Read Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) for Free Online Page B

be."
    "Ha!"
    "Aiden Murphy! You be nice," Lily demanded.
    "I'm a scary guy," I continued defensively,
because I felt the need to drop my maturity down to negative one thousand. I
narrowed my eyes at Aiden, "I just choose not to be."
    "That doesn't make any sense."
    " You don't make any sense."
    "What?"
    "You heard me." God, I was really starting to suck
at comebacks and this woman was driving my cleverness and sanity down to levels
I had never experienced before.
    "What does that even mean?" she huffed and crossed
her arms under her chest, pushing her breasts up and drawing my eyes downward
for just a moment. I prayed she didn't notice, but my luck was shit today.
    Of course she noticed. Lily noticed so why wouldn't she .
And it was so obvious that she noticed, I thought I was going to end up with my
eyeballs burned out, her glare was that intense.
    "You know what? I don't have time for this," she
said with a flick of her wrist and turned to walk back into her apartment with
Lily hanging back for a second longer and giving me a shrug.
    A part of me was so damn grateful she had the ability to end
the conversation because I was seriously struggling. Another part of me wanted
to say something, anything , that would make her stay just a few minutes
longer. She had always been hot. Sexy. Now more than ever she was unmistakably
gorgeous. Fiery. And fuck if it didn't turn me right the hell on.
    Not something I needed to dwell on when I had a date later
that night with the one woman who had ever understood me. The one woman who
could make me laugh more than anyone and the one woman that I knew without a
doubt I would fall in love with after meeting her.
    That was the woman I needed to focus on. Not my cute,
snarky neighbor with the blazing red hair and chocolate brown eyes, who was the
ultimate challenge for witty banter. She was my nemesis, not my match and I had
to remember that.
    After having a door shut in my face once more, only this
time at a large enough distance that I didn't feel the breeze from it, I turned
back to my apartment.
    Red was a fireball of emotion. Yesterday afternoon had been
proof of that. I hadn't planned on helping her with the armload of crap when I
first saw her struggling to get into her apartment. In fact, I watched her for
a long moment and thought she looked the most vulnerable I had ever seen her
and I wanted to freeze time just to enjoy it a little longer.
    Then I realized how badly she actually was struggling
and the gentleman in me moved quickly. Her apartment had been a surprise. Of
course I had seen inside of it before, but never noticed that the clutter
wasn't garbage at all. It was actually stacks of really amazing paintings and
pictures that until then, I had no clue she was the creator of. All the tubes
she had been struggling to keep in that bag were actually paints. I wanted to
ask her more about the paintings, but up until then, I had been an asshole and
had no right to know more about her personal life.
    I didn't want to know more. I just wanted to be less
of an asshole if I could.
    Ash always said my sarcasm would get me into trouble one day
and I was feeling that day closing in fast, especially after the last few
run-ins with Red.
    Red.
    It was hilarious how badly that nickname pissed her off
because I was one hundred and fifty percent positive that a lot of people
called her that.
    I strolled into my bedroom and threw my keys on the dresser,
followed by my badge and gun and stripped down to my boxer briefs. After
setting my alarm to wake me up an hour before I had to meet MysteryGirl, I
settled into my bed and shut my eyes.
    Tonight was the start of something incredible. I could feel
it in my bones.
     
    ***
    I settled into the booth and tried to avoid the heated gaze
from the hostess when she asked if there was anything else I needed.
    "Thanks, I'll just wait for my date to get here."
    Her exaggerated smile never faltered, but she went back to
her post quickly and I wondered if I