* * * *
After a couple of hours had passed sipping coffee and eating cupcakes, Josie was totally impressed by the man that Chance had become.
He told her a few stories about his time in corporate America, but it was obvious that he was happy with his decision to cash out. Chance was working with a charitable foundation that created shared databases for local homeless shelters and service centers, so no one need ever be turned away for services. However, he said that working with volunteers was akin to herding cats.
Josie choked on her cupcake.
“Seriously, Zee. They show up and just don’t listen. They think because they’re volunteering their time, they don’t have to do what they’re told, so they are all going in a different direction. Sometimes I just want to hire it out of my own pocket so it can be done in half the time, but then I wouldn’t have nearly as many funny stories to tell.”
“I think you just like the challenge,” she teased. “I’ve got to tell you, I am impressed with you. I can’t believe my baby brother has made such a success of himself.” She watched as Chance flushed a deep red and choked on his third cup of coffee. If she spent much more time with him, she was really going to have to suggest that he cut down on his caffeine intake. It couldn’t be good for him.
“Baby brother?” he gasped out.
“Well, sure. That’s how I always thought of you. You’re four years younger than me, and look at the business success you are. It’s amazing! I’m so proud of you, Chance.” She looked at him sitting there, so confident and happy. What’s more, he was kind and honorable, having moved to be close to the people who had raised him. She hoped they could be friends. Josie would be lucky to have him in her life, and when she said as much, she was more than a little hurt by his stunned expression.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you might have time to hang out.” Josie waited for a response, but when she was greeted by nothing but silence, she knew she had to get out of there fast. She stood up too fast and tweaked her back, but kept herself from gasping. Apparently, she had read the situation entirely wrong. She really didn’t need Chance’s pity. She grabbed for her purse and started for the door. As she reached to open it, Chance’s big arm was over her head, and his hand was pushed against the door, effectively keeping her inside. She slowly turned to look at him, her confusion plain.
“Look, I’m sorry if I misunderstood, you probably just wanted…” She didn’t know what he wanted, so she didn’t know how to continue, and stopped speaking. She just gazed up at him. He seemed so large, standing over her, invading her personal space. He looked angry, which just confused her more, but as she really examined his expression she saw that it was outraged. Now she was angry.
“Look, Chance, we’ve been talking for over two hours. I thought we were on our way to becoming friends, and then you acted like you didn’t want to be around me. What’s your problem? How in the hell did I manage to offend you? You are being completely unreasonable.” Josie realized her temper was starting to ramp up, something that she tried to avoid at all costs. But damn it, she had done nothing wrong and he was making no sense whatsoever.
“So you see me as your baby brother, is that it, Zee? I’m a foot taller than you.” As he looked down at her, his eyes seemed to glitter in the afternoon light.
“You’re four years younger than me,” Josie responded doggedly.
“I built a company and have already retired,” he responded with a smile.
“I practically raised two children,” she gritted out determinedly.
“I can do this.” The hand that had been resting against the door sifted into the hair at the back of her head, and he dipped down and pressed his lips against hers. This time he wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her body fully against his, so her tummy rested against his erection. Josie couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her lips, and it certainly wasn’t from pain. Chance angled her head and softly slid his tongue past her parted lips, and Josie reveled in the essence of him, immediately sucking his tongue deeper into her mouth, determined to soak in more of his heady flavor. He tasted of coffee, chocolate, and Chance. C, C, and C she thought dreamily. What a wonderful combination. Maybe that would be a new flavor she would try to imitate at the bakery. And that was her last conscious thought.
Chance caught her closer to his body, and she rubbed herself against him, damning the thickness of the corset that didn’t allow her to truly feel the wonder of his engorged cock. She couldn’t believe this beautiful man was so on fire for her. Then she realized he wasn’t really feeling the real her, he was feeling the fake her, the trussed up her who was two sizes thinner. No wonder he was hard for her. She might be wearing the oversized sweater, but he was feeling a slimmer version of who she was because of her bad back. Once again she was falsely advertising herself, and it was bound to bite her in the ass. Josie struggled out of his arms.
When she looked up at Chance, this time she saw confusion on his face. “Now I have to ask, what did I do wrong? I thought you were with me.”
“It’s too much, too soon.”
“Well, you have to at least agree that we’re not brother and sister, right?”
“I agree, we aren’t brother and sister. So does that mean we can be friends?”
“Can I convince you that we can start out as friends, with an eye toward being more than friends?” He stroked the back of his knuckles against her cheek, and Josie leaned into the caress.
“Chance, I don’t want to lead you on. I’m not the right kind of woman for you. I don’t want to jeopardize having a really long and strong friendship with you, so my answer has to be no.” Josie forced herself to draw away from the warmth of his fingers. She looked up into his beautiful blue eyes, knowing that she had a pleading look on her face, and she hoped he would take pity on her and agree. Obviously, he was important to Betty and Butch, and she didn’t want to have a quick fling with him, have him be disappointed in her, and then have it be awkward between them when they ended up together with their foster parents. She watched as he considered her request and was relieved when he smiled down at her.
“Okay, Zee, friends it is.” His hand swept down her arm, and he clasped her hand in a handshake.
