Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

I couldn’t be mad. I didn’t have any claim on him. But it still made my stomach hurt.

Maybe I wasn’t hungry after all.

The rumble of a vehicle came from outside. Max jumped off the couch and stood by the front door, tail wagging furiously.

I turned off the stove right as someone started pounding on my door. Hard.

“Audrey?” came Josiah’s muffled voice.

What was he doing here?

Max let out a happy bark.

I opened the door and Josiah stood there, looking like a storm about to break.

And all the mixed-up feelings I had about him coalesced into a tight ball of mad.

“What are you doing here?”

He came in.

“Excuse me.” I crossed my arms. “I didn’t invite you inside.”

“I’m coming in anyway.” He shut the door behind him.

“Rude.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. I just need to talk to you.”

“Oh, I see. Now you need to talk?” I was about to start word vomiting and I knew it. But I couldn’t seem to stop. “Last night you just took off. We could have talked then. But no, just right out the door without a word.”

He took a step closer. “Audrey.”

“I don’t know why you want to talk to me anyway.” I was really going off the rails, gesturing wildly with my arms. “You obviously had someone else to keep you busy. She’s probably more your type, anyway. I’m not tall and blond and super skinny. My mom is, but don’t even get me started on how much I look like my dad. Lucky me.”

He took another step. “Audrey.”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t even know why I’m upset. You’re just the guy working on the house next door who was nice to me a few times and apparently I’m that desperate. I get a tiny bit of attention from a guy who’s just trying to be a decent human and suddenly I’m like, oh Audrey, he’s so hot, and oh Audrey, what if he kissed you. I’m the ridiculous one and I know it, so you don’t have to say anything.”

He came closer, but this time didn’t stop, backing me into the wall. His arms caged me in and he leaned down until our noses almost touched.

“Audrey.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

His lips crashed down on mine. The shock of hot contact left me breathless. He wrapped one hand around the back of my neck, threading his fingers through my hair, while the other went to the small of my back. He pulled me against him and held me in a firm grip while his mouth worked magic on mine.

Despite how much I wanted that kiss, anger welled up inside me. I planted my hands on his chest and shoved.

He let go, dropping his hands and separating his mouth from mine. But instead of pushing him back halfway across the room like I’d intended, he only moved a few inches away.

“You can’t just come in here and kiss me like that.” My voice was embarrassingly breathless. “Especially if you were just kissing someone else.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You looked awfully cozy.”