Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray Page B

Tony.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “You can’t be serious. You think I’m going to go out with Tony? That guy had, like, five STDs before he graduated high school.”
    A vast exaggeration . . . Josh hoped. But the sentiment was on track. “Good.”
    â€œGood.”
    They stared at each other across from the box, both breathing heavily. He watched as her chest rose and fell with each labored inhalation and wondered for a moment if this was what she would look like under him, fighting for dominance in bed. The fire in her eyes, the tautness of her body, the ultimate
I’ll go to the mat over this
attitude . . .
    And then he realized what he was thinking . . . and shuddered.
    â€œYou’re not the boss of me,” she said quietly. “Never have been, never will be. The moms might think it’s cute to push us together, but we both know better. I don’t live here, and you don’t want me.”
    It struck him as odd that for the first time, she hadn’t shot back
and I don’t want you, either.
Her eyes glittered with frustration and annoyance.
    And had the most unsettling desire to throw the pizza to the ground, grab her and kiss her.
    Waste of a good pizza, since she’d just slap him. Or scream for help. Probably both.
    He let go when he realized her expression had slowly morphed from pissed to concerned.
    â€œYou okay?” she asked after another moment standing there watching him with those too-observant eyes. “You look sort of sick.”
    The image of kissing his childhood enemy would do that to a guy. “Yeah, whatever. Just . . . leave Tony alone. He’s my friend, but he’s hell on women.”
    â€œBelieve me, I have no desire to be another notch on Tony’s bedpost.” She took a few steps toward a car which he recognized as her mother’s, then turned around and shot him a grin. “Tell me, does he still live with his mother?”
    Josh bit back a grin and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Moved out last year.”
    â€œSo close.” With a one-shoulder shrug, she left without another look back.
    Josh considered it penance—or maybe just nature—that his eyes tracked to her heart-shaped ass cupped in the cut-off denim shorts and felt the stirrings of a boner.
    ***
    Carri set the pizza down on the kitchen counter and rummaged through her bag for her phone. She managed to answer it just before it kicked over to voice mail. “Hello?”
    â€œWhy do you sound like you’ve been running? Oh my God, you’re a fitness freak now. They’ve changed you.”
    â€œShut up, Jess.” She walked back to the corner of the eat-in kitchen, where the chair her mother always dropped her purse on sat, and left her own there as well, out of habit. “I couldn’t get to my phone in my bag. What’s up? Everything good?”
    â€œYup, the tenants have moved out, agreed to pay the rent until we get a new tenant in, and thanked us profusely for letting them off the hook for the last four or five months—depending on when we get a new person in there. They also left it basically spotless and have been putting the word out on social media about the excellent landlords they had.”
    â€œSee?” Carri grinned as she reached into the top cabinet for the paper plates. Pizza demanded paper plates. Otherwise, what was the point of saving time and energy with ordering a pizza if you were just going to wash dishes later? “I told you spending the extra time and attention picking our tenants was the right choice. You wanted to go with the first person to pass a background check.”
    Jess just grumbled.
    â€œAnything else going on? No burst pipes, rotting siding, lawsuits?” Rental property was a good investment, but it definitely wasn’t hassle free.
    â€œNo, nothing like that.” Jess hesitated. “There’s a property . . .