“Homework?” he asks, nodding toward the stack of papers on my desk.
“Yep. My favorite pastime.”
His grey eyes glint with amusement. “And here I thought you didn’t bother with schoolwork.”
I gasp. “For your info, I was at the top of my class in California.”
“Yeah?” He sounds doubtful. “Good school?”
“Best in all the land.” I bat my lashes. “Student body of one, so I got undivided attention around-the-clock.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Homeschooled?”
“Maybe.”
His lips twitch, his gaze lingering on my mouth as he shakes his head, and tiny birds dive in my stomach.
He moves to the desk, turning his back to me and picking up one of the papers. I can’t help but drink him in. The muscles in his back constrict when he lowers the page, his biceps flex as he reaches up to rub the back of his neck, and he’s just so ... big. Strong. Masculine.
My gaze slides downward, tracing the way his jeans hug him. I’m blatantly staring. Thinking back to earlier tonight—the way his hard stomach moved against my knuckles, his breath warming my throat. I wet my lips, wondering what he’d do if I moved closer right now.
“Jesus, Blue.” His raspy voice snaps my eyes back to his face, and heat rises up my neck when I find him staring straight at me.
The look in his eyes—dark, hooded, below a row of thick black lashes—makes my skin flush with a different kind of warmth. The kind that starts low in my belly and spreads like wildfire through my veins. A muscle in his jaw twitches. He turns, pacing across the room and dragging a hand through his hair.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he grumbles.
“Like what?”
He looks away, and when he focuses back on me, the flame between us is blazing. “Like that.”
Maybe it’s the way I was raised, but I’m a firm believer of living in the moment—something I wonder if Joshua’s ever done.
I lift a shoulder. “Because I want to.”
He pushes out a breath, glancing at the ceiling and focusing hard. “I should probably go.”
“Wait.” I jump to my feet just as he steps toward the window. I don’t know what I’m trying to say or do, but with the way my heart’s racing and my skin’s prickling, I know I’m not ready for him to go. Brushing a lock of hair behind my ear, I blurt, “You haven’t told me about Henry yet.”
He darts a glance toward the open window, then pauses, looking back at me. His gaze rakes over my body, and I get clammy all over again.
“Just telling you about Henry, then I’m gone. Right?”
“Right.” A grin stretches across my face, and I lift onto the balls of my feet.
He eyes me warily, but after a second, he pulls out the chair at my desk and takes a seat. His spine straightens when I move closer.
The bed seems too far away for conversation, but I only have the one chair, so I hop on the edge of the desk instead, crossing my legs at the ankles and swinging them back and forth. Joshua’s focus drifts downward, lingering on my bare thighs, and a shiver rolls through me.
“So ...” he starts, averting his eyes. “I met Henry a couple years ago when I needed a place to stay.”
“He’s not homeless?”
“Uh, no. He is.” Joshua rubs the side of his jaw. “I wound up on the streets for a little while, and he took me under his wing.”
My jaw drops. “You were homeless too?”
“Look, Blue ...” He closes his eyes for a minute. “You can’t tell anyone this, okay? Please. No one around here knows.”
