Zoey And The Nice Guy (Big Girl Panties #1)

by Carter Ashby

  She let out a laugh and shook her head.

  “When’s your court date?”

  “Two weeks. I’ll pay you back for the bail money.”

  “Don’t worry about it, just make your court date so I don’t have to send bounty hunters after you.”

  She flipped him off. It didn’t even sting anymore. She flipped people off so often the gesture had lost all of its sharpness.

  “Have you ever considered anger management?”

  “I’m Irish; I don’t think anger management works for us.”

  “You could give it a try. I know where to find a contact for you, if you’re interested.”

  She frowned in thought.

  “Zoey, you know those news stories you hear every Christmas about some crazy person doing some crazy thing? You do understand, don’t you, that today you were that crazy person?”

  Irritation and then shame. She sighed. “I did a few months of therapy not long after I emancipated,” she disclosed. “Maybe I’ll go back. If nothing else, it’s a safe outlet to express my anger.”

  He smiled as she chomped into her burger.

  “Awesome burger, huh?” she mumbled over the food in her mouth.

  He grinned and watched her, taking in her little movements: shoving her hair over her shoulder, licking her fingertips, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with her napkin. Her cheeks puffed out when she took too big of bites and she looked like a freckle-faced chipmunk. When her blue eyes met his, though, time stood still. “What?” she asked.

  He shook his head. There were no words that he could think of. Maybe ‘unrequited,’ because he wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to make his way into her heart. She’d put up roadblocks everywhere.

  But then her eyes softened and she gulped down the bite of burger she’d been chewing. “Everyone says I’ll hurt you,” she said.

  Thank God. A real conversation. He leaned forward, so he could talk more quietly. “I’m a big boy, Zoey. I see you. I understand what I’m in for. And you…you can try, can’t you? Your life doesn’t have to be controlled by your anger, does it? Tell whatever voice it is that’s trying to talk you out of this to shut the fuck up.”

  She almost smiled. But then her eyes went sad. “I don’t want to get hurt. I mean, that kind of hurt. I’ve never met a guy I thought had that power, but looking at you, Kellen…well, you could definitely hurt me.”

  He shook his head. “I can promise you it’ll be worth it. Just think about it. How great is this?” He gestured back and forth between them.

  She smiled down at the table. “Pretty great. I mean, I have friends, but with you it’s—different.”

  “Yeah, so let’s go with it.”

  “You’re such a nice guy, Kellen—“

  “Fuck that. I’m sick of hearing that. Yeah, I’m nice, but I’m not made of glass. I can handle you, Zoey. I want to handle you.”

  She grinned. “I want to be handled.”

  His heart quickened, and he was suddenly out of things to say. She reached across the table and took his hand.

  “Let’s not have sex today,” she said.

  He laughed. “Music to my ears.” He took her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers. “I wanna see you, though. I wanna date.”

  “Okay. We’ll give it a try.”

  They finished eating and he drove her to her car. The parking lot was still crowded towards the front, but the back had opened up. He was able to park next to her and help her with her shopping bags.

  He opened her door for her and she turned and hugged his waist. “Thank you.”

  He threaded his hand into her hair. He’d never felt anything so soft and silky, and there was so much of it. He wondered what it would be like with her on top of him and all of that hair falling down around his face.

  She tipped her head back and his attention was captured by her lips. Her full, smiling lips over white teeth. He leaned down. Her smile faded as she met him half way and their lips touched.

  Her small hands fisted in his shirt. The action undid him. He wrapped his arms around her, spun, and pressed her against his truck. He let her pull away long enough to gulp in a breath, and then his lips were back on hers, taking and taking, only to find that it wasn’t enough. It was never going to be enough.

  He pressed his body hard against hers, hating the clothes that separated them. His hands roamed and squeezed up and down her waist and thighs. She broke away, turning her head. He kissed her neck, running his tongue along her jaw.

  “Kellen!” she squeaked.

  He wanted more. Needed more. He grabbed her ass and squeezed her hard against him. Her gasps and kisses drove him crazy.

