Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Though I would not have appreciated it while I was kissing her after the movie, so I was grateful for that, and I sure as shit didn’t want to know anything about him while I was fucking her in her bed. And it was definitely my name and not his she was moaning when she came. But I do know he is something to her, I sense it.
The bigger question is what am I to her, since she introduced me as her “neighbor.” That’s true enough, and she and I have never defined our relationship. I have never felt the need before now to do so, but I’m not sure if I should push her on that just yet.
I’m lying in bed while Josie’s in her bathroom, doing her thing to get ready to go to sleep. She’ll come out in a T-shirt of mine that she nabbed a few days ago, but I sleep naked. I told her she’s sexy as hell in my shirt, but she was prohibited from wearing her panties in bed. She thought that was hilarious I’d demand such a thing, but every single night she comes to bed without them on.
Finally, the bathroom door opens, and for a moment she’s silhouetted. The T-shirt is baggy, but she’s still about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. As she walks toward the bed, she’s rubbing her hands together, presumably with lotion, and I can smell its scent before she hits the bed.
Cherries. Nice.
I flip the comforter and sheet back for her to crawl in, and because this has become second nature for both of us these last few weeks, she slides in and snuggles up against my side with her head to my shoulder. She slips an arm over my stomach and yawns.
“Tired?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I am,” she says softly.
“So, what exactly is Aiden to you?” I ask her, preferring to cut right to the chase since she clearly won’t bring it up.
Josie jolts and then sits up in the bed. I figure this is going to be one of those talks, so I lean over and turn the table lamp on. When I look back at her, she’s got guilt written all over her face.
Still, she tries to put me off. “Why would you think he’s anything to me?”
“Because he was staring at you like you were a nice, juicy piece of steak and he’d been without meat for a long damn time.”
Josie rolls her eyes at me and scoffs, “That’s ridiculous.”
And that is a little ridiculous. He didn’t look at her like that at all, but I wanted to see if it would provoke a reaction.
If I expected her to divulge all her secrets, I’d be left sorely wanting. She instead turns the tables on me. “Why? Are you jealous?”
“Of course not,” I say with a wave of my hand. “Why would I be?”
“That’s right,” she says with slightly narrowed eyes, taking a small measure of offense I’d even bring any of this up. “There’s no reason for you to be.”
“Because we have a good thing going here, right?” I press her.
“Damn right we do,” she says with a firm nod. “Friends with benefits to the end.”
“So,” I drawl. “If you were to go to lunch with this guy next week, that would just be as friends. With no benefits, right?”
Josie’s eyes narrow again until I can barely see her irises. “What kind of person do you think I am, Reed? That someone from my past will show up here out of the blue, ask me to lunch, and I’m going to fuck him after that?”
“No. But I can tell there’s something more to this guy than just someone you were in residency with.”
Josie just stares at me for a long moment, and I don’t let my return gaze falter. I can tell she’s calculating something inside her head, and it makes me uneasy that she has to take a moment before she can even tell me what’s on her mind. Finally, she lets out a long sigh followed up by a quick intake of breath, as if she’s trying to shore up her courage. “Aidan and I used to date.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I ask, because date can mean a lot of things.
“For three years. It was serious.”
“How serious?” I can feel my gut starting to tighten with a sense of foreboding.
Josie’s gaze drops down to my chest as she admits, “It was serious. We weren’t engaged, but we were talking about marriage. We were sort of practical, and I guess we both felt the need to discuss whether marriage would be viable before he took the step to propose to me.”
I can control the dryness in my voice. “How romantic.”
Josie’s head snaps up and her eyes are frosty. “What would you know about romance?”