No Regrets (17 page)

“Isn’t there someone who could come over to your place to take care of her? I think she’d do best staying at home.”

“Yeah. I know she would.” He sighed and sipped his water. “Poor little thing.”

“We’ll just be gone for four days. She’ll be okay. What about someone at your work? One of the technicians or something? They all know and love Lucy, don’t they?”

“Yeah. I just hate to impose…” He trailed off, and I could see the decision being made on his face. “I’ll ask around. Someone can probably do it.”

I smiled at him, strangely touched by the effort he had put into making this decision. “Thank you.”

He gave me an exaggerated frown. “I knew hooking up with you was going to be trouble.”

I laughed. “Well, you’re stuck with me now.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Our meals came fairly quickly and, after we ate, Josh ordered another beer and I got a cup of coffee.

When the drinks came, he surprised me by getting up and moving over to my side of the booth.

I blinked at him, scooting over to make room for him. “What are you doing?”

“Thought I’d get a better view from this side.”

“This side faces the wall.”

“I know.” Then he put his arm around me and started to kiss me.

I had no objections to the kiss, since it was clear he was in a good mood, now that the argument was resolved. But, after a minute, I pulled away, since I didn’t want to get too excited while we were in the restaurant.

“You moved into my side of the booth that first night too,” I said, leaning against his warm body, loving the feel of it.

“I remember. I think I was half-crazy about you even then. I’d never known anyone who could turn me on so easily.” He nuzzled my hair. “I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off you. Even if it meant dragging you into the bathroom.”

I laughed. “I still can’t believe I did that.”

“It was supposed to be a one-night stand, but I kept thinking about you afterwards. I even looked up your record on the computer at work to find out your information and phone number.”

“You did not!” I straightened up and stared at him in astonishment.

“I did,” he admitted, looking a little sheepish, but with a hot gleam in his eyes I was very familiar with. “Half a dozen times I pulled the number out and started to call you, but then I changed my mind.”

“Why did you change your mind?”

“I was worried that I wanted it so much. And I kept thinking that you’d get freaked out, if some random guy you spent the night with kept pursuing you.”

I leaned forward and pressed a kiss into his jaw. “You were never some random guy to me.”

“That’s good to know. But I didn’t know it then. I thought you were this smart, beautiful woman who’d just tried something new one night with me, and I was the one who couldn’t let it go. And then I saw you at the bar and couldn’t believe it. You have no idea how disappointed I was when you walked out of the bar, and I thought you’d decided against me.”

“I was scared. I didn’t do that kind of thing.”

“I know you didn’t.” He’d tightened his arm around me and was stroking my face and arm with his other hand. “Even that second night, I knew I was in too deep. But I wanted you so much I couldn’t pull back.”

“You always acted so cool and laidback. I had no idea you even cared that much whether we got together or not.”

“I cared.” He kissed me softly and said against my lips. “So much.
So
much.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “It was just a desperate mental scrabbling to pretend I was really safe, to pretend it was really no-strings.”

“I did a similar sort of mental scrabbling, I guess. It never once occurred to me that you could really fall for me.”

“I have no idea how I couldn’t fall, when you’re everything I want.”

So we kissed again after that, since I couldn’t be held back. We kissed a lot. Way too much to be appropriate in a restaurant, even in a corner booth as we were with our backs to the rest of the customers.

And then Josh’s free hand became even more inappropriate. I mean,
really
inappropriate. It was skating over my breasts and belly and skimming over my groin.

“Josh,” I said at last, when I became conscious that arousal was pulsing between my thighs. “We have really got to stop now.”

“Why do we have to stop?” he murmured in that sexy, textured voice he used when he was very turned on.

It always turned me on too.

“Because we’re in the restaurant. We can get our check and go home.”

“But good things might happen even here.” He was still speaking low, right in my ear. And now his hand slid down again, sliding under the waistband of my pants.

“Oh, my God, Josh, you can’t be serious,” I gasped, ducking my head against his shoulder as a wave of hot excitement and embarrassment overwhelmed me.

“I’m always serious. Do you want to?” His hand grew still, and I knew he was waiting for my agreement before he proceeded.

My heart hammered like crazy, but my pussy was aching like crazy too, and I heard myself saying, “Okay. If you say so.”

He slid his hand down even farther as I slouched a little in the booth. I was huddled up against his side, and I didn’t think anyone could see. But I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t
sure
. And that possibility seemed to intensify all of it.

“I do so say,” he murmured into my ear. “You’re going to come so hard for me. Right here. In front of all of these people.” He’d found my clit and began to massage it in fast circles.

I smothered a moan and felt a climax developing. I turned my head so I could bury my face in his shirt.

“That’s right, baby. Be careful or they’ll see, they’ll hear, how wild and gorgeous and sexy you are when you let go.” His voice, his touch, his body against mine, the danger of the location, and the security in his feelings for me all pushed me into orgasm before I could stop it.

“Not until I say so,” he warned.

“Oh, fuck, Josh, please.”

“Come now, then.”

I stifled my release in his shirt as I shook in tight little shudders, as the pleasure was set free. Then he slid his hand out of my pants and wrapped me in a hug.

“That was so beautiful,” he said, his mouth again at my ear.

“I can’t believe we just did that. Do you think anyone saw?”

I turned my head enough to look at the rest of the room, but no one was even glancing over at us.

It was so strange. That I’d just come so hard. And no one had any idea.

“But now we really have to get the check,” Josh said, in a different tone.

My mind was still fuzzy from the orgasm. “Why?”

