Shelly rolled her eyes, shaking her head, when Josh sat back up. Mason’s eyes went right back to his friend like he hadn’t been doing anything mischievous. Another sneaky little shit.
He and Lena deserved one another.
Again, her phone buzzed. Looking across to Lena, who was once again pretending to pay attention to the boring man conversation, Shelly picked up her phone. She’d just taken a sip of her drink when she looked down and read.
Lena: Corporate’s not fixing the issue. Time to hire a handyman to flush out the plumbing.
That’s when Shelly sputtered on Lena’s Margarita, almost choking.
“You okay over there?” Shelly heard Mason ask.
Glancing up, Shelly saw Lena grab her drink, grinning as she took a sip. Looking back to Mason and Mr. Delicious, Shelly smiled slightly.
“Yeah, just went down the wrong pipe,” she stressed, noticing Lena pick up on the pun.
Shelly was about to say something else when the double doors behind her whooshed open, and Rachel squealed. Looking over her shoulder, Shelly watched as the currently purple-haired pastry chef zeroed in on Josh—aka Mr. Delicious Handyman.
“Joshua Daniels! Oh my god! You are even hotter now than you were back in high school!”
Hot, he definitely is, Shelly agreed.
Shelly turned to watch Josh stand, and then he pulled out his biggest weapon of all. Across his face slid a smile so slow and so sexy, it could’ve dropped a woman’s panties in five seconds flat—hers in particular.
Rachel ran across the room, launching herself at him in a huge hug. Shelly watched those powerful arms wrap around Rachel, and for the second time that night, she thought, I’m screwed.
Chapter Two
Tuesday morning rolled around, and Shelly was relieved when she noticed she was alone. Sometime during the night, she’d had a fantastic dream where she’d cornered Delicious Daniels and dragged him home to her bed. She was thrilled to discover that was not in fact reality.
She’d made it through the rest of the dinner last night with what little dignity she could find after almost choking on her drink. Then, she’d hightailed it out of there.
Today was her day off, and she planned to make the most of it. She was looking forward to getting her hair cut, her nails buffed, and her feet massaged—pretty much reveling in a full day of pure self-indulgence. She always made sure to treat herself once a month. After all, why shouldn’t I enjoy something for myself when I’ve worked so damn hard?
Grabbing the juice from the refrigerator, she poured herself a glass and started thinking about her father. He was the kind of man who would always go out of his way to make her feel as though anything remotely relating to self-indulgence was a waste of money and a “female thing.”
In her father’s mind, she’d committed two major sins. First, she’d been born a girl, not the anticipated boy. This had been a major disappointment to her father, and it was completely her fault, of course—as if she actually had a say in the matter. Second, she’d chosen not to become a surgeon like him. Instead, she chose to specialize in a less-demanding field in case there ever came a point in time where she wanted to maybe—and this was a huge maybe—take some time to start a family.
And that was all just the tip of the iceberg. Shelly sighed as she sipped her juice, wondering how he had the ability to aggravate the shit out of her even when he was hundreds of miles away.
Pushing him aside, she started to think of more pleasurable things—like Mason Langley’s fine-looking friend. It was true. She didn’t want to get involved with a man like him—meaning a man who moved from state to state for a contract job, essentially being a man with no stability. A man who by all means could have her on her knees in ten seconds flat if he knew her weakness.
However, he was also the exact man she was drawn to. For some reason, her screwed-up DNA had decided that her girly parts would get tingly whenever a man dressed in ripped-across-the-ass jeans came along.
It isn’t fair, Shelly thought as she lifted the glass to her lips. All she wanted was a predictable man who went to a boring Monday-through-Friday job in a boring suit with a boring everyday personality.
That, however, was not the case. She was attracted to the kind of man who was likely to pound her into her bed, floor, or couch, and then roll off, walk out the door, and leave the state. What the hell is the matter with me? She knew from past experience that relationships based solely on instant attraction never ended well.
Placing her glass in the sink, she made her way down the hall to the bathroom, and then stopped in front of the mirror to glare at herself. Reaching up, she held her hair back from her face.
Maybe I should just chop it off? Be more serious—less girly. She turned her head to the left, and then came back to face forward. Nah, who am I kidding? The men love it! It is a female thing.
Josh woke the next morning to a warm, wet tongue licking his cheek.
Cracking an eye, he saw his six-year-old German Shepherd, Mutley, sitting on his haunches next to his bed. His long snout was resting on the mattress, and his big brown eyes were focused directly on his.
“Need to go out, boy?” he asked as though the dog would actually answer.
Mutley whined and wagged his tail where he sat, making his big body twitch from side to side. Reaching out to scratch the dog’s head, Josh yawned and pulled back the covers. Swinging his legs over the side, he winced when his feet hit the cold hardwood floor. Cold-ass Chicago.
Moving toward the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, he unlatched it and pushed it open. Mutley dashed outside to relieve himself, probably cursing him for oversleeping. Josh looked out at the hot tub that was half-installed off to the left of the deck. Another project he’d decided would be a challenge when he’d relocated here, north of the city in Evanston. It was still unfinished and untouched, waiting for him to take up the challenge. His hand scratching over his stomach, he rolled his head side to side, stretching out his neck.
Last night was interesting.
Meeting up with his old college friend had been great. He’d forgotten how much fun he’d had with Mason back in the day. He was so easygoing, and his family was awesome.
Rachel was exactly how he remembered. Crazy, he thought with a chuckle, but he also felt there was something else going on now with the crazy, or maybe he was just imagining that.
He leaned a shoulder up against the glass door as Mutley took the opportunity to sniff every plant in the yard.
Josh was happy to see Rachel was still sporting the colorful hair—so colorful that she almost looked like an Easter egg, not that he’d ever tell her that.
The Langley family had been through a rough year. He’d been extremely saddened to hear of Catherine’s passing. He’d known Mason’s father had died a few years back, and he had sent flowers when he couldn’t make it to the funeral. But to learn that the gentle lady with the warm smile had passed—well, there just weren’t any words. The world had lost a wonderful soul.
Mason’s Lena was adorable and absolutely perfect for his friend. He couldn’t have found a better woman if he’d gone around with a list of requirements and marked off each one. She was funny, stubborn, smart, and quick as a whip, and his friend was completely and hopelessly in love with her.
He hadn’t known what to expect when Mason had told him he was engaged. After all, she would have to be someone pretty special to have Mason finally give up the bachelor life, but after being around the two of them for less than four hours, he could see they were a perfect fit.