She really needed to text Amira and let her know she wouldn’t be arriving on Wednesday, because the farmer’s market would probably take the entire morning tomorrow, and then…
And then she would want to be alone with Josh again.
Tonight wasn’t going to be enough.
She snapped the pencil down on the counter. “I think we need to work on this more over at the garage,” she said. “Trent, you’ve got my mom for the afternoon, yes?”
Trent looked delighted.
Bianca looked…suspicious.
Whatever, Monica didn’t care. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to say, “I’m not staying at the lake house with you, I’d rather sleep in Josh’s serial-killer-aesthetic apartment one more night,” so maybe this might be their only chance today to be alone.
She wasn’t letting it slip through her fingers.
“Dinner tonight will be brought to the lake house, Mom. Expect guests at six. You don’t need to prepare anything.”
“Well, that’s good, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Monica narrowed her eyes. That wasn’t true at all. Her mother was a great entertainer, an excellent cook, and only put on that particular tone when her feelings were hurt.
Too. Bad.
Bianca had the rest of her life to have Monica’s full attention in New York. Josh only had her for one more day.
* * *
Josh was prettysure whatever they were doing right now was like some out of control, runaway freight train of hormones and desperate last chances, but he didn’t care.
His body ached nonstop today, like it was a physical hardship to go an hour or two before holding her again. He’d never had the freedom to hold her in front of people. Not people they knew.
He’d been so fucking demonstrative on their honeymoon. And then, in an instant, that had been turned off. For three years, he hadn’t been able to touch her, hold her, kiss her.
So when they held hands over to the marina, it had felt significant. And then she slid into his lap at the garage, which felt right.
Him wrapping his arm around her waist? Risky, more than anything, he knew that. But also necessary on a primal level.
Which was ridiculous. She was leaving, and he should be putting distance between them, not closing the gap at every single opportunity.
But then they were dragged apart, over and over again, and that simply felt wrong.
Right was getting her just inside the garage and hauling her into his arms for a long, slow, deep kiss.
“We were interrupted earlier,” she panted. “Should lock the door.”
He laughed as he did exactly that. “They know we’re here.”
“I think we have plausible deniability if we’re upstairs and the door is just locked. Oops, we can’t hear knocking.”
He unzipped her jacket and slid his hands around her waist. “If we can get upstairs.”
That got him a delighted laugh, and he notched a thigh between her legs while he kissed her again.
Never enough kisses. Her mouth was a sweet, boundless pool to lose himself in.
And the sounds she made as he worked their bodies closer and closer together were the stuff of his fantasies. Of his memories, too. Beautiful, private, lush noises he never thought he’d hear again.
She breathed his name against his lips.
