"Oh, boy, that happens to me all the time," Julie said, grinning. "Except usually I break down and gobble whatever it is before delivery."
Both hands full of baked goods, Josh looked from one woman to the other. "Well, come in, you two."
"I shouldn't," Lori said.
"You will." Before she could get away, Josh had handed off the pie and the cookies to the other woman and was pulling Lori inside.
With the door shut behind all three of them, he looked at Lori, at Julie, at the baked goods, with a smug grin. "An embarrassment of riches, all right."
Julie laughed.
Lori felt another burn of embarrassment. "I should go," she said again.
Josh shook his head in mock exasperation. "Runt, would you tell this woman that I'm planning on eating pie and cookies, not her?"
Runt? It didn't seem a pet name for a girlfriend. Julie laughed again. "If I knew who 'this woman' was, I just might."
"I'm sorry," Josh answered. "Lori Hanson, this is my cousin, Julie Anderson. Better known as the Runt."
Julie made a face at him. "Nice to meet you," she said to Lori. "My first piece of advice in dealing with mammoth man here, is to refuse to answer to Josh's deplorable nicknames. I'm short, hence Runt. My brother is Wheaties – that's the color of his hair. My sister is Trout." She shook her head. "Don't ask."
Lori found herself smiling. "That sounds like your second piece of good advice."
Within minutes the three of them were in Josh's kitchen. Lori resisted all temptation – she planned on keeping to that for the entire evening – while Julie and Josh bickered good-naturedly over the best slice of pie and the biggest cookie.
A chocolate smear at the corner of her mouth, Julie reached for a paper napkin from a pile on Josh" s kitchen counter. The room, decorated in white with black accents, looked like nothing a bachelor – even a bachelor builder – would choose for himself. Lori wondered if Josh's mother, or sisters, even Runt or Trout, had helped him pick the up-to-date appliances and stylish backsplash of tile.
"I just came to say goodbye," Julie said. "Back to college tomorrow."
"We'll miss you." He reached out to tug on the ends of her hair. "You'll call me if you have trouble in the statistics class?"
"Don't you doubt it. I wouldn't have made it out of calculus alive if it hadn't been for you." She shot a look at Lori. "This man is a whiz with numbers."
If a man as big as Josh could be said to squirm, well, that's what he did. "Nah, it's just that I know how your little runt-brain works." Then his gaze narrowed. "You made sure your car is ready for the trip?"
Julie nodded. "Dad checked it out, Wheaties checked it out, even Trout's new boyfriend checked it out."
Josh blinked. "Trout doesn't have a boyfriend," he stated. "She's too young."
"Seventeen," Julie said.
Josh frowned. "No one told me about this at Christmas.
"Exactly." Julie smiled. "We didn't want to ruin a nice family holiday. They left it to me to break the news tonight. But Wheaties told me to tell you he's shaken the boy up, he's shaken the boy down, he's read him the riot act. Even Dad thinks the kid's okay."
Josh sighed. "I guess if Uncle Rod think it's all right," he muttered.
"We girls grow up," Julie said lightly. Then she leaned across the table and kissed Josh's cheek. "As much as we know it pains you."
"What pains me is worrying about you – and now Trout."
Julie smiled at Lori. "We're double cousins, you see. Our mothers married brothers. Josh seems to think it gives him the corner on over-protectiveness."
Though Lori smiled back, the obvious closeness of the cousins tugged at her heart. This is what she had hoped to find for herself. Family. Roots. Someone who would look out for you, who you could turn to when the chips were down.
It didn't surprise her in the least to find that Josh was part of a family like that. That he offered love and advice – not to mention academic help – when necessary.
The younger woman jumped to her feet. "Gotta go," she said, leaning down to kiss Josh again. She smiled at Lori, who also rose to her feet. "Be kind to Prince Charming, here."
Bemused at the steel beneath the light tone, Lori watched Josh escort his cousin to the front door. She had reached it herself just as Josh closed it behind Julie.