“Thank you, Chance.” Josie was grateful, and if she felt a little bit of disappointment she tamped it down, pretending it didn’t exist.
“Let me walk you out to your car. It’s the least a friend would do.” He opened up the driver side door for her, and waited for her to get situated. His eyes narrowed when she took a little more time getting settled because her back gave her a bite of pain, but he didn’t mention it. Before she could reach for it, he had already grasped her seat belt and was buckling it around her. She looked up, wide-eyed.
“It’s the least a gentleman friend would do, Zee.” He tapped the end of her nose. “Drive safe. Do you know your way back to the harbor?” he asked as he straightened. Josie nodded.
“It was a pleasure seeing you again. I have to admit, I’m addicted to your treats! Expect to see me in your Sweet Dream real soon.” He stood up and closed her door.
All the way back to the bakery and the small apartment that was nestled over the shop, Josie thought about her time with Chance Reynolds. She couldn’t believe the man the boy had grown into—he was amazing. She found herself circling back to that kiss again and again. She’d been kissed by three other men in her life, and she had never felt anything close to the passion that Chance’s kiss had stirred. That man could kiss! But that was just an indication that he was totally out of her league. She had done the right thing by keeping them on the friendship track. The one and only time she had been intimate with a man had proved she wasn’t cut out for relationships, especially not one with someone who was so charming and handsome. She needed to find a man who was more on her level. With that in mind, Josie put Chance firmly out of her thoughts and let herself into her apartment over the bakery.
Chapter 3
Sam was less than thril
led to be attending the local yoga class. It wasn’t that he had anything against yoga. He knew that it was a powerful form of relaxation and exercise that would very likely help him in his recovery. Hell, all his doctors said as much. What bothered him was that when he signed up, there was not one other male name listed on the class roster. He knew he was going to feel very out of place. When he had told Chance, he had only laughed and said that he was looking at things from the wrong perspective. This was a golden opportunity to meet women. That was easy for Chance to say. He wasn’t thirty pounds underweight, plagued with migraines, and dealing with PTSD. Yeah, he was a perfect candidate for some woman looking for companionship. Hell, any woman that he might want to have even a casual hookup with would probably take one look at him and run the other way. Maybe he should just take that investment money and travel the world for a year. Yeah, that’d help your ass out, Booth! Now, suck it up like a good Marine, and get your ass into class.” Sam smiled at the rhyme.
Sam gripped the steering wheel of his truck and breathed in deeply, hoping for a migraine to come on so he would have an excuse not to go into the small building that contained the yoga studio. No such luck, his head wasn’t hurting, just really stiff shoulders, which is one of the reasons his doctor suggested this in the first place. He grabbed the towel and yoga mat from the passenger seat, got out of his truck, and headed toward the building. The evening air felt good against his T-shirt and sweat pants, and he was once again struck with the beauty of this part of the country. He was so glad that Chance had talked him into moving up here. Southern California definitely had its perks, but there was something soothing about the crisp air of the Northwest.
When he got to the classroom he was relieved to find he was the last one there, so he didn’t really have to figure out where to set up his mat. He had actually been worrying about that. Normally, he liked to take a place in the back of whatever classroom setting he was in. But in this case, he was worried that it would seem like he wanted to scope out all of the women. It turned out the only space available was the back corner, so the choice was made for him, and he got what he wanted. He nodded to the instructor, and the women he passed all smiled at him.
“Thank you all for coming tonight.” The instructor’s voice could easily be heard at the back of the room. It was very pleasant. Sam remembered her name was Julia and he had liked her when he signed up. “All of you are new to Fateful Yoga, so you asked to come to this evaluation session to determine which class would be right for you. We’re going to start with stretches, before we move on to poses. I know that some of you have never done any yoga, but are very athletic, so before signing you up for beginning yoga I wanted to bring you to this evaluation session. Let’s begin.”
Sam easily kept up with the stretches, but found that when they moved into some of the basic poses, he began to ache and burn. When Julia came over and said that his form was great, but asked how he was holding up, he was candid in his feedback. She said she would have been very surprised if he hadn’t felt a burning sensation, but was hoping that upon release he would feel more relaxed than when he started. Sam watched in appreciation as she moved up toward a woman he hadn’t noticed before. She wasn’t wearing the standard yoga gear. She had leggings on, but her T-shirt was at least four sizes too large, and came down almost to her knees. When Julia went over to her, Sam noticed that she was doing some of the poses in a modified version. However, she was executing these modified poses perfectly, an indication she had been doing yoga for some time, but with some restrictions in her flexibility that didn’t allow her to do the poses to their full extent.
Sam couldn’t really see anything but her pretty little feet and a mass of curly black hair that was pinned to the top of her head. Suddenly she laughed at something Julia said and his gut clenched. Julia moved on to another woman, and directed the class to do something called Child’s Pose. She explained what it was, and had the woman she was talking to demonstrate. Basically, you got on all fours, then put your head down on the floor, slid your arms forward, and rested your bottom down on your feet. When Sam peeked up at the others in the class to see if he was on track, he saw that the black haired beauty’s shirt had hiked up, exposing a gorgeous heart-shaped ass. It was at that very moment that Sam fell in love with yoga and decided what class he needed to take. It was whatever class she was going to be taking.
