I smiled. “Rule number one, never let your guard down,” I mimicked the words he’d said when we first began these lessons.
He nodded. “I like a quick study.” He reached down and licked the side of my neck until he reached my earlobe, sucking it into his mouth.
A moan escaped my lips, uncontrollably. My eyes closed as my head fell to the mat and his lips found mine. This kiss was even better than the previous night. I reached up, entangling my fingers into Joshua’s hair, as he fully moved over top of me, pressing his weight into my body. I took it all.
When his hand lowered to the waistband of the runner’s shorts I was wearing, I instantly raised my hips. He tugged at the band, making room for his hand to find the inside of my panties. My eyes rolled to the back of my head when his long finger trailed along the outline of my pussy lips. It’d been so long since I trusted any man long enough to touch me so intimately.
Just when I felt myself getting lost in Joshua’s arms, a flashback of one horrible night two years earlier appeared, stealing my very breath.
“Stop!” I shrilled.
Another flashback of my giggling uncontrollably as I was being dragged out of a night club on the arm of a guy I barely new, came to mind.
“Josh, stop,” I implored in between pants.
“Wh-what’s the matter?” he questioned, pulling back, alarm filling his voice.
I sat up when he moved from over top of me. I couldn’t look him in his eye, instead choosing to fumble with my clothing, pulling my shirt down and shorts up.
“Kay—”
“We can’t do this.” I shook my head and started to stand but was stopped by a heavy hand around my arm.
“Look at me.” His voice was so stern I didn’t dare not follow.
His eyes narrowed when I finally met his. He angled his head the way he usually does when assessing someone or something. “What is it?”
I swallowed and looked everywhere besides in his eyes. “It’s … it’s Chelsea,” I lied, using my dead best friend as a cover. While I did have guilt over what was happening between Josh and I, due to my loyalty to Chels, it was more so the shameful secret I’d carried with me from Portland.
“We can’t betray her like this,” I insisted, pulling my arm free and rising to stand. “I have to get ready for work.” I quickly scurried out of the basement and up the stairs … feeling Joshua’s eyes burning a hole in my back as I went.
****
“Come on, Darla, you’ve got to have something for me,” I begged my realtor through the phone later that day. I was on my lunch break at work and she was the first person I’d called after my hectic morning. I needed her to help me find a new place and fast. What’d happened between Joshua and I that morning could not happen again. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, doing my best to stave off the memory of that kiss and the ease I’d felt sleeping in his bed the night before.
“I’m sorry, Kayla. The place I thought would be perfect for you just accepted an offer this morning. The other place is farther from your job than you want to be, and the third place you said was way out of your budget. The other three listings I sent you said you didn’t like.”
I groaned, hating that she was right. Biting on the top of the pen I held in my hand, I contemplated my options. I couldn’t overspend just to get out of Joshua’s house any quicker, and I definitely couldn’t move back in with my parents.
“How about I drop by your office this afternoon with some new listings that just came up? I know you only wanted to look at condos, but there are some nice town homes I think you’d be interested in. We’ll take a look, and if you’re up to it, we can stop by a couple today.”
I was desperate. “Okay sure. Come by around four. I have my last patient appointment at three-thirty.” Darla and I said our good-byes, and I turned to hang up my phone. “Goddammit!” I startled, seeing Joshua perched at my doorway yet again. “Are you making a habit of scaring the hell out of me?”
He stared, jaw rigid, unanswering as if he hadn’t heard my question. He moved into my office, striding confidently, glancing around the office, measuring every inch as if he hadn’t already been there.
“You weren’t always so jumpy.”
I folded my arms over my chest, feeling exposed. “Things change. People change.” I shrugged.
“Some not for the better.” He perched himself on the edge of my desk as if sitting on his throne.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re looking for condos.”
“So? My move to your place was only temporary.”
He eyed me, nodding.