"Oops," Lori said as he swung around. "You shut the door too soon. I'm on my way out, too."
Josh leaned his shoulders against the raised wood panels. "You just got here." A lazy smile lifted the corners of his mouth. "You haven't let me thank you for the pie."
Lori swallowed. "It was to thank you," she blurted out. Her cheeks heated, but she continued on. "I … I can't tell you how nice I thought it was, what you did today."
"Nice?"
Lori nodded. "Nice."
Josh winced. "You don't know how much that word can hurt a guy."
She wasn't buying his act for a minute. "I happen to think 'nice' was exactly what you were going for today, Josh. And I happen to be very, very grateful for it."
"Yeah?" Slowly, so slowly, he reached out his hand and touched her cheek with his thumb. Lori didn't flinch, he moved that carefully. She couldn't move at all.
He dragged his thumb down her skin, over her cheek, against the line of her chin. "What if I don't feel so nice tonight?" His knuckles stroked her bottom lip.
"You're always nice," Lori answered quickly. With each word, her mouth brushed his fingers, and his rougher skin seemed to catch at the smoother skin of her lips. Her pulse started clanging like a fire alarm.
Because there was smoke, she thought dizzily. It trailed around them, curling like a rope, drawing them inexorably closer. Without knowing how it happened, without Josh using his hands to pull her toward him, she was there, leaning her chest against his.
His hands still at his sides, he drew in a long careful breath. It caused his solid chest muscles to rise against her breasts. To rise against her nipples that had budded, hard and tingling.
"Lori," he said softly. "I'm going to kiss you. But this time, this time I don't think I can promise I won't touch you. So…" He closed his eyes, as if fighting off a wave of something, then opened them. "So hold my hands, honey. Take them, hold them."
She could only obey. Not him. But what her own pulse was clamoring for. She caught his hands with hers. Their fingers entwined.
Oh, it was good. The strength, the warmth of Josh's hands, made her apprehensive and excited all at once. Her blood rushed through her body, nervousness and desire traveling from fingers to toes to mouth.
Mouth. His was full and hard-looking, but she knew it was gentle. She knew its taste.
She wanted to taste it again.
The last, anticipatory moment was sweet. It was healing. It was so good to lift her lips and ask for what she wanted.
"Kiss me, Josh," she said.
His fingers squeezed hers as he lowered his head.
He wasn't gentle. It didn't matter.
Her mind spun away as he took her mouth, took the kiss she'd asked for. His breath was hot against her lips, his tongue was sure. She opened wide for him. She opened for Josh.
The kiss went on. It wasn't one kiss, it was a string of kisses, each one hotter, deeper, another rung on the ladder that was taking her higher, higher. Wet heat trailed across her cheek and he found her ear, nipped at it.
Shivers rolled hot and steady down her back. Lori heard herself moan.
She felt Josh's fingers clench against hers. He found her mouth again, plunged deep.
The shivers redoubled. Her pulse was everywhere, throbbing insistently, drowning out whiny cautions, whispering fears.
Then his mouth gentled, even as she felt his heartbeat knocking harder against her breastbone. Afraid to lose her place, afraid he would stop kissing her altogether, afraid she'd never know what this was like, with Josh, she lifted their entwined hands.
Inching her body away from his, she placed his palms upon her breasts.
* * *
Chapter 7
« ^ »
Josh froze, his mouth against Lori's, her hands over his as they lightly cupped the warm roundness of her breasts. His body throbbed everywhere, his hormones pounded insistently in his brain, telling him to hurry, telling him not to hesitate because she had put his hands there herself. He should take what she was offering, he should touch, squeeze, bare her so he could see what he knew would be beautiful.
Instead, he lifted his head and met her gaze. "Lori?"
"Please, Josh," she said hoarsely. Her hands clutched at his. "Touch me."
"I will," he promised. "And honey, I want to. But Lori—"
She went on tiptoe, pushing her breasts into his hands, pressing her mouth against his. "Don't make me wait, Josh."