  “Hey!”

  They froze and turned their faces. A mall security car. “You kids need to go somewhere else for that.”

  They both nodded and then, when he drove away, laughed. He let her go and took a half step back just so she could breathe. She smiled up at him with her red, swollen lips. There wasn’t an ounce of mocking or flirtation in the smile, just pure, sweet Zoey. “God, I love this,” he said, tracing her bottom lip with his fingertip.

  This added a blush to her cheeks. She reached up, smoothed his sweater, and straightened his jacket. “Kids are making gingerbread houses Monday. You wanna come over?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

  “Good.” She tiptoed up and kissed his neck just beneath his jaw.

  With one, last, heated look, she stepped past him and climbed into her car. He watched her back out and start around the parking lot before getting in his truck.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Her bed was a more than welcome sight. She fell face down into her fluffy pillows and screamed into them, punching and kicking for a moment. So many emotions. She’d had simultaneously her best and worst day ever. Kellen’s kiss had definitely soothed her broken ego and temporarily made her forget her terrifying and humiliating arrest. In fact, it had lifted her to an exhilarating sort of peace.

  She rolled to her back and let her body go limp. Upon arriving home, there had been questions to answer and kids to keep entertained. She’d held back everything she was feeling because for the first time in her life, she didn’t want Addy and Maya to know something about her. She didn’t want them to know that she might be falling in love.

  More than anything, she was sure they wouldn’t believe her. She already knew they didn’t want her hurting Kellen. It was best just to do what she wanted and let them figure it out on their own.

  She got up and undressed, showered, and put on some flannel pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. It was after ten, but she was too wound up to sleep, so she opened up her book and settled against her pillows.

  She jolted when she heard a pounding at the front door. She jumped out of bed and peeked out the window. Damon was slamming his fist on the door.

  Zoey’s gun was in a locked safe on the dresser next to her phone. She dialed the sheriff with one hand while she unlocked the box with the other.

  “Sheriff’s office,” the receptionist said.

  “This is Zoey Odell. I need you to send someone to my house immediately. Damon Bradley is here in violation of his wife’s protection order.”

  “Someone will be out there soon.”

  Damon was still pounding on the door. Zoey stepped out of her room and tip-toed down the hall, the gun held in both hands in front of her, aimed at the floor. Maya was sitting on the edge of the sofa, trembling. Addy had gone home to her parents’ house, where she was staying for winter break. Poor Maya’s bottom lip was quivering. “I hope he doesn’t wake up the babies,” she whispered.

  Zoey shook her head. “The police are on their way.”

  “Open up! I just wanna talk to my wife! I got a right to talk to my wife!”

  Maya’s eyes were wide and dark. She held onto her elbows and rocked back and forth.

  “You let me in, you worthless whore!”

  Then the pounding changed. Now it was one, big, rattling thud. And then
another. Zoey heard the wood splinter. An instant later, the door flew open, smashing into the wall.

  Zoey snapped the gun up and trained it on his face. “Freeze!” she said.

  For a moment he did, his eyes flying open in surprise. It wasn’t long before he grinned. “You don’t even know how to shoot that.”

  “Damon, I’ll shoot you if you don’t back out of my house right now!”

  “The more you talk, bitch, the more it’s gonna hurt when I give you what you deserve.”

  “Get out!” she shouted, suddenly terrified that he wasn’t going to leave. She’d always envisioned that threat of the gun would be enough.

  It wasn’t. He charged. In that split second of decision, she recognized that she couldn’t shoot him. She also recognized that his fists were clenched and ropey with veins; his eyes held nothing of human sympathy, but instead were blue pools of rage. She knew she couldn’t fire a warning shot over his head. She lived in town, and the bullet could go anywhere. Instead, she aimed between his feet at the floor and fired.

  The pop of the gun caused a pop in her ears and then there was only ringing. And screaming. The bastard had put his foot right where she’d been aiming. Now he lay on the floor, holding his foot and screaming at the top of his lungs.

