes, her sexy voice, her attitude and that stupid little tattoo.

"You Googled me."

Rather than accusing, her voice took on a resigned quality. Obviously, she'd been asked questions like this before. Probably by social services workers, maybe the media.

"Sorry." He tried to sound sorry, though he wasn't. If he had to, he would do it again.

She shrugged. "Don't be sorry. Everyone Googles me when they find out. Aunt Judith has her own life. She wasn't about to give it up and move here and we didn't want to move there."

Jared desperately wanted to ask more, but she walked swiftly away, allowing the door to shut behind her. As soon as her flip-flops touched the edge of his lawn she took off running, racing home as though a demon was chasing her. He didn't want to be her demon though, he wanted to be her knight.

He set the containers down on his kitchen counter and peeled the tinfoil off the pie. A delicious smell wafted up, making his mouth water and his hand automatically reach for the nearest fork. She’d sent over half a pie. A woman who was indifferent wouldn't send over this much pie to the neighbour who let her borrow sugar. At least, he hoped that was true.

Three

Amy slammed her front door shut and leaned against it. Her heart was hammering. Not from the exertion of running a dozen steps to her front door, but from spending time with Jared. Her super hot, kind of scary, next-door neighbour.

She sighed and closed her eyes as she pictured him, the way he was standing looking down at her from his much greater height. His piercing dark eyes as they looked right through her. His overly long messy curly hair. His scruffy beard.

She’d had a crush on him basically from the day he moved in next door nine years ago. She'd been a budding adolescent girl, crushing on her first older man. She'd fallen hard for the biker, but he never gave her a second glance. Over the years, her crush had fallen away, and she'd engaged in normal teenage activities. Dating guys her own age, hanging out with friends and raising her family.

Okay, so that last one wasn't exactly normal, but it had become her version of normal.

Amy wasn't sure what drove her next door for sugar. She legitimately did need sugar for her recipe but could have easily gone down to the convenience store or hit up her other neighbour, a kind older woman who would definitely have had sugar available.

When she’d seen Jared in his driveway working on his big beast of a bike, something had driven her toward him. He’d been crouched, wearing dark jeans with holes in the knees, a sleeveless shirt, biker boots and a leather vest. Colourful tattoos covered one of his arms, his hand and his neck. Her heart and her libido had started revving at the sight of him and her feet carried her toward him almost without her consent.

"What’re you doing, Amy?"

Sarah's voice cut through the fog of her daydream and Amy opened her eyes. Her gaze landed on her ten-year-old sister who was kneeling on the floor in front of the TV, a sketch pad and pencil crayons spread out in front of her.

"Taking some pie next-door," Amy said lightly, dropping onto the couch next to her other sister, Millie.

"You shouldn't give our pie away," eight-year-old Millie said seriously. "You worked hard on that and we need all the food we can get."

Amy frowned. "What do you mean, we need all the food we can get? There's no shortage of food around here.