Page 20 of Hard Evidence
“About twenty minutes.”
The guy raked a hand through still-damp hair.“You had the dog for a while?”
“Almost three years, and I’m not taking him to a shelter.”
“He house-trained?”
“He hasn’t messed on the floor since he was a puppy.Uh, apart from one time when he had a bad reaction to his flea treatment, but that wasn’t his fault, and he only threw up on the doormat.And he doesn’t have fleas.It was more of a preventive measure, and I never gave him those tablets again.”
The guy sighed.“The sun’s dropping.If you need someplace to stay tonight, I have an empty guest room.”
He’d let me stay here?Really?After I’d interrupted his day and then broken down in front of him?I thought back to the phone call with the sleaze who’d expected me to share his bed and wondered if this guy had a creepy ulterior motive.Because in my experience, men didn’t do favours unless they wanted something in return.Take Ridge, for example.He’d helped me through the aftermath of my mom’s death and all the trauma that came with it, then expected me to dedicate the rest of my life to serving him.
I could message Saylor with the address; that would give the cops a starting point if I showed up dead.There wasn’t anyone closer I could ask for help, and Shiro seemed to be on Team Towel-Guy, although he didn’t seem to be a big fan of the actual towel.Could this be any more humiliating?I wanted to run screaming, but I didn’t have anywhere to run to.No, I was stuck.
And if I’d rented a room from a stranger on Craigslist, would that really have been so different from staying here?Either option could lead to me shacking up with an axe murderer, and at least this house came with a yard and an en-suite bathroom.I desperately needed a shower.
“You wouldn’t mind?”
His sour expression said he wasn’t wild about the idea, but he shook his head.“You need someone to take a look at your car?”
“I already know there’s a hole in the radiator; I just can’t afford to get it fixed.But it’s fine, honestly.I have another bottle of coolant, and once the engine’s had a rest, we can get out of your way.”
Even if we just drove around the corner.
“I leave for work at seven fifteen, and if you’re meandering around the house, you’ll need to keep the dog on a leash because I have a cat.”
“I promise we’ll be gone by then, and I swear you won’t hear us or see us this evening.”
But I’d make him breakfast before we slunk out the door.It was the least I could do after he saved us from another night in the car.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Jessalyn.”
“Jessalyn.”He repeated it in a whisper as if it were a curse, and perhaps it was?“I’m Justin.”
“I really appreciate you letting us stay.”
“Just don’t say anything about the fucking eyebrow, okay?”
Justin—now speckled with goosebumps because the temperature had dropped along with the sun—stepped back and waved us into his beautiful hallway.I had a one-night reprieve.One night to come up with a plan so Shiro and I didn’t starve.
One night to rest.
One night to conjure up a new life for the both of us.
CHAPTER10
JUSTIN
No more women, he’d promised Amie.
No more crazy redheads, he’d promised Ava.
The universe was really fucking with him right now.Less than a week since he’d split from Melanie, and already, another flame-haired disaster had walked into his life.So much for “no more Mr.Nice Guy.”But what else was he supposed to do?Send her off into the sunset with her giant dog in an unreliable vehicle?It was obvious she’d run from a bad situation, and equally clear that she’d done so without much of a plan.It was Justin’s civic duty to provide assistance, and how had he done that?By flashing his junk.Granted, he’d had the dog’s help with that, but he should have caught the damn towel.Probably would have if he hadn’t been distracted by the redhead’s lips.
So now she was in his guest room, and he needed to serve up a meal that wasn’t the cold pizza he’d planned on eating for dinner.Plus he’d have to feed the dog.What did an animal that size eat?Half a cow?There was steak in the freezer, or should he get kibble?Nolan would know.He had a dog.But he also had a girlfriend who took nosiness to a whole new level, so Justin decided to consult Google instead.He didn’t need another lecture from Alexa.
