MakeMeShiver by Aline Hunter

apartment and Lacey didn’t want to speak to him. Not that he blamed her. Still, he wasn’t leaving until they hashed this out. Wounds of any kind were always worse when left to fester.
    “I’m not leaving until you open the door.” He banged his fist in the center of the wood, using more force than necessary
    “Damn it, Lacey.” Candice’s voice was muffled. “It’s ten o’clock in the morning! My neighbor will call the cops. She lives for this kind of shit!”
    “I can’t talk to him right now,” Lacey said in a rush. “Tell him I’ll call him tomorrow.”
    “I’m not leaving, Lacey,” he warned in a steely voice, loud enough for her to hear. “Like it or not, you’re going to hear me out. You owe me that after last night.”
    “I owe you? I fucking owe you ?”
    More bickering took place before he heard feet stampeding toward the door. A chain rattled, the deadbolt slid free and suddenly he was face-to-face with a very livid Lacey.
    “That’s rich, Michael. Who in the hell do you think you are?”
    He didn’t answer and forced his way inside. She shrieked in outrage, pounding his shoulders with her balled fists.
    “Get out, do you hear me? Get out!”
    The moment the door was closed, he wrapped his arms around Lacey despite her outraged cursing and thrashing. He peered over her head and met Candice’s furious glare.
    “Can we have some privacy?”
    Candice folded her arms over her chest. “What makes you think you deserve that?”
    “I’m here to explain and apologize.” He grunted when Lacey landed a hard blow to his ribs.
    “You stay right where you are, Candy.” Lacey panted between kicks and slaps. “He’s not staying.”
    “I wager I’ll be here as long as I like, darlin’.” He tightened his hold, trapping her against his chest.
    “Damn it! Let go of me, you overbearing bastard!”
    “I’m not letting go. You’re going to listen to what I came here to say.”
    “The hell I am!” She landed a hard heel to his shin and kept squirming. “You’re going to walk out the door and hope it doesn’t hit you in the ass on the way out!”
    A loud boom from the adjoining wall was accompanied by a furious bellow. “Keep it down or I’m calling the police!”
    Lacey stopped struggling and Michael said a silent thanks to the pissed-off neighbor for intervening and making things easier. “I need to talk to you. If you want me to go after I’ve had my say, I will.”
    “I don’t want to hear it. I want you to leave.”
    “That’s tough shit, because I’m not going anywhere.” When she started to argue he asked, “Do you want the neighbor to call the cops?”
    That seemed to get her attention. “Okay, fine,” she grumbled. “Let me go and we’ll talk.”
    The minute his arms loosened, she lunged away and scurried across the room. She didn’t look at him as she slid into the large recliner next to the television, glanced at Candice and gave a curt nod.
    Candice nailed him with a scathing look. “If you cross the line, you won’t have to worry about my neighbor. I’ll call the cops myself.”
    He watched Candice walk down the hall. When he heard a door close, he released the breath he’d been holding and cautiously made his way to the recliner. Lacey was curled up in a protective ball, her knees tucked to her chin, arms wrapped around her legs. Long gone was the seductive vixen he’d played with, fucked until she couldn’t see straight and wrapped his body around when they drifted off to sleep. This was a woman who was defensive and on edge. The expressive face that told him so much the night before was no different now.
    She might listen to what he said but her mind had already been made up.
    He took a knee in front of her, desperate to touch her but unwilling to upset her further, and tried to remember what he’d planned to say.
    “I can’t do this, Michael.” Her words were quietly spoken and even, the fight from earlier long gone. “I should have made things