“Because if we don’t get home soon, then I’m just going to fuck you, hard, right here in this booth.”

I laughed. And waved the server over to bring us our check.

***

A month after that, I was sitting on the floor of the bedroom in my pajamas, petting Lucy, who was lying in her dog bed.

Josh came out of the bathroom just then, wearing the pajama pants his mom had bought him for Christmas one year.

He looked at me and smiled.

I smiled back.

As I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash up, I asked him, “So what are we going to call this thing?”

He’d been leaning down to give Lucy a green chew, but he straightened up at my question. I squeezed toothpaste on my brush and came back to the doorway to look at him as he said, “It’s called a Greenie. Haven’t you seen them before? They’re good for the teeth, and they’re like crack for dogs. Seriously. They’re kind of expensive, but I figured I’d try to see if it would keep Lucy occupied for a while when we go to bed.”

Lucy had gotten in the habit of coming over and sticking her nose up over the side of the mattress to investigate certain kinds of activities that happened in the bed, and it was rather distracting.

I stared at him in confusion, with my toothbrush in my hand, until I realized how he’d misunderstood me. With a choke of laughter, I explained, “Not that.
This
.” I motioned between us and the bed, hoping he’d get the point. “If I’m going to move in with you, I need to know what to call you. Boyfriend? Partner? What? I’ve been calling you ‘the guy I’m seeing’ to my friends, but it’s honestly a little clunky.” I put the toothbrush in my mouth and started to brush.

“Oh.” He gave me a little smile. Glanced down at the floor and then back up at me. “Well, I’d prefer for you to call me the love of your life, but I know that might be pushing things. You can wait a little longer to call me that, if it’s too soon.”

“Love?” I gasped, almost strangling on the toothpaste. “Love of your life?”

It sounded more like “yuff of yo yife,” since I was talking around the toothbrush, but he must have understood it anyway.

He was holding back even more of a smile now. “Well, what I actually said that
you
were supposed to call
me
the love of your life, but I guess it’s only fair if it goes both ways.”

“You love me?”

That one was closer to, “Yo yuff me?” since I still had the damned toothbrush in my mouth.

“Yes, of course. Didn’t I tell you that before?”

He knew very well he hadn’t told me anything of the kind before. I hurriedly spit out the toothpaste and rinsed the brush and ran over to him, grabbing onto his shoulders. “Is it true? You really love me?”

“Yeah. I do.” He looked down and back up again. “I love you so much it terrifies me. I love you so much that sometimes, when I think about it, it hurts me. Physically. Here.” He put a hand on his chest, and then moved it up to tangle his fingers into my hair. “I love you so much I can’t imagine ever waking up without you. I love you more than I thought it was possible to love someone. I love you, Leslie.” His voice had gotten just a little hoarse. “And I guess I’m hoping that maybe you love me too.”

“Of course, I love you too.” I launched myself at him in a hug, and he swung me around, holding me tightly, so tightly I thought my ribs might crack.

“That’s settled then,” I said into his chest. Then I looked up and grinned at him, overflowing with a joy that was closer to awe.

“I guess so.” He smiled down, his eyes so tender I could hardly understand they were looking at me. “It’s like watching the sun come out from behind the clouds,” he murmured.

“What is?”

“You. When you let yourself out, when all the passion inside you bursts out from your quiet composure. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like when your hair suddenly flames out in red when the light hits it. That’s you. All of you. Flaming out. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Oh.” I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. “I was just happy.”

“That’s what’s so beautiful. It’s like this promise that there’s more in the world than we can see on the surface. You’re that promise. For me.”

There was no holding me back after that. I pulled him down to kiss me, giving expression to everything I was feeling.

When I finally pulled away, I felt like I might melt from pure emotion. A little ironic voice in my head was laughing at the earnestness, so I quirked my lips. “All right. We love each other. That's settled. Do you think now we can make a joke or have sex or something?”

Josh laughed warmly and curled his hand around the curve of my head. “I thought
I
was the one who had trouble talking about his feelings.”

“You are. But you’re making great improvements. Just don’t go too far and start writing me sappy poems.”

He burst into laughter, and the sound was so warm and real that I wanted to hug myself with delight. Instead, I pushed him back toward the bed until the back of his legs met the frame and he tumbled backwards.

Then I moved over him. “So did you want to make a joke or something?” I asked in my most sexy voice.

Josh’s eyes ignited, and he slid his hands down my sides until he was cupping my butt. “I thought sex was the better suggestion of the two.” His eyes trailed from my face to the neckline of my tank and then down to the curve of my hips.

“All right,” I whispered, leaning down until my breasts were brushing against his chest. “Sex it is. Anything to break the sappiness.”

We undressed each other slowly, and when we were both naked, I propped myself up over him again.

I lowered my face to his neck and nipped at the pulse in his throat. He growled in a way that was absolutely thrilling, and his fingers teased up my body until they found my nipples. I continued to kiss and stroke him while he fondled my nipples, and it wasn’t long before I was shamelessly grinding my growing arousal against his hip.

He pulled my head up from his throat so that he could kiss me, and I adjusted my body accordingly, swinging a leg over so I was straddling his belly. We kissed deeply and rubbed against each other for a few minutes, until Josh was making little grunts of frustration and I was whimpering into his mouth.

Pulling my mouth away from his temporarily, I raised my body until I could find his hard cock with my hand. I adjusted our bodies until his erection was resting against his belly, and then I lowered myself and slowly rubbed my groin along his hard length, kissing him hungrily again.