That did it. He angled his head to deepen the kiss. He flattened his palms to rub their centers against the hardened nubs of her nipples. She gasped, a sweet, needy sound, and her hands left his to tangle in the hair at the back of his neck.
He rotated his palms again, absorbing her heat and the fine trembling of her body. His lips left hers and trailed down her neck, using as his guide the tantalizing fragrance of hot peaches. He licked across her collarbone, his head pushing aside the open collar of her plain shirt.
His fingers went to its buttons and he didn't let himself think about what he was doing. There was no past, no future to worry about, nothing but her warm, peach-flavored skin and the excited cadence of Lori's breathing.
He unfastened the buttons one by one, moving slowly but steadily until he encountered the waistband of her jeans. Leaving the shirt tucked in, he slid his hands inside the open edges to run his bare palms around her slender ribcage. Her breath caught – that sweet and needy sound again – and he brought her against him once more, his hands pressing against the small of her back.
Her goose bumps rose beneath his palm. He closed his eyes to savor the sensation, and to savor the knowledge that he aroused her as much as she aroused him. He kissed the top of her head, then her temple, her cheek. When she lifted her mouth to his once more, he feathered his fingers across her back, then her ribcage to meet at the front clasp of her bra.
He considered stopping again. He considered waiting for her to ask him, or asking for permission himself, but that would be letting the past into their world again. It wasn't going to come between them now, damn it. Not when her cheeks were flushed and her mouth rosy from his.
In one quick move, he released the clasp and pushed aside the bra's cups, revealing…
Lust slammed like a fist into his gut.
He was a visual man. A man who saw things in his head and then built them with his hands. But he could never have imagined such perfection.
Never dreamed of touching something so luscious. Lori's breasts were firm, full and tipped the same rosy-pink as her mouth. Her nipples were furled tightly, closed like a flowerbud against a frost, and he couldn't help but bend his head and take one into his mouth.
She arched into him as he mouthed it lightly, letting her get used to the sensation of his tongue against her. Her hands speared into his hair, tugging lightly, and Josh's restraint broke,
He sucked.
Lori moaned, her fingers biting into his scalp as she drew him even closer to the silky, peachy softness of her breast. His mouth still on her, he cupped the other breast in one hand, weighing it, then brushing his thumb against its nipple with quick strokes.
His blood thudding like a runner's footsteps in his veins, he switched places with her, setting her back against the front door. With hands that were shaking, he pushed her shirt and bra straps off her shoulders. Still caught at her waist, the shirt fell toward her knees, while the piece of white lace that was her bra fluttered to the floor.
He stared at Lori, desire-stunned all over again by the beautiful visual image she made. Her head was against the door, her hair a dark cloud around her flushed face. Her eyes were a drowsy, desire-filled blue, her mouth parted for her fast breaths, her pulse visibly beating in her throat. Below that, her creamy skin rose into those glorious breasts, one still wet from his mouth.
The other begged for his attention.
Leaning down to give it, Josh placed his palms flat against the door, caging her. Lori stiffened.
But not in anticipation of his touch. That was instantly clear.
He quickly drew back his hands, stepping away at the same time. But too late.
Too late, because her arms were crossed over her naked chest. Too late, because her body seemed to be trying to burrow backward into the solid-core oak door. Too late, because there was fear – and tears – in her eyes.
Cursing himself, he took another step in retreat. His feet tangled in something, and he stumbled. Looking down, he cursed all over again. Somehow he'd managed to get his size fifteens caught in her bra. It was wound around his ankles like shackles.
His face burned. Smooth move, Anderson. Closing his eyes, he groaned. "Now would be a good time for a hole to open," he murmured, "and swallow me right up."
Miracle of miracles, Lori laughed.
Still, he didn't look at her. "Easy for you, honey. But this isn't a situation they cover in Gentleman's Quarterly or even in Construction Digest."
She laughed again. The next thing he knew, she was kneeling at his feet, untangling him from the white satin and lace that had been her undergarment. Then she stood, her shirt once more buttoned to the neck. She crumpled the bra and shoved it in her front jean pocket.
