Shooting For Love - A Standalone Novel (A Suspenseful Bad Boy Neighbor Romance Love Story) (Burbank Brothers, Book #2)

by Naomi Niles

  Polo looked at me unblinkingly.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “I can’t accept all this, nice as it is. Peter is a nice guy, and this was a really amazing gesture, but it sends the wrong message.

  “I mean, I’m not some damsel in distress. I don’t need to be saved. I’m not some charity case. I mean, I accept all this today, and then tomorrow he thinks he can demand something of me. And then I’m obligated. What if he thinks he can buy me?

  “And then suddenly, he’s my sugar daddy and I’m no better than those hookers around the corner. So yeah, I can’t accept all this. I would be completely stupid and completely naïve to just take all this and say thank you.

  “I’m not going over there. I’m just going to sit here tonight, enjoy having furniture for two seconds, and then I’m going to put everything out on the curb. And then Peter will understand that there are limits and there are boundaries. And I will not allow them to be crossed.”

  I looked at Polo, who stared back at me unfazed.

  “You’re right, I should go over,” I said, admitting defeat and heading for the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Peter

  “Any news?” John asked, shooting me a sideways glance before turning his eyes back to the television.

  “From whom?” I asked, pretending as though I didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “From Santa Claus,” John said sarcastically. “You know whom; don’t pretend.”

  I sighed. “No sign of her yet,” I replied. “What if she just left town?”

  “Why would she leave behind her things?” he asked, with raised eyebrows. “There was a suitcase with her clothes in the room, remember?”

  “What if she was forced to leave in a hurry?” I suggested.

  “You think she ran away again?”

  “It’s possible,” I said. “She ran away once. And, her brother does know where she is now, which means Kameron will probably know, too. Maybe she wanted to get out as fast as she could, and she didn’t stop to get a hold of all her things.”

  “Well…it’s possible,” John said uncertainly.

  “Or what if her brother found her again?” I asked. “And dragged her back to Kameron?”

  “Do you really think he would do that?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him,” I said. “I mean, he is trying to convince her to go back to an abusive relationship.”

  “I think you may be overthinking things,” John said, in a bracing voice.

  I took a deep breath. “That’s always been my problem.”

  “Have you ever thought of just going down to the salon where she works and asking about her?” he suggested. “That way you’d know if she was still working there or not. You might even run into her.”

  I looked at him. “Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?”

  John smiled. “Because you’re not as smart as I am.”

  “I’ve been out of work for too long,” I sighed.

  “You’ve only got a short time left,” he reminded me. “Hang in there and enjoy the free time you have while you have it. I know I would.”

  I glanced at John and saw the tiredness in his eyes. “You’ve been overworking yourself lately,” I told him. “The excitement you used to have with your job isn’t there anymore.”

  “You can see it, huh?” he said, without bothering to deny it.

  “I can see it,” I nodded. “Why not take a step back? Reduce the number of clients you see? Maybe take a small vacation. You can certainly afford one.”

  “But what would I do?” he asked. “Where would I go?”

  “That’s completely up to you.”

  He sighed. “It’s not that simple. I may have the money to do loads of things, but it’s pretty irrelevant if there’s no one to share it with.”

  “Are you talking about a friend?” I asked. “Or a girlfriend?”

  John paused for a moment. “I don’t really know,” he said. “It’s not like I have either.”

  “Don’t I count as a friend?”

  He laughed. “Sure,” he nodded. “But you’re my brother. It doesn’t quite count.”

  “I think it should,” I said, with a shrug.

  John sighed and leaned his head back on the sofa. “I really hope this thing between you and Madison works out,” he said unexpectedly.

  “Really?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Why?”

  “Because, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized something.” His eyes unfocused slightly. “Committing yourself to someone is one of the more meaningful choices in life. It gives you reason and purpose. It gives you something to work towards and something to work on. It gives you direction and perspective and…love.”

  “You sound like Dad now,” I said softly.

  “I used to think Dad was just a hopeless romantic,” John said.

  “He was.”

  “Maybe so,” John nodded. “But he had it right. It’s better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.”

  “Dad never said that,” I said, wrinkling my brows together.

  “No,” he agreed. “But I think it’s a sentiment he would have agreed with.”

  “I can’t argue there,” I nodded.

  We sat in silence for a few moments and then I drew myself up. “I think I’m going to turn in now.”

  “So early?”

  “Well, I do want to go over the plans for the addition one last time before I hit the sack,” I said.

  “You love doing that kind of thing, don’t you?”

  “It’s a good distraction,” I nodded. “Night, big brother.”

  “Night, little brother.” John smiled as he waved me off to my room.

  I closed the door behind me and headed straight for my writing desk. It had belonged to Dad and a few years after his death, once the pain of losing him had ebbed a little, I’d moved it into my room for safe keeping. Sometimes, I actually felt closer to him because of it. It was an artificial feeling, but it was all I had.

