Lachlan: I hear you’re staying with Josh. You think he will give you what you want? He will use your pussy and you’ll be thrown away like the rest of them.
Lachlan: Ignoring me will not make me go away.
That was how my day was spent.
Lachlan refused to give up, and I refused to get embroiled in his nasty texts. What should have been a productive day ended up revolving around panic attacks and stupid tears that I wished I could have stopped. I loathed that he brought out my weakness, and I hated that I allowed him to. He detonated a bomb where he knew it would cause the most damage.
My heart.
The fact that he had brought Josh into it pissed me off. How the hell did he know I was staying here? Was Josh in contact with him behind my back? Paranoia reared its ugly head, irrational scenarios engulfed my mind, and they distracted me all day. I found myself staring into blank space, and twisting my hair around my finger as I begged my head to shut off. I could have easily answered his text, but even though I was on the brink of emotional collapse, I still had the fire and stubbornness to refuse to give him what he wanted. My attention.
“Ashy?” Josh’s voice floated through the apartment and pulled me away from my increasingly-surreal thoughts.
I, in my crazy state, had just come up with the scenario that Josh and Lachlan were secretly best friends, who had connections to my parents, and the four of them were all conspiring with one another to break me down. Seriously, I was on a one way trip to insane.
“In the guestroom,” I replied loudly, hoping that my voice covered the unnerving feeling that was sitting low in my stomach. Get ahold of yourself, Ashlyn.
Seconds later, Josh appeared in the doorway. My eyes longingly roamed over his body and drank in the perfectly-cut suit that sent my pulse racing. His shirt was opened at the neck and, with his tie undone, I was allowed a brief glimpse of his firm chest. Dark gray slacks clung to his hips, covered his thick thighs, and complimented the white shirt. Give me a man in a suit any day, but combine it with the spray of stubble that covered his jaw and I was about ready to rip off my panties, spin them around my finger, and fling them at him.
“How’s your day been?” he asked softly, leaning against the frame and shooting me a questioning look. “I thought you’d be out in the living room working?”
Now that he had spoken, I couldn’t look at him. He had the ability to read every emotion I felt, and I couldn’t risk giving him the opportunity to start reading me now. My gaze fell to my suitcase that was propped up in the corner, and I focused on the stitching and zipper. “I decided to take a break.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, and the atmosphere changed as he stepped into the room.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking up at him, and I felt my façade being stolen by his concerned look. “Nothing is wrong. I just wanted a break.” I closed the laptop I hadn’t used in hours, and stood from the bed to meet his stance. My hands rested on my hips, and my teeth chewed the inside of my lip. Seriously, could I be any more obvious?
His eyes narrowed. “You’re a terrible liar, Ashlyn.”
“I’m going to the living room,” I muttered, not bothering to acknowledge his accusation. I crossed the room, desperate to escape Josh’s inquisitive gaze and avoid the comments teetering on the tip of his tongue. There was no way in hell I wouldn’t fall for his concern and blurt out everything that was on my mind if I didn’t leave. Josh took a step to his right and blocked the doorway, ultimately halting my escape. I groaned loudly and pushed on his chest with as much force as I could muster, but he didn’t budge.
“Can you move?”
“What do you say?” he asked in a teasing tone, his face twisting with arrogance.
“Please, Joshua. Move your lard of a body out of the way.”
His eyes flashed with playfulness and he moved. Way too quickly. One minute I was trying to push past him, and the next I was lifted and put over his shoulder. My verbal protests and demands to be put down bounced off the walls as he took off out of the room.
“What the fuck are you doing? Let me down,” I screeched as I bobbled up and down with each step he took down the hall.
“Quiet,” he said.
I went to object and call him out for being a caveman, but again but my words were stolen when his hand connected sharply with my ass.
My body flushed in delight as the sweetest kind of pain shot through me. “You did not just spank me,” I shot in a voice that was a little too high pitched.
He carried me through the apartment as if I was a featherweight. My hair swayed, and my shirt bunched under my arms, allowing the cool air to kiss my skin. The living room floor came into view, and soon I was flying once again through the air. When my back hit the cushion of the couch, my hair sprayed over my face and took my ability to see, though I couldn’t ignore the heat of Josh’s body hovering over mine. His forearms rested on either side of my head, and his face was barely an inch from mine.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” I whispered as he swiped my hair from my face.
“Did I hurt you?”
I sucked in a breath as his gaze locked onto my lips. “No.”
“Now are you going to tell me what is going on?” he asked, and his eyes finally met mine.
For a brief moment, I had forgotten all about Lachlan’s text messages, and it took me a second to work out what Josh was talking about. Being this close to him was the best kind of diversion. The idea of Lachlan tainting my time with Josh caused me to swallow the words I should have said. In my selfishness, I just wanted Josh. I didn’t want to share our time with anyone else . . . especially Lachlan. But the more Lachlan tried to reach me, the more he infiltrated my plans.
“It’s been a big week. I’m just tired,” I stated without any conviction.
“Bullshit.”
My breathing stilled, and I watched in slow motion as his face dropped closer to mine. What was he doing? All sense of reason disappeared when I felt the curve of his bottom lip enticingly graze mine as he spoke. “I’ve known you a long time, Ash. I know what pushes your buttons, I know what you like, and I certainly know when you’re lying.”
The deep growl and promise in his voice inundated me with thoughts of lifting my mouth to his. I wanted the calm of a breathtaking kiss and the shudder of a body in need of relief. As Josh hovered over me, the warmth of his body caressing mine, I knew I wanted to feel the softness of his lips. I wanted nothing more than to relive those feelings and emotions that I felt when I was nineteen, completely carefree, and living in a vortex of innocence. Could he be the one to inhale all of the lies and taunts that Lachlan had fed me? Did I truly want it to be Josh that breathed life back into me? Time seemed to stop. Our breathing collided, and my heart thundered in my chest.
“When you’re ready, I am going to have your mouth again and devour those lips of yours, but I need to learn patience with you.”
“Why do you need to learn patience?” I whispered. My gaze dropped to his lips and I shifted my body under his, desperate for any friction I could get.
“Don’t look at my mouth, Ashy,” he said with a groan, and his eyes slammed shut.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll lose my patience and I won’t be able to stop myself.”
I don’t want you to stop yourself. “Have you been talking to Lachlan?”
What the hell was wrong with me?
The moment the words fell from my lips, he froze. It was a question that I needed answered, but I could have chosen a better time to ask. Josh on top of me and talking about kissing me was not the best time. The look of need in his eyes diminished, and was replaced by a look of frustration and utter confusion.
“Why would you bring him up when I was about to kiss you?”