Despite the Gentleman's Riches: Sweet Billionaire Romance (For Richer or Poorer Book 1) by Aimee Easterling Page B

needed to call for help.
    Not that I wanted Mr. Reed to be aware of my discomfort. "Don't worry," I said, keeping that fake smile firmly plastered onto my lips and pretending that my landlord was just reacting like a normal, concerned neighbor might, not like a lecher who hoped to get into my pants. "I actually already have another job lined up, and this one pays better. So I can have the lot rent ready early if you need me to."
    "Oh, no. No," my neighbor backpedaled verbally. "I wasn't trying to say that at all. I'm just concerned, you know. A girl like you living alone...." His words trailed off, and to my horror I noticed the man's hand inching toward my thigh. A stench of body odor came with the appendage, not the clean scent of sweat from working out under the sun, but the aroma of neglect and decay. Shit , I swore silently, frozen by surprise and revulsion. Where's Florabelle when I need her?
    In her cage, apparently, because an unlikely savior came out of my trailer door unencumbered. "Hey, Ginny," she said, petulant teenager voice back in place. But I had a feeling that the girl had been watching our whole exchange from the kitchen window and was just putting on a front for my landlord's benefit, following my lead. "It's really late and I was supposed to be home half an hour ago. Can we go yet?"
    "Sure thing," I agreed, hopping to my feet seconds before the hand of doom came in contact with the denim of my jeans. "Sorry to rush off like this," I tossed back toward my landlord as I locked my door behind the teenager and began shepherding her toward my car. "But I've gotta get Lena home."
    Mr. Reed's eyes narrowed, and I had a sinking suspicion that my neighbor had finally realized I wasn't just a shy young thing waiting for him to break through my virginal modesty. Instead, something about our exchange must have finally clued my landlord in to the fact that I was disgusted by his advances. Hurt feelings would have been the normal reaction in that scenario, but I had an inkling that nothing about Mr. Reed was normal.
    Luckily, by the time these thoughts finished working their ominous way through my mind, Lena and I had reached the rust bucket unhindered. Behind us, Mr. Reed still stood on my deck, as possessively as if he owned the place, and his posture made me shiver yet again. "We'll talk more later," he called after me, prefacing the comment with a curt nod, and neither the words nor the gesture settled my nerves one bit.
     
    ***
     
    "What an asshole," Lena said as soon as we rounded the bend and lost sight of my troublesome landlord. "Asshole" seemed to be one of the teenager's favorite words, but in this one case, the moniker felt appropriate. Mr. Reed had always struck me as a bit slimy, but his behavior this afternoon had pushed the man over the edge from annoying to scary, and now my hands were shaking on the steering wheel and my vision was going a bit gray at the edges as the aftereffects of adrenaline fully kicked in.
    Now who's the dangerous driver? I admonished myself, pulling into a convenience-store parking lot to slow my breathing before I got us both killed. As my heart rate slowed down, my rational mind kicked back in and I realized that I hadn't even checked on my pet before hightailing it for the rust bucket and freedom. "Did you put Florabelle back in her cage?" I asked now, not sure I even wanted to know the answer. If my cockatiel was loose in the trailer, I might just opt to leave her that way rather than facing the wrath of my neighbor so soon after leaping away from his caress. Florabelle would definitely cause trouble, but the chances that she'd get herself hurt if left unattended were pretty slim.
    "Yup," Lena said simply, speaking now with the tone she'd used on my pet after the bird chased Mr. Reed out of the house. "I cleaned out her water dish and filled it up, too. She'll be fine." Lena slid a glance my way out of the corner of her eye, and it was clear that my charge was wondering if