Shelly licked her lips, becoming hypnotized by this man and his words.
All of a sudden, Shelly didn’t give two hoots what he did or did not do for a living. She wanted Joshua Daniels. The biggest shock, however, was that she wanted to keep him. For how long, she wasn’t sure, but she knew she wasn’t ready to let him go.
“And here in Savannah?” Shelly asked, wanting to know what he was getting at.
“Here,” he said, taking that final step to close the distance. “Here, you’re different. You’re relaxed and casual, still incredibly sexy, but in a much more approachable way. This Shelly—Georgia Shelly—she’s the girl next door wrapped up in subtle sex. Man-Eater Monroe’s the ball-busting doctor, who oozes blatant, sizzling, hot sex.” He paused, leaning down to whisper across her lips. “So, who are you, Shelly?”
Shelly blinked at him and locked her eyes with his. “Both.”
She felt his lips move against her own into a smile before he nipped her bottom lip.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he answered.
Then, he gave her the sweetest, hottest kiss she had ever received.
Josh wasn’t sure when or how it had happened, but as he stood in front of possibly the most romantic place he’d ever been in his life, he felt his heart start to beat faster as he gave himself permission to care.
This complex woman, now standing glued to his front with her lips molded to his, was creeping inside of him.
Nowhere in sight was the Shelly he’d first met back at Exquisite. The woman he’d exploded with in the parking lot—not to mention, the hot-as-hell doctor who had given him a thorough once over in her office—was nowhere to be found. Instead, in her place was this sweet, wholesome woman, who was kissing him like they were on a high school date.
Josh changed the angle of his head and used his free hand to wrap around her waist, pulling her in just a little bit closer. He felt her soft moan and slid his tongue gently inside her mouth to rub sinuously against her own.
Her hands came up, grasping behind his neck, and he could feel her fingers spread out, pushing up into his hair. She gripped it and tugged gently until he raised his head, his eyes locking with her beautiful blue ones.
“I like your hair like this,” she told him as she lightly dragged her fingers through it again.
“Long? I forget to get it cut, so it just keeps growing.”
She smiled at him, still running her fingers through it. “I like it. Very bad boyish.”
Josh couldn’t help but snort and chuckle at that. “Bad boy? Is that how you see me?”
He watched as she moved her eyes to his mouth, and then back up to meet his gaze, pulling again at the end of his hair.
“I was kind of hoping.”
“Oh yeah?”
She let out a breath across his mouth, and he could smell that intoxicating apple scent on her. Leaning in, he put his nose to her hair. Ahh, it’s her shampoo.
“Apples,” he whispered.
“Huh?” she asked in a daze.
“You smell like apples.”
She grinned up at him. “It’s my shampoo.”
Josh nodded, and then backtracked their conversation. “Why do you think I’m bad?”
Her fingers traced down his neck, bringing them around so her palms were flat on his chest. She squeezed a little, and then raised an eyebrow at him.
“You gave me an orgasm in a parking lot. You think a good boy would do that?”
He felt a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth as he reached up to trace her arched brow with his fingertip.
“Well, you gave me a spectacular orgasm in your office. Do you think a good girl would do that?”
That familiar sexy smile appeared on her lips. Her eyelids lowered, so she was looking up at him from beneath her lashes. “I never said I was good.”
“Neither did I,” he replied, now tracing her lips with the same finger that had just been against her brow. “I just asked you why you think I’m bad.”
She let out a deep breath across his finger, and then whispered, “Because no one who is good could make me want to be so very bad.”
Josh felt his whole body stiffen, and he removed his finger from her face. Taking a step back, he reminded himself that he needed to watch it. Man-Eater Monroe was still there, just lurking beneath the surface. He needed to keep his wits about him and not get fooled by Georgia.
She was a lethal combination.
“Touché, Georgia. Now, we better hurry if we want to make it to your parents’ house by seven, like we told them.”
He watched her blink and then nod, seemingly shaking herself out of the daze she was in, as she turned to walk away.
Before she got too far, he called out her name. She stopped and turned around.
“Why this park and not the others?” he asked.
She looked at the huge church behind them, and then she turned back to him.
“My father used to bring me down here when I was a little girl. We’d always end up at the fountain. He chose this park because I was baptized in that church over there, St. John the Baptist. We would always come here and make a wish before tossing in a penny.” She paused, taking in a deep breath. “I just wanted to remind myself of that before I see him tonight. When you meet him, you’ll understand why.” Then, she turned, walking back through the park.
Mutley stood and looked up at him while Josh pulled a penny out of his pocket.
Staring at the huge cathedral that was lit up and peeking out above the trees, Josh was pretty sure he’d never seen anything so spectacular.
He thought about what Shelly had just told him and wondered what he was going to witness this weekend. Before he turned away, he brought the penny up to his mouth, closed his eyes, and made a wish. Then, he kissed the penny and tossed it into the fountain.
Chapter Twelve
As Josh turned the truck onto a small pebbled lane, all he could see was darkness.
“Are you sure you haven’t forgotten how to get there?” he asked around a laugh.
“Funny, Josh. It’s just up here around the bend.”
The truck crawled along slowly, bumping and swaying over a couple of potholes. As it made the final bend in the road, Josh felt his mouth drop open.
Right in front of him, like something out of Gone with the Wind, was a driveway lined by huge oak trees draped in Spanish Moss. They were stunning all on their own, but when the six light posts on both sides of the driveway illuminated them, they were absolutely spectacular.
As Josh turned into the drive, he saw a huge white plantation-style mansion at the end of the road. He abruptly stopped the truck.
He turned to the woman beside him and asked, “This is your house?”
She gave him a lopsided grin and nodded. “Yep. This is home.”
Josh turned back to the opulence in front of him, suddenly feeling extremely intimidated. “That is not a home, Georgia. That’s a damn mansion.”
He heard her chuckle beside him.
“Try not to be too impressed when we get there. My father loves to gloat.”
Josh could understand why. He looked down at his thirteen-hour worn shirt and jeans, and then back at Shelly.
“Maybe we should go somewhere and change.”
She looked him over quickly and raised her eyebrows. “If we go somewhere and you take your clothes off, I’m not going to leave until you’ve been inside of me.”
Josh felt himself harden, and his eyes widened. “We are right outside your family’s house. I don’t think now is the time to be acting that way.”
Suddenly, she started laughing, hard.
“What?” he demanded, knowing her laughter was at his expense.