  Maya was backed against a wall, gaping, with her hands over her ears.

  “Go be with your kids,” Zoey said, her voice way more sturdy than the rest of her.

  Maya nodded and shuffled behind her.

  A moment later, the Sheriff and a deputy arrived. She was still standing over Damon aiming her gun. The ringing had begun to subside.

  As soon as the officers saw her, they whipped out their pistols, holding them down and angled away from her. Randy, the deputy she’d gone to school with, said, “Zoey, put the gun down.”

  She was breathing deep and hard, her senses on alert, adrenaline coursing through her. She nodded and crouched to the floor. Once the gun was on the floor, she stood and backed away.

  “Why don’t you go have a seat on the sofa,” Randy said.

  Sheriff Carlyle, the other officer, was on his radio calling in an ambulance.

  Zoey stared down at her trembling hands in her lap. The ringing in her ears was fading. Her front door was open, and cold, winter air flowed in. She began to shake.

  A warm blanket went around her shoulders. A warm arm. She turned to see Kellen frowning at her. At the eye contact, his expression softened and he smiled. “Tough day, huh?”

  She laughed in relief and leaned into him. “How’d you get here?”

  “Maya called.”

  Zoey sat up. “Would you check on her? I’m sure the kids are terrified.”

  “The sheriff’s talking to her. I’m staying with you.”

  “I’m fine. Go check on her, please? I feel so awful for those poor kids.”

  “Zoey, you’re shaking. I wanna take care of you—“

  She got up to check on Maya herself. She clutched the ends of the blanket with both hands. Maya was in the kids’ room with the sheriff, but her kids weren’t there.

  “Where are Mattie and Sophie?” Zoey asked.

  “In your room,” Maya said softly. “They’re watching Christmas movies on your television.”

  Zoey tip-toed down the hall and peeked in on them. “You guys okay?” she asked.

  Mattie had his arm around his little sister. “Was that our dad?” he asked.

  “Your mom will be in to explain everything—“

  “It was our dad,” Mattie said, his voice and eyes cold. “He was drunk. Is he dead?”

  Zoey’s throat tightened. “No, honey, I—“

  “You should have shot him dead.”

  She went to the edge of the bed and sat. “I understand, Mattie,” she said quietly. “But let’s not say things like that in front of Sophie, okay?”

  Mattie glared. “Can’t say them in front of my mom, either.”

  “You can tell your mom anything.”

  “No, I can’t. She tells me lies like how he’s my father and he loves me no matter what. You think she thinks he loves her, too?”

  Zoey didn’t know how to answer. She brought him into her arms and held him, kissed his forehead. Sophie leaned into them and she gently rocked them both.

  A throat cleared. She turned her head. Kellen leaned in the door with a blank expression. “Sheriff’s ready for you,” he said.

  She released the children and left them to finish watching Elf. In the hall, Kellen put his hand on her back. She stopped and faced him. “Could you stay with them?”

  “I’d like to be by your side for this—“

  “I don’t need you. They—“

  “They don’t need me either. But if you don’t want me there, then—“

  “I don’t. Just stay with them.” She walked away, not looking back to see if he complied.

  The ambulance had come and gone, carting off a screaming Damon. A blood stain and bullet hole now resided in the entryway of her house. Perhaps a long rug she thought distantly.

  After answering the Sheriff’s questions, Zoey found herself alone on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her in a very quiet, very still house. She stood and went to the front door, pushing it closed. She wedged a shoe underneath of it to hold it. And then she laughed. Like a shoe is going to do any good. Of course her deadbolt hadn’t done much good, either, so maybe safety was an illusion.

  Zoey picked up her gun and took it back to her room. The kids and Kellen were asleep. She returned the gun to the safe and then pulled a blanket over Kellen. One of his arms was draped over Sophie.

  Across the hall, Maya was in her room perched on the edge of her bed, holding her arms around herself. She looked up when Zoey leaned in the doorway. “I’m so sorry,” Maya whispered.

