Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers #2)(30)
Author: Jamie McGuire

“What?”

“Why are you holding a broom?” he asked. “It’s after three in the morning. Are you cleaning?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you have company?”

He looked around, seeming confused by my question, and then shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Yes.”

“Shouldn’t you be at your place then?”

“Uh…I’m not getting much sleep up there.”

“Clearly!”

I tried to slam the door, but he caught it and followed me inside.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked. Then, he pointed to the stray dining room chair. “What’s up with the chair?”

“I was going to climb up on it and use this!” I said, holding out the broom.

“For what?” His nose wrinkled.

“On the ceiling! To make it stop! To make her stop!”

Recognition lit his eyes, and he was instantly embarrassed. “You can hear that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. The whole building can hear it.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Liis.”

“Don’t apologize,” I seethed. “It’s not like we…it’s not real.”

“Huh?”

“Please don’t apologize! It just makes me feel more pathetic!”

“Okay! I’m sorry! I mean…”

I sighed. “Just…go.”

“I…was going to ask if I could stay here tonight. But I guess if you can hear her—”

I tossed the broom at him, but he hopped over it.

“What the hell, Liis?”

“No, you can’t stay here! Go back upstairs to your one-night stand! Seems like you’ve become a pro.”

His eyes grew wide, and he held up his hands. “Oh! Whoa. No. That wasn’t…that’s not me. Up there. With her.”

“What?” I closed my eyes, completely confused.

“I’m not with her.”

I glared at him. “Obviously. You just met her.”

His hands were moving back and forth in a horizontal motion. “No. I’m not up there, fucking her.”

“I know,” I emphasized each word. I might as well have been talking to a wall.

“No!” he yelled in frustration.

The banging began again, and we both looked up. The woman began to yelp, and a low moan filtered through the ceiling—a man’s voice.

Thomas covered his face. “Jesus Christ.”

“Someone has a woman in your condo?”

“My brother,” he groaned.

“Which one?”

“Taylor. He’s staying here for a few days. He texted me, wondering why I wasn’t at home. I left here to meet him upstairs, but when I got there, he was pissed about something and didn’t want to sit at the condo. So, I took him over to Cutter’s. Agent Davies was there, and—”

I pointed to the ceiling. “That’s Agent Davies?”

Thomas nodded his head.

“Oh, thank God,” I said, covering my eyes with my hand.

He frowned. “Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Davies cried out.

I shook my head and pointed to the door. “You’ve got to tell them to quit that shit. I have to get some sleep.”

Thomas nodded again. “Yeah. I’ll go.” He turned for the door, but then he stopped, flipped around, and pointed at me. “You thought that was me. You were pissed.”

I made a face. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, you were. Admit it.”

“So what if I was?”

“Why were you mad?” he asked, his eyes begging me for something.

“Because it’s three a.m., and I should be sleeping.”

“Bullshit.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

I knew exactly what he meant, and he knew that I was trying to play dumb.

He smiled. “You thought that was me banging some chick from the bar, and you were mad at me. You were jealous.”

After several seconds of being unable to come back with a believable response, I blurted out, “So?”

Thomas raised his chin and then reached behind him to grip the doorknob. “Good night, Liis.”

I maintained the dirtiest look I could until he shut the door, and then I walked over to the broom, scooped it up, and pushed the chair back to the table.

After a minute or so, the yelping and banging stopped.

I trudged to my room, stripped off my clothes, and slipped on a T-shirt before falling into the bed.

Not only did I not hate Thomas, I liked him. Worse than that, he knew it.

Chapter Eleven

I FLIPPED MY WRIST OVER TO CHECK MY WATCH, cursing myself for sleeping in. After poking a pair of fake diamond studs into the holes in my ears, I slipped on my heels, grabbed my purse, and opened the door.

Thomas stood there with a Styrofoam cup in each hand. “Coffee?”

I pulled the door closed and twisted the key in the lock. “Is there milk in that coffee?” I asked.

“Nope. Six sugars and a two creamers.”

“How do you know how I take my coffee?” I asked, taking the cup he’d pushed toward me.

We walked together to the elevator, and Thomas pressed the button.

“Constance.”

“Constance knows you bought me coffee?”

“Constance told me to buy you coffee.”

The doors opened, and we stepped inside.

I turned to him, confused. “She’s up early,” I grumbled. “Why would Constance tell you to do this?”

He shrugged. “She thought you might like it if I did.”

I turned to face forward. He was answering me without answering me, my very least favorite thing. I was going to have to ask Val to teach me her human-lie-detector trick.

“No more questions?” Thomas asked.

“No.”

“No?”

“You won’t give me a real answer anyway.”

“Constance knows I like you. She says I’ve been different since you’ve been here, and she’s right.”

“Thomas,” I said, turning to him, “I…appreciate that, but I’m—”

“Emotionally unavailable. I know. But you’re also just coming out of a relationship. I’m not asking you to move in with me.”

“What are you asking?”

“Let me take you to work.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Okay. Can we have dinner alone?”