As he slipped his yoga mat into his truck, he tried to ignore the way his muscles felt like overcooked spaghetti. It was as if he had just done a ten-mile hike with a fifty-pound rucksack. It was crazy. He’d bluffed his way through with Julia, so she didn’t realize how much the yoga had kicked his ass. Now he was able to sign up for the intermediary class, the same class that Josie Decker had signed up for. He wasn’t sure why he was bothering. God knew he was a mess, but there was something refreshingly normal about feeling interested in a woman. Now if he could only bring himself to do something as normal as try to get close to her. This meant that he’d have to do a hell of a lot more physical therapy if he wanted to keep up in the class. But hell, his doctors had been pushing for him to do that anyway. Sam grinned all the way home.
Despite the fact that Sam had managed to position himself behind Josie at the next class, he wasn’t grinning. The intermediary class had him sweating like a dog in August. If not for the fact that he had made it through basic training, he wouldn’t have believed it possible he could endure the positions that Julia was currently demonstrating. It wasn’t the positions so much as holding them. The strain on his muscles was much more difficult that he had ever imagined. Then there was the added problem that Josie’s T-shirt kept riding up, revealing those mouth-watering thighs and ass. This scenic view was having a very pronounced effect on his body, which he was trying to hide as he moved into each position. God, he loved a full-figured woman. Josie’s body was perfect. He could grip her flesh, and sink his cock into her, and never leave. He had to figure out a way to talk to this woman, without coming on like a ravening idiot. Towering over her with a hard-on after yoga class didn’t seem like the best way to win her over. This was going to take a little bit of finesse, and that was something he had lost in the last couple of years.
Unfortunately Julia called him and a couple of the other women from the class over to the front desk after class. He was just happy that he was wearing a shirt that hung well over the front of his sweats.
“I just had two additional forms I forgot to have each of you fill out. I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Julia said apologetically.
“It’s not a problem,” Josie piped up, obviously trying to make Julia feel better.
“Yeah Julia, I could use a rest before trying to crawl out to my truck,” Sam said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
“Thanks, Josie. Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate your support.” Julia quickly took back the filled out forms. Sam was happy to see that Josie gave him a shy smile as she made her way out of the studio. It was good to see he still knew how to use humor, but the sad part was, it wasn’t all that funny, because he did need to almost crawl back to his truck.
Granted, he might not be at his best. Afghanistan and his injury, and the funk he had been in since being home had turned him into a surly asshole. The only people that put up with him were Betty, Butch, Chance, Leif, and Joshua. But, before all of that, he had been accomplished with the ladies. Sam smiled as he remembered the times he and Chance had spent dating half of the women of Southern California. Working as volunteer firefighters had been a surefire way to attract women. It was odd to consider how long he had been celibate, since in his twenties. Six weeks being without a woman would have been like a death sentence to either him or Chance. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Chance dating since he had arrived six months ago, which was pretty damn odd. Chance without a woman just wasn’t right. Sam shook his head. He really didn’t care. This was about him and Josie. He needed a plan. He started the truck and headed home. For the first time in a long time, Sam was really looking forw
ard to the days ahead.
Chapter 4
Josie felt like she was going to come out of her skin, she was so excited. She raced around the shop. It was in perfect order. Everything was precisely where it should be. She didn’t touch anything, because she didn’t want to make her one employee nervous, but when she looked up at the older woman her eyes twinkled. When Josie finally couldn’t help herself, she moved the two cakes in the front of the case a little to the right and the older woman laughed. Josie laughed with her.
“Josie, everything is perfect. This place has never looked better. I loved coming here when the Matushkas ran the place, but this is in a class of its own,” Elise assured her.
Josie looked over the space. The colors were spring green and blue, and they complimented all of the stainless steel and chrome fixtures. She turned the sign over to “open.” It was 6:00 a.m., the time people wanted their coffee and pastries, and she hoped to be the place to provide that. If they wanted a full breakfast, then she wouldn’t be taking away customers from the diner. If they just wanted their coffee, then she wouldn’t be taking away customers from the coffee shop. But for pastries, nobody would be able to beat her, she just knew it. Josie was gratified that, as she unlocked the door, two older men were waiting to come in.
“Well, young lady, we’ve been waiting for you to open. We’ve missed Matushka’s scones,” said the man with the beard. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
“Speak for yourself, Harvey. I missed his bear claws. What do you have to offer us?” Josie smiled at the second man as she made her way behind the counter.
“Actually, for the first few weeks, we’re setting out samples so you can decide what you want. There are scones, muffins, croissants, bagels, donuts, and cinnamon rolls to sample in the morning. In the afternoon we’ll have cookie, cake, and cupcake samples available.” Josie motioned them to the display of samples, expecting the men to try a few of each. They both homed into the cinnamon roll samples, and after trying them, they each purchased coffee and cinnamon rolls. That went on for the first hour and a half of the morning before Josie asked Elise what was going on.
Trusting Chance [Fate Harbor] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3