"Josh, I—"
"Lori, I—"
They broke off. He wondered if they both didn't really know what to say, because neither of them started talking again. She bit down on her lower lip.
"Don't," he said abruptly.
Her gaze jumped to his. "What?"
He made a frustrated gesture. "Don't think whatever it is you're thinking. I know this is awkward, but…"
She hesitated. "You did look really cute all ensnared," she finally said. A little smile began to play over her lips.
Josh narrowed his gaze, his own mood lightening at her teasing tone. "Cute is a lot like nice, Lori. Can't you think of another word? Rugged, say? Or manly?"
Her laugh bubbled out, and he relaxed a degree or two more. "So," he continued. "Why don't we just forget the whole thing?"
Of course, he wouldn't. He'd work hard to banish the thought of himself tripping over her bra, but he'd never forget the sight of her nakedness, the taste of her in his mouth.
"That's the whole problem, Josh," she answered, her expression serious. "I'm having trouble forgetting."
"I know," he said. "But there's no hurry—"
"I need to tell you," Lori said, shaking her head. "We need to talk now."
* * *
Josh made coffee. Lori knew she wouldn't drink any, she was too wired for caffeine, but she welcomed the few minutes alone in his living room so she could gather herself together.
His touch had excited her. His kisses had beguiled her. His mouth on her breasts had nearly brought her to her knees.
And then the past had risen up, like a serpent swimming through the sea of her desire, and she couldn't avoid the piercing bite of memories. Memories of another man. Of being at another man's mercy.
Josh came in, carrying a tray, and placed it on the coffee table in front of the long leather couch she sat on. He handed her a steaming mug and took another between his own hands. As he settled in the opposite corner, he nodded at the tray. "Cream and sugar, if you'd like it."
To stall a bit longer, she doctored her coffee, then leaned back against the couch. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to meet Josh's gaze squarely.
He looked … uncertain. She smiled a little at that, that big, masculine Josh looked worried. She took another breath, let it out slowly. "Tell me about your marriage, Josh."
He jerked against the cushions, his coffee sloshing dangerously close to the brim. "I thought this was about you."
His uncertainty and worry h
ad changed to wary. To closed-off and private. Lori thought about heeding the signs he was putting up. It certainly would be a heck of a lot easier if she went away right now and they never spoke of this again.
Except there would be another day at work. There would be another moment when all she could think about was the heated, heavenly taste of Josh's mouth. Her attraction for him wouldn't die, and neither would her fears, unless she brought some things into the open. But she needed to know about his marriage if she could talk about hers.
"This is about me," she said quietly. "Please talk to me. I – I need to hear it."
Josh looked down at his coffee, staring into the depths of its blackness. "I was five years older than Kay. We met soon after she graduated from college and came back to the Whitehorn area. As to how we met – I rescued her when her kayak overturned one summer day."
He looked up, but not at Lori. His gaze was fixed on the white wall facing them as if seeing a film of the past. "It was the precursor of everything to come, really. When I was able to right the kayak for her, she came up laughing. As wet as a drowned rat, but laughing." He shook his head. "She never saw how close she came to disaster that day, or any other time, really."
Lori swallowed. "And after that?"
"We started dating," he said. "She was so full of vitality. Always moving, always laughing, always teasing me about my stick-in-the-mud ways."
Lori tried telling herself it wasn't her right to bristle. But nothing about Josh was stick-in-the-mud. He was strength and goodness and had been able to arouse Lori's desires despite herself.
She stared down into her own coffee. "But … you were happy with her?"
"I loved her. I married her."
But had he been happy? Lori noted he hadn't said, and her heart ached with … what?
"We'd just passed our second wedding anniversary," Josh continued, "when she died."
"What happened?"
"It was an accident. Kay had plans to go rock climbing one Saturday. I was up to my eyebrows in a project in the next town and was working that weekend. She and a friend were going to partner each other, but that morning her friend called and cancelled."
IN LOVE WITH HER BOSS Page 8
