Mine to Keep (NOLA Knights #3) - Rhenna Morgan Page 0,27
gooseneck desk lamp was centered on a plastic milk crate beside it. There was no television. No source of music. Only white walls in need of fresh paint, worn tan carpet and weathered blinds. Every inch of it was clean, though.
“You know, most people call someone barging in without being invited breaking and entering.” Despite her comment, the thud of the door closing sounded behind him.
“I did not break anything, and if you were truly alarmed you are wise enough to scream and attract attention from the neighbors.” The adjacent dining space held a simple folding card table and two folding chairs, the surface of the table covered in clear plastic tubs and Ziplock bags full of beads and strings and pamphlets. The flier on top read Delgado Community College—Medical/Clinical Assistant. He faced her and found her glaring at him with her arms crossed at her chest. “You want to study medicine?”
Her gaze cut to the table and her mouth firmed a second before she marched forward. She snatched the brochures and stuffed them under one of the clear plastic containers. “I don’t know what I want to do. Stop being nosey.”
“Nosey is part of my job.” He flipped the light switch to the tiny galley kitchen, but nothing happened. “Why does your light not work?”
She shoved his hand away from the switch and stepped between him and the kitchen. “Because I don’t have a ladder, so I have to wait on the landlord. Now, you’ve seen I’m okay. You can go.”
Bohze, but she was cute. More so when she forgot her fears and unleashed her attitude. Few and far between were those who stood up to him. It was intoxicating. So much so, he found himself eager to see what other things he could do to provoke her.
Undaunted, he took the three strides it took to reach the bathroom and flipped the light switch there. It worked, showing a simple clear plastic shower curtain, a pale pink towel hanging neatly to one side of it and the most basic of necessities. Again, all clean and perfectly neat.
“Are you for real? You’re checking my bathroom?”
“No. Confirming the rest of your lighting is in order.” He flipped on the light to her bedroom right across from it. A bed covered in a soft blue comforter and a simple desk along one wall took up most of the space, but all manner of hand-drawn pictures were tacked to the walls.
No, not pictures. More like designs, some on sketch paper and done in great color and detail, and others on anything from receipts to napkins. “What are those?”
“Sketches.” She reached behind him and flipped off the switch. “Now, get out of my room. Tell Cassie thank you again for bringing you today, but I think it’s better to handle things on my own.”
He fought the smile building inside him and strolled to the middle of the living room. “You believe you have the means to find your family on your own?”
“Well, it sure beats having some bossy Russian saunter in my house like he owns the damned place. I’ve worked my ass off to make my own way. Missing dad and brother or not, I’ve got boundaries.”
He doubted that. If she did, she’d have told her father to pay his own debts and would be able to afford at least more basic necessities than what he’d seen tonight. “You’ve been on your own for some time, have you not?”
“Since I was seventeen, so you can bet your ass I can take care of myself.”
“You are twenty-five years old, yes?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
He cocked his head. “That’s eight years. I’m surprised you haven’t gathered more belongings.”
She glanced away, and this time when she crossed her arms it seemed more as a means to protect herself than anything based on defiance or anger. “I did have more things.”
“What happened to them?”
Her mouth screwed up in a wry pucker and she aimed a sharp glare at him. “I had a job and my ex didn’t, that’s what happened.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he moved out and helped himself to what he wanted while I was at work one day, then racked up one hell of a balance on my credit card before he skipped town.”
The muscles in his arms and torso tensed and the deadly calm that came when any target stepped into his crosshairs whispered over his skin. “His name.”
Her eyes widened for all of a moment, then narrowed again with realization. “Oh, no.” She