Page 140 of Stanton Adore

27

Natasha

An hour later I hear Joshua’s deep voice echoing throughout the house. He’s home. I bound up to the bedroom to change into my bikini, which is still hanging on the towel rack in the bathroom before I go and find him. I am trying to tie up the top when I notice something on the bottom of the shower that wasn’t there when I had a shower an hour ago. I pick it up. It’s Josh’s T-shirt. I hold it up to see why it is in the bottom of the shower and to my horror it is covered in blood. What the hell. Who has he been fighting? I head downstairs to find out what in the hell is going on. I hear Adrian speaking outside on the phone to someone and Joshua and Cameron are in the kitchen deep in conversation. I sneak closer to try and eavesdrop. I hear Cameron’s voice rise.

“How bad is it? Do I need to go around there? Does he need a doctor?”

I try to act casual and waltz toward the kitchen. I hear Joshua’s hushed voice as I walk closer. “Don’t tell Tash, she’ll go postal.”

Hmm, he plans on keeping it a secret. How do I play this? Adrian comes through the back door in a huff, obviously pissed off about something, and I smile and link my arm through his as we walk into the kitchen.

I walk in and smile at Josh. “Hi baby, did you get my pills?”

I kiss him on the cheek, and he raises one eyebrow at me. “Your pills,” he repeats. Silence falls on the room. I do an overaccentuated nod.

“Yes, you know how I needed contraceptive pills and you went to get them so we could have sex without producing an heir.” He frowns at me and I bite my lip to stifle my beaming smile. It’s so fun making him squirm.

He narrows his eyes. “Um, yes I…I got them.”

Cameron winks at me from behind Josh and I know he’s enjoying my joke as well.

I hold out my hand. “Give them to me then.” He frowns as he looks at my outstretched hand. I can see him thinking what the fuck is she talking about. I see Adrian and Cameron stifle their giggles in the background and I bite my own lip to stop the smile from splitting my face.

He frowns and then grabs me in a headlock, and I squeal out loud. “Very funny, Miss Marx,” he growls, and we all laugh. “Don’t even mention heirs.”

I pull out of Josh’s embrace and turn to Adrian. “Are you OK, honey, I overheard you being annoyed with someone?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “It seems I just got dumped.”

“Dumped?” I’m shocked. Who in their right mind would

break up with gorgeous Adrian? This Ross must really be a dick.

“Yeah, I was going to break up with him anyway, it seems he beat me to it.”

My eyes flick to Joshua and I catch him make eye contact with Ben. I bet any money Josh had a fight with Adrian’s boyfriend today. What is going on here? Everyone falls silent as they wait for Adrian to say something. My experience tells me he needs to be distracted.

“I’m going shopping, want to come too?” His eyes flick to Josh for approval. “Don’t look at him, look at me. I asked you if you will take me shopping,” I murmur.

He smiles and shrugs. “What do you want to buy?”

I shrug. “Don’t know, maybe lingerie or something. I thought I would give Rodeo Drive a run for its money.”

Josh and Cam both smile. They know exactly what I am doing. “Go, Murph.” Josh pats him on the back and then looks at me. “Show him how hot lingerie is, on the mannequin of course.” He does wide eyes at me.

Adrian frowns. “Eeww, are you that stupid you think I would want to look at your girlfriend in lingerie?”

Josh shrugs. “You’re only human.”

“Tash,” Josh whispers in my ear from behind. “I need to show you something.” I smile into my teacup, knowing exactly what he wants to show me.

“In a minute,” I whisper back.

“Now,” he growls into my ear, sending goose bumps scattering down my arms. He pulls me out of my chair by the hand. We have just eaten a beautiful three-course dinner and I am quite exhausted from shopping with Adrian all day. I have acquired some very naughty little outfits and Adrian has vented all day about hating men. Of course, I have made him come and stay with us, who knows what a scorned boyfriend could do? It seems I was right. Joshua told me the whole sordid story this afternoon. Adrian’s boyfriend is totally a dick. Josh grabs my hand as Adrian and Cam grab their beers and head out to the pool.

“I want to give you a tour of the house.” Josh smiles. Oh, he really did want to show me something, that’s unexpected. We walk through the kitchen and he opens a door and there is a staircase down a corridor. We go down two flights and Joshua flicks a light switch. Shit, a massive wine cellar is lit up like a Christmas tree. He gestures his hand around the room. “Wine cellar,” he announces, and I smile. It seems Joshua is proud of his wine cellar.

I nod. “Very impressive.” He kisses me quickly on the lips and heads back up the stairs. We head down the corridor to the left of the kitchen and walk past the dining room and the lounge room. This house really is stunning. Joshua’s decorating style is a little sterile, but the house looks too beautiful to be real. The high ceilings combined with the polished concrete and the amazing light fixtures give the house a luxury feel.