Loving Jared (PAPERBACK)

“Can I borrow a cup of sugar?”
The voice came from right behind Jared. A woman. Normally Jared would have heard anyone sneaking up on him, but he’d been so preoccupied with his bike that he hadn’t heard someone coming toward him where he was crouched on his driveway.
Hands still in the engine, without turning around, Jared asked, “What’re you making?”
“Apple pie.”
He nodded his approval and turned to look at the woman whose voice was sweet as pie. His eyebrows went up in surprise as he got a good look at his next-door neighbor. Little Amy Funk, all grown up.
He straightened from his crouch to get a better look at her. She was short, her head barely higher than his own, and he was still kneeling on the cement. Her shiny black hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun and her eyes were hidden behind a pair of giant plastic framed sunglasses. Her curves were stuffed into a pair of jean shorts that were so small and tight they should’ve been illegal. Her T-shirt wasn’t much better, baring her middle and showing off a tiny tattoo of what he thought was Tweety Bird disappearing beneath her shorts.
Jared pushed himself off the ground, standing to his full height and glaring down at her.
“Your parents know you run around dressed like that?”
It was almost a shame to see a frown of annoyance mar her perfect features, but he got over it when she pulled her sunglasses off, revealing a pair of perfect hazel eyes. He nearly groaned out loud. When the hell had Amy gotten hot? She was always the awkward pudgy kid next door who barely acknowledged his existence when their paths happened to cross. Which occurred so infrequently Jared hadn’t noticed Amy turning a corner in her teenage development.
She still had a decent amount of flesh on her, but it had settled into some stunning curves that made his mouth water. He shook his head, trying to shoo away the lascivious thoughts. Amy was young – too young.
“How old are you?” he demanded.
Her frown deepened. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m twenty. As for my parents, you clearly weren’t around much during our epic summer fail of 2017, or you would’ve noticed they aren’t around anymore.”
Her words were spoken with sarcasm, but Jared took them to heart, attempting to remember what happened in the summer two years ago. He and Vince had their hands full maintaining a legitimate construction business, setting up a decent side hustle in local organized crime circles, and systematically taking out the biker gang that’d double-crossed them.
When he didn’t speak, she continued, “My dad killed my mom, then Dad went to prison.”