I lowered my gaze and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I also swallowed the words that were fighting to come out. The ones that would tell him that he was one of the first people I wanted to call the day I graduated with my degree.
Slowly, I moved my gaze from him to my degree on the wall. I stood. “Josh, I—”
“I’ve got a place where you can stay,” he interrupted.
“I— What?” I turned to him, confused.
“You need a place to stay. You said living with your parents is growing uncomfortable, right?”
I hesitated. Had I said that? Yes, on the phone with Darla.
“Yes, but I couldn’t stay at one of your houses. I can’t afford the luxury homes you build. And besides—”
“It’s not one of my developments.”
I frowned. “An apartment you’re renting?” I questioned, cautiously. Joshua loathed apartments as real estate properties.
He frowned. “I haven’t changed that much in the last seven years.”
“Okay,” I breathed out. “So, what place are you talking about?”
“My house.”
My eyes must’ve expanded to two times their size. “Your house? As in, where you live?”
He tilted his head to the side, which caused me to recognize how silly I sounded.
“Yes.”
I began shaking me head. “I couldn’t put you out like that.”
“I wouldn’t invite you to stay if it was putting me out. I have six bedrooms, only one of which I use. Five and a half bathrooms, again, only one in which I use regularly. I travel often for work, so you might make better use of the place than I would.” He pulled a card from his pocket, flipped it over, and snatched a pen from my holder on the desk, scribbling something on the card.
“Here.” He thrust the card in my hand and tapped it with the end of the pen. “Head over after you get off tonight and I’ll show you around and give you the access code to the house and the gate.”
“The gate?” I questioned, dumbly.
“Yeah, I live in the gated community in Cedarwoods. I’ll show you once you get there tonight. Just text me when you’re on your way.”
I frowned, furrowing my brows and looking for some way to tell him I would not be staying at his place. “I … uh, are you certain your girlfriend will be okay with this?”
He stilled, eyeing me carefully. “Girlfriend?”
“The woman from the other night. Danielle, or Diane, something.”
His gaze soon filled with recognition and a smile formed on his lips that had my heart sinking. “Oh, Denise.”
“Yeah, Denise,” I mumbled. In reality, I’d remembered her name. I was just being childish.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine with it. I’ll see you later. Don’t forget to text me.”
I went to tell him I didn’t have his cell number, but his head gestured to the card in my hand. Looking down, I saw that he’d written it in beneath his address. I went to make one final attempt to refuse his offer but the words fizzled on my lips when I looked into his eyes at the hard glare he was giving me.
Daring me to refuse.
My mouth opened but no words came out. Strangely, that seemed to satisfy him, and the glare turned to satisfaction. He nodded and turned for the door, giving me one last glance over his shoulder before exiting.
I fell back into my chair, wondering why he’d seemed to suck all of the air out of the room when he left. And more so, why I hadn’t flat out turned down his offer. Maybe I really was just sick of living with my parents. It’d only been about six weeks but I was so ready to move out. I loved being this close to my parents again, but my own space was needed. I could stay with Josh for a week or two until I found my own place. If worse came to worst, I could rent a place for a while until I was ready to buy.
