The Ties That Bind by Liliana Hart Read Free Book Online

advice rattled around in her brain, something her mother always told her came to mind, just as it had every time she’d moved from school to school and had to deal with the inevitable “new kid” bullying.
    Kill them with kindness .
    So she smiled as sweetly as possible and said the only thing she could think of to strike terror into his heart.
    “You know, there are a lot of elderly people that live on this street.”
    “So?” he growled. “And then there’s you. Let me guess. You’re single?”
    “I’ve been engaged,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
    “I can see that worked out well for you. I take it he couldn’t manage to bring himself to the altar?”
    “Something like that,” she said softly, the old feelings of not quite being good enough surfacing before she could tramp them back down.
    “Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “That was out of line. I promise I’ll leave everyone on the whole damned street alone if they’ll leave me alone.”
    Bayleigh felt the beginnings of a headache forming at the back of her skull. Between the lack of sleep and the one-two punch her new neighbor had just delivered, reminding her of her former fiancé and the myriad of inadequacies she hadn’t realized she’d had until she’d met him, she decided she wasn’t in the mood to be nice after all.
    “Oh, no. No need to apologize. If anything it’s my fault for getting in at one this morning after working a fourteen hour day,” she said sarcastically. “It was inconsiderate of me to expect you to move in after the sun came up. Tell you what I’ll do to make it up to you.”
    She smiled—a smile that her brothers would recognize as trouble. Her new neighbor must have recognized it too, because his eyes narrowed to black slits and the muscles in his arms bulged as he crossed them in silent warning.
    “You don’t really mean that about having everyone leave you alone,” she said sweetly. “You seem like such a friendly and outgoing guy. I’ll make sure to mention how great you are to everyone over the next couple of days. Before you know it, the whole street will be knocking on your door and introducing themselves. It won’t be a month before you’re hosting the neighborhood barbecue. You’ll also be picking up prescriptions, mowing lawns, and eating macaroni salad with every meal so you won’t hurt their feelings.” She batted her eyelashes at him as he seemed to pale before her eyes. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
    Laughter followed her into the house and she slammed and locked the door behind her. She knew it hadn’t been him laughing. Dollars to donuts a smile had never cracked that face. The Devil didn’t smile. It would pay to remember that. And so what if she’d been slightly attracted to him. Bad boys were supposed to be attractive to the opposite sex. It was a hormonal rule. But then he’d had to go and open his mouth.
    Tears threatened to fall as she recalled his words. He’d been exactly right. She’d been engaged for over a year, and Paul hadn’t been able to go through with the actual wedding. He’d liked her well enough as a friend, but she was too outspoken for a corporate attorney’s wife. Her body was too curvy. Her language not lady-like enough. And how could she expect Paul to spend his life with a woman who didn’t respond to him in bed?
    It’s not that she couldn’t have orgasms. She had great orgasms with her vibrator. It was just that sometimes it took her longer to get there than her lovers had thought was reasonable. She’d just be warming up, and all of a sudden, they’d twitch and groan and it would all be over. The last date she’d been on was three years ago, and she hadn’t even bothered to move it into the physical stage. The thought of disappointing anyone else had been more than enough to keep her celibate.
    Paul had been a bastard. She knew that now . But at the time he’d chipped away at her self-esteem until she’d barely recognized the person she’d