  I was sitting in front of my desk, going over the plans of the new addition to the house when a sound caught my ear. It was faint at first, so I almost missed it. I cocked my head to the side trying to figure out what it was.

  When I was met with silence, I turned my attention back to the papers in front of me. Then I heard it again. This time, it was louder and more insistent than before. And, it was definitely coming from my window.

  “What the…” I said, as I moved to the window and pushed open the curtains. My breath caught when I realized who was standing just outside it, a few feet from the windowsill.

  She was standing there in gray sweats and a red-and-blue checkered shirt that hung off her thin frame. Her hair was a mess of tangles around her head and I could see the brightness of her green eyes from where I stood. It was amazing how beautiful she looked even when she was dressed down, even when she was trying to hide that obvious beauty.

  “Madison,” I said, aloud to myself.

  She had a handful of little pebbles in her hand and she had obviously been throwing them against my window for the last minute. We just stared at each other for a moment. Then, I unlatched my window and pushed it open.

  “Hi,” I said.

  Madison’s face broke out into a breathtaking smile. “Hi,” she replied.

  “You’re throwing rocks at my window,” I said, as though she didn’t already know what she was doing.

  Her smiled widened. “I am,” she nodded. “And to be fair, they’re pebbles, not rocks.”

  “Noted,” I nodded. “Hey, Madison?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why are you throwing pebbles at my window?”

  “I didn’t want to knock on the front door and risk waking John up,” she said. “So, I decided on this plan of action.”

  “I see,” I nodded. “You know that given that my room is on the first floor, you didn’t need to bother with the pebbles at all?”

  Madison laughed softly. “I kn
ow,” she nodded. “I was trying to be cute.”

  I felt my body relax instantly. She looked and sounded like she had forgiven me for the incident with her brother. I didn’t want to make presumptions, but instinct told me I was in the clear.

  “Well, it’s definitely working,” I told her.

  “How did you know this was my room?” I asked.

  “Umm…” She blushed visibly. “I’ve been paying attention.”

  “You’ve been spying on me, huh?”

  “It’s not spying if your windows are open and I happen to look in this general direction.”

  “Is that the official story?”

  “It’s the one I’m sticking with,” Madison replied.

  I laughed and she joined in. After a moment she stepped towards my window. “Can we talk?” she asked.

  “Of course,” I nodded. “Should I let you in through the front door or do you prefer windows?”

  Madison seemed to consider that for a moment. “Hell, let’s go with the window. It’s much more clandestine that way.”

  Laughing, I pushed the window open wider for her and helped her slip through the opening. Luckily, she was small and slim enough that she came through without a problem.

  “Whoa,” she yelled, as her legs passed through the window and she almost fell on top of me. I held her tight and righted her immediately.

  “There we go,” I said. “Did you hurt anything?”

  She shook her head. “Nope,” she replied. “All good.”

  “Great,” I said. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

  She looked around my paltry room, and then she moved straight for the bed and sat down on top of it. Glad that she had made the decision to sit there, I moved to sit beside her.

  “This is room is as small as mine is,” Madison pointed out.

  “Believe it or not, we used to share this space when we were growing up,” I said. “It used to be me and John in this room. The room next to mine is a little bigger, so Alan, Sam, and Talen used to share that one.”

  “That must have been a little…difficult at times.”

  “It could be,” I nodded. “But we always managed. And in any case, John and I are the only ones who really live in this house anymore. So space is not such a problem as it used to be. I kept this room, John moved into the one next door, and Dad’s room is vacant whenever one of the others decides to crash.”

  “And do they?”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “Well, Talen never does. But Alan uses the room when he’s visiting, and Sam uses it when he’s too lazy or too drunk to drive back to his place.”

  “It must be comforting for them to know they have a place to go, if they ever need it,” Madison said, in a faraway voice. “I never really had that.”

  “Maybe one day you will,” I said, trying to convey to her a promise in that vague sentence.

  She smiled at me as though she knew what I was getting at. “Peter,” she said, her voice going low with sincerity. “Thank you so much for everything you did for the house…the door and the furniture and the lasagna.”

  I smiled. “No problem,” I said. “Truly, I had fun doing it.”

  “You have to allow me to pay you back-”

  “Not a chance,” I said before she could even finish her sentence.

  “Peter.”

  “No way,” I said. “That was all meant to be a gift, as well as an apology.”

  Madison looked me straight in the eye for a moment. Her green gaze was so bright and so mesmerizing that it was impossible to look away. “I can’t accept all that,” she said. “It’s too much.”

  “No, it’s not,” I insisted.

  “It must have cost a lot,” she sighed.

  “Actually, it didn’t,” I said. “No, seriously. My contribution was mostly time. I cleaned up the house a little and did some repairs on it.

  “Sam helped me out with the furniture. The fire department has a bunch of forgotten and discarded items that they don’t know what to do with and he suggested we use some of those pieces for your house. We cut and polished them up for you, but they didn’t cost a thing. Really, you did us a favor really by taking the furniture.”

