Just when I thought I might have the strength to get out, Josh pulled me back in.
We’d played games at Sloan’s until almost midnight. Sloan forced Josh and me to be on the same team. We destroyed her and Brandon at charades.
By the time Josh and I left together, a half an hour ago, we were back to our old prehookup selves, laughing and joking. All the weirdness was gone. I’d just brushed my teeth and changed into shorts and a tank top for bed when he knocked on my bedroom door. When I opened it, the crooked
smile on his face told me immediately that male trickery was afoot. “Joshua. What can I help you with?”
He stood there in a white T-shirt and gray flannel pajama bottoms. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” He grinned mischievously.
“What?” His masculine cedar scent mixed with the mint from his toothpaste and teased me from the doorway. It was intoxicating.
I tried to hold my breath.
“Do you have problems with your periods?”
The question took me so by surprise I immediately thought Sloan had said something to Brandon and he’d told Josh. But he went on before I could ask.
“Because they’ve done studies that show sleeping next to a man every night can regulate your period. Did you know that? Now, I’m pretty busy,” he said, looking down the hall and then back at me, his dimples popping.
“But I think I can offer you my services tonight in exchange for not having to sleep on your futon.”
I stifled a smile. “This sleepover was your idea. You knew you’d be in the guest room.”
He made a show of straining to look around me into my room. “Hmm. Can I check your smoke alarm?” He leaned in the door frame and crossed his arms in that way that pushed out his biceps and made his chest press against his shirt.
My ovaries swooned. Damn, it was too bad I was spotting. I’d drag him right to bed and cash in on this friends-with-benefits deal if I wasn’t.
I put an arm across the door and fought the urge to smile, pressing my lips into a line. “My smoke alarm is fine.”
“Can I have the dog?”
I scoffed. “Why the fuck would I give you my dog?” “So I won’t be lonely.” He gave me a mock sad face. “Well then I’ll be lonely.”
“You can solve everyone’s problems by just letting me in. If you turn me away, I’m just going to come back doing the naked man,” he said seriously.
I snorted. Heaven help me if he came back with the naked man. I was in no way strong enough to turn away a naked Josh.
“I’m spotting.” I reminded him, hoping that would shut him down.
Tyler wouldn’t come near me with a ten-foot pole if I was bleeding. I’d had to be pretty creative to keep our sex life satisfying when his leaves fell within my three-week-period window.
His eyebrows shot up. “Spotting only?” “Yeah.”
He crashed into me, arms around my waist, lips right into my neck. “I don’t care about spotting,” he whispered, kissing under my ear.
His sudden proximity knocked the emotional wind out of me. “I care,” I breathed, hands on his chest.
Do I? I do, right?
“Well, stop,” he said huskily, smiling into my neck.
He backed me into the bed, his strong arm guiding me down. When he slid over me, I was hypnotized. Rendered completely helpless.
And he wasn’t lying about the spotting. He really didn’t care.
* * *
I woke up the next morning naked with my cheek stuck to Josh’s bare chest. I lay there for a moment, the light cracking through my blinds, listening to the sound of his steady heart beating.
I wanted to give myself another few moments of happiness before I had to kick him out of my bed and pretend I didn’t care whether he was there or not.
He stirred and I closed my eyes and pretended I was still asleep. His body shifted like he was looking down on me, and I heard his heart pick up a little. I knew if I looked up, he would smile and I could kiss him good morning.
But I wouldn’t. Because that’s not what fuck buddies do.
Lips gently touched the top of my head, and his arms tightened around me. It was sweet and tender.
And a bad sign.
He said he could handle this, that the sex-only thing was okay for him. But I’d have to keep an eye on him, end it if I thought he was getting too attached.
My stomach growled. I wondered what time it was. There was a cafe that—
I bolted upright. “What day is it?” I looked desperately for my phone. Josh propped himself up on his elbows and looked at me, his hair messy.
“March eighth. Tuesday. Why?”
I found my phone on the charger: 10:13 a.m. “Shit!”
I swung my legs out of the bed and crashed painfully into the nightstand with my hip, stilling the wobble with my hands. I scooped up Stuntman from the end of the bed and pushed him out the sliding glass door before running to the bathroom.
Oh my God, how could I forget?
I had no Tyler, just-fucked hair and my naked carpenter in my bedroom with less than twenty minutes to get my shit together. One hand jammed my toothbrush in my mouth while the other one turned on the shower. I got in before the water had a chance to warm up and brushed my teeth while I wet my hair in the frigid stream.
The shower door slid open and Josh got in next to me. “Whoa, this is
freezing.”
I spit into the drain. “This is not your shower. Get out.”
He laughed, grabbing the soap. “I have to use a separate shower now? You don’t even let your poor exhausted fuck buddy clean up after he spends the night servicing you?” He lathered his chest, grinning at me.
Normally, Josh naked in my shower would be the realization of a long- running fantasy, but this morning he was just taking up room where I could be hurriedly shaving my legs.
“What’s the rush, anyway?” he asked.
I bent down to grab my shampoo and bumped his thigh with my forehead. When I came back up, he was smirking at me.
“My mom. I have brunch with my mom,” I said, scrubbing my hair frantically. “I forgot. She’ll be here in fifteen minutes. She thinks Tyler is coming with me. She doesn’t know we broke up.”
I snatched the soap from him, rinsing my hair while I washed my body. This was a nightmare. A fucking nightmare. “Josh, you need to be in the garage when she gets here.”
“I can’t meet your mom?”
“No.” Dear God, no. Hi, Mom, Tyler and I broke up, but here’s my fuck buddy, Josh. Isn’t he cute? Lord help me.
My hands were actually shaking from the adrenaline.
“I’m getting pretty cold over here,” he said, slipping his hands around my waist from behind and kissing the side of my neck.
I wiggled. “Josh, I don’t have time for this. I told you this wasn’t your shower.”
“Okay, okay.” He let go of me with a laugh. He wouldn’t be laughing if he knew Evelyn.
“You sure I can’t meet her? I’m good with moms,” he said, while I smacked conditioner in my hair.
“No. You can’t meet her. Just…” I viciously scrubbed my face and rinsed, doing a quick spin to get the soap and conditioner off. Then I jumped out, grabbing the closest towel. “Just don’t come out. And don’t let Stuntman back in the house either. He hates her worse than he hates Tyler.”
I tripped all over the bathroom, plugging in my hair dryer, slapping on lotion, putting on mascara. Josh got out and went into the bedroom to get dressed.
Ten minutes. I had ten minutes. If my hair was wet, she’d know I had forgotten. She’d be worse if she knew I’d forgotten.
Ugh. She was going to give me so much grief about Tyler. Well, it was only a matter of time. Or maybe, You ruin all the good things in your life. Whatever it was, it would be tinged with disappointment and judgment and I didn’t have enough warning to get into the right headspace to deal with her.
I’d been so distracted, and Tyler was the one who’d saved the date in his calendar. And of course she wouldn’t call me to confirm or let me know she was on her way like a normal person. She’d prefer it if I fucked up and got the date wrong or forgot. I turned on my hair dryer.
Dry faster, dry faster! Damn it, why did I even wash it?!
At 10:29 I came out of my room, ready to answer the door. She was never late. She’d be here exactly at 10:30. But when I came down the hallway, putting in my earring, Mom was already in the living room.
Talking to Josh.