  “I’m sorry. I keep trying to think of some way I could have handled that better. Lately, it feels like my life is a series of wrong decisions.”

  “Not tonight,” Maya said. “Tonight you protected us all. Believe me, I know first hand what he would have done to you. And then to me. You did the only thing you could. Thank you, Zoey.”

  Zoey crawled into bed with her. They fell asleep holding hands.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Once again, Zoey was startled awake by the sound of banging. Her heart rate shot up and she swung her legs out of bed. The sun was up, her house bright with it. She hesitated in the hallway trying to decide whether to get her gun first or check on the noise.

  At last she recognized the sound. Hammering. She peeked in at the kids. They were still sleeping. No Uncle Kellen with them. She exhaled and turned left toward the living room. Immediately she was hit with cold air. Her door was off its hinges and resting against her front porch rail while Kellen and Jayce installed a new doorframe.

  She stood in her pajama bottoms and tank top staring at them. At last, Kellen glanced her direction. His eyes dropped to her chest for a quick moment before he returned to his hammering. “Cold morning, huh?” he asked.

  Jayce chuckled.

  Zoey looked down and covered her chest with her arms. She didn’t have a snide or witty remark available to her. They were fixing her door. She could only watch. “I’ll make coffee,” she said.

  In her kitchen, she set the coffee pot brewing and then mixed up a pot of hot chocolate for the kids. Then she went to her room to put on a bra and a sweatshirt. There were a couple of space heaters in her hall closet, so she set one up in her room to keep the kids warm. It was only seven in the morning. Hopefully they would sleep for another hour or more.

  “Where’d you find a hardware store open on a Sunday?” she asked, once she’d returned to the living room.

  “Jayce’s cousin owns the one over by Belle’s,” Kellen said.

  Jayce was on his knees applying caulk to the floor where the subsill would be.

  “If you’d awakened me, I’d have helped,” Zoey said. “How much do I owe you.”

  “It’s a Christmas present, Zo
ey,” Kellen said.

  She watched them work, not sure what to think of the whole situation. Jayce had just checked the level on the subsill when, for some reason, he glanced up. His eyes stayed on whatever was behind Zoey.

  “What are you guys doing?” Maya asked.

  Jayce stood to his full height and stared. Kellen answered, “Fixing your door, Sis.”

  “God, Kellen, you’re just the best ever,” Maya said.

  Kellen grinned while Jayce just gaped at her. Zoey turned and saw she was standing there in only her nightshirt that came halfway down her thighs. Even with the bruises on her face, she looked willowy and beautiful. “Aren’t you cold?” Zoey asked.

  Maya shivered. “Yeah. I’m gonna go change. Thanks again, Kellen.”

  Once she was gone, Jayce held out his hands. “It’s like I’m invisible.”

  He and Kellen lifted the door into place. They were on the outside and now closed off from her view. She went back to the kitchen and poured some coffee.

  A few minutes later, the door came back out and they began installing the hinges. Maya came in and wrapped her arms around Zoey’s waist. Zoey hugged her gently, mindful of her broken rib.

  “Kellen always takes such good care of me,” Maya said.

  Zoey forgave her because she was on pain meds. But it was hard not to get a little jealous. “He might be taking care of me, too, you know?”

  Maya laughed. “Sure, Zoey. More like he’s trying to keep you happy so you don’t put a hex on him.”

  Zoey stiffened and turned away. She took her coffee to the table and sat. Maya joined her. Clearly she hadn’t noticed Zoey’s reaction since she was still smiling. When the kids woke up, they strolled into the kitchen in their pajamas, rubbing their sleepy eyes. Zoey stood and poured them some cereal. By the time they finished, Jayce and Kellen were swinging the door open and shut to make sure it was installed well. Then Jayce went to work putting in the deadbolt while Kellen stood back with his hands on his hips and watched.

  When, at last, they finished and were cleaning up the mess, Zoey rose from the table, “You boys want coffee, or hot chocolate?” she asked.