  Madison cocked her head to one side and looked at me skeptically. “And bed sheets?” she asked. “The pillows, the rugs, and the bathroom mats? Did they come from a forgotten and discarded pile in the fire department?”

  “Umm…yes.”

  “Huh, funny what good condition everything is in, considering,” she said, with raised eyebrows.

  I smiled guiltily. “Okay, okay, so maybe those things are new.”

  “And they would have cost you at least a couple of hundred dollars,” she insisted. “And the door – my new front door. It’s beautiful, and it’s definitely not from any discard pile anywhere. That door is brand new. I can smell it in the wood.”

  I smiled. “Okay, I spent…some money.”

  “And, I want to pay you back for it.”

  “Like I said, no way,” I said firmly. “I’m sorry, Madison, you can push the money into my hands, and I’ll only break into your house at night and sneak it back into your purse.”

  She laughed. “Is that a promise?”

  “Actually,” I said defiantly, “it is.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Madison

  He was looking at me with finality in his eyes and I knew he wouldn’t budge from his position. I could see it in his beautiful eyes – he was never going to give in and he was never going to let me pay him back.

  I couldn’t deny it: I was touched. No one had ever been so selfless towards me in my entire life. It lifted me up in a way I’d never experienced before.

  “You are amazing,” I blurted out, saying the only thing I was capable of thinking at that moment.

  His smile was grateful and shy, and it made me want to rip the white t-shirt off of him and throw my body on top of his. He looked particularly masculine in his plain shirt and his dirty blue jeans. He had obviously spent his day working with his hands. Automatically, my eyes fell to his hands. They were large and callused, but so capable. I felt my heart rate pick up slowly.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Does that mean you’ll accept my gift and my apology without trying to pay me back?” Peter asked immediately.

  I smiled. “Yes,” I nodded.

  He let out a breath of relief. “I’m glad you liked everything.”

  “Liked?” I repeated and then I shook my head. “I loved everything. Seriously, Peter, you have no idea. I’ve never lived anywhere that looked as nice as the inside of my house looks right now. It’s always been crappy little apartments with the stink of smoke and booze clinging to the walls.”

  “I’m glad,” he said. “I mean, I’m not glad that you had to live like that…just that you don’t have to live like that anymore.”

  I laughed as he tripped over his sentence. I reached over and took his hand in mine. “And just to clear things up, you don’t need to apologize to me about anything.”

  His expression ironed out into seriousness as he returned the pressure on my hand. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way,” he said. “I should have handled that situation better.”

  “You walked in and you saw him grab me,” I said. “Of course, you reacted the way you did. If I had been in your shoes, I might have done the same thing. It’s just that I couldn’t see it that way for some time because he is my brother, and I do love him. Just the image of anyone pointing a gun at him is…”

  “I know,” Peter said quickly as I trailed off. He bent down and kissed my hand in an old-world gesture that I wasn’t used to. “I know. I realized that if someone had pulled a gun out on one of my brothers, I would have freaked out, too.”

  “He’s my older brother,” I said softly. “But the truth is, I’ve been taking care of him my entire life. He’s too much like my mother. I was scared he would go down the same path she did. But it seems like I’m fighting a losing battle there.”
<
br />   “Is that why you decided to leave at last?”

  “It was,” I nodded. “When I finally realized that nothing I said or did would make the slightest differences in the choices Victor made, I was forced to see that I was just compromising my own life for the sake of his. I was forced to face the fact that I couldn’t save Victor. I couldn’t protect him from making the same mistakes my mother did.

  “And, when I had accepted that, I also realized that there was no point in me sticking around any longer. I needed to save myself.”

  “You did,” Peter said gently.

  I looked up at his warm, hazel eyes. “Kameron’s not going to forget about me, Peter,” I said softly. “I’m not deluding myself into believing that just because I haven’t heard from Kameron or Victor in the last few days, that that means they’re just going to leave me be. It’s not going to work like that.”

  “There’s a difference now though,” he said.

  “What?” I asked desperately, hoping he would have some magical fix for my life.

  “You’re not alone anymore.”

  They were simple words, but I felt my heart open out. It blossomed as though it had been closed all this time and it was just waiting for the right words to stop being shy.

  “Really?”

  “You have me now, Madison,” he said. “And I’m going to make sure that no one ever hurts you.”

  “That’s a big promise to make, Peter,” I pointed out.

  “I know that,” he nodded solemnly. “And, I wouldn’t have made it had I not intended to keep it. Do you trust me?”

  I looked into those safe, brown eyes and instinct gave me my answer. “Of course, I trust you,” I said, and my words took me by surprise. Here I was, trusting a man I had only known for a few weeks. Here I was, in the middle of a foreign state, in a foreign town, and I was putting my trust in a stranger.

  “You know…it was kind of hot watching you bust into my house,” I said, feeling my fingers ache to touch him.

  Peter broke into laughter. “Was it?”

  “Extremely hot,” I nodded. “If it weren’t for the fact that the guy you were beating up was my brother, I might have jumped on you right there and then.”