I twisted, looking for the box and spotted it three light poles behind me. With the street deserted, I sprinted to it, pretending like I'd never stepped away from it.

The box was right where I left it, but I gave it a pat on the corner. "Good Samantha."

I'd used the last of my thumb tacks on the final flyer, so I carried Katy's box-now named Samantha-to the car and buckled her into the passenger seat. For real, I'd not let her out of my sight from there on out. Now that she had a name, I'd totally never forget her again.

I parked behind my apartment building and snuck in through the back door, doing my best to avoid Mrs. Mets. There was no point it seeing her until I had the rent, and since I didn't have the rent, she didn't need to learn my whereabouts. Really, I was doing her a favor.

Look at me being all gracious and shit.

The washer and dryer were quiet as I walked past them into my basement apartment, but Final Jeopardy coming from Mrs. Mets' apartment did enough to break up the silence.

I pushed open my door with my back, trying my best not to drop Samantha. Katy hadn't told me if she had breakable stuff in it. When I turned around and carefully deposited the box on the floor, a scream tore from my lips.

The hulky man sitting on my couch raised his hands toward the ceiling. "Don't tase me."

"What the fuck, Broadrick?" I asked, scowling at him getting all comfortable in my space.

And how the fuck did he get in this time?

"You need one of those space heaters in here. This place gets cold during the day," he said rather than answer my question.

I stopped at the end of the couch with my hand on my hip. "How the hell long have you been here?"

Had he been chilling on my couch while I was getting arrested and then freezing my tits off by putting up flyers for Brent? My eyes widened, picturing the ways I should kill him and hide the evidence.

But as much as I wanted to murder him, a part of my heart-a deep tiny part at the base-beat harder in his presence. He hadn't left town.

Yet.

He leaned against the couch and brought a piece of pizza to his mouth. Where the fuck did the food come from? "I had a few errands to run today, but I brought home dinner."

"You can't cook. Can you?" Eating out was pricy as hell. And weren't SEALs supposed to be in training all the time and watching what they ate?

Broadrick shrugged. "Oh, I'd cook for you, babe. You just don't have any decent ingredients."

Obviously, he missed the box of Ramen on top of the fridge. "You don't know where a store is?"

I don't know where the argument came from. It's not like I expected Broadrick to shop for me, but it seemed he knew where everything else was in town so he could find his way to the store and buy garlic salt.

"I didn't want to intrude on your space." He took another bite of pizza and a mushroom fell on my carpet.

"You didn't want to intrude on my space, but you're chilling on my couch by yourself all evening. Wait..." I stared at his mouth, not because he was hot-he was, but that wasn't the issue at the time-he'd dropped a green pepper into his mouth.

"Is that my kind of pizza?" I'd eaten pizza with Broadrick multiple times and he was strictly a peperoni and cheese man. "You hate mushrooms."

Broadrick shrugged, shoved the rest of the piece into his mouth, and flipped the top of the box open to show off a huge supreme pizza from the local pizza place, Buddy's.

Well... I couldn't very well turn my nose up to a supreme pizza. I had standards, but they weren't that high, and free food was free food. Especially when it was the best pizza in the state.

I sat beside him on the couch and slid out a thick piece with tons of mushrooms peeking out of the cheese. Broadrick's white t-shirt fit against the muscles in his arms and chest, but I refused to look at them. I couldn't let myself fall into his web again. So he was hot and bought me pizza. He also filled my head with promises and then dumped me on my ass. In email.

Besides, I had plans. After I finished the PI mentorship and exam, I'd find myself a nice dull husband. A banker or accountant. No more hunky SEALs. They were too bossy and demanding. I was my own woman, and no one told me what to do. Not anymore.

"Are you still working your way through Supernatural?" he asked, flicking on the television and turning on Netflix.

He was too comfortable with my television remotes. "I don't have Netflix anymore. There's nothing good on." I also couldn't afford the recent price hike. Not if I wanted any hope of eating something besides Ramen.

Not listening to me, he clicked on the Netflix logo and logged in. "Yeah, I noticed. I switched it to my credit card."

"What? You can't just buy me Netflix." What the hell?

Broadrick grinned. "Well, I did. Your new password is, BroadrickIsTheBest. All one word with capital starts."

I crinkled my nose at him while my stomach flipped flopped. "Great. I'll make sure and fix that. And I'll pay you back." I tacked on at the end. I didn't want him buying me things.

Broadrick rolled his eyes. "So Supernatural?"

"Oh, um... no. I finished it..." My sentence trailed into nothing. I didn't want to hurt him by finishing it with telling him I binged it during my post-breakup slump.

Silence stretched between us anyway, and I stared at the pizza in my hand like it was my newborn baby.

"Vonnie," Broadrick said and then sighed, his chest depressing with the loss of air.

"Why are you still here?" I asked, cutting off whatever he planned to say.

He continued to flip through the shows but didn't stop at anything. "I told you."

"You told me you left the military." I still wasn't sure I believed him about that.

"Yeah, and now I'm here."

I shook my head in anger. "So... what does that mean? What are you going to do? Live? Work?"

Hadn't he considered his future?

Broadrick smirked. I hated the look on him. He came off cocky and looked like he had a million plans up his sleeve, but he'd never let me in on any of them. I hated not knowing shit.

"You can't stay here," I blurted when he answered nothing I asked.

He took the pizza crust from my hands before I could bite a piece off to fill my traitorous mouth. "I'm here for this."

His hand fisted in my hair, messing up my ponytail, and he drew me to him. I struggled, but honestly, not that hard. I mean, he was a hot SEAL sitting on my couch. He brought me pizza, and I missed his mouth.

The first kiss came on tentative lips. His mouth fluttered against mine until I pressed closer, wanting more. His tongue swiped in my mouth along my teeth and I accidentally moaned.

He bit my lower lip, and I pulled back. "What the fuck, B?"