Josiah lifted his gaze up to Susan, the
look of guilt shimmering in his eyes told her what she waited for him to
confirm. “Busted,” he said as he threw his hands up. “Look, it was all my idea.
Tess just facilitated it for me.”
“Mmmhmm. I know Tess well enough that if
she didn’t want to do something, then there wasn’t enough time in a day to convince
her to do it.” Susan shook her head, letting out a sigh. “Well, we might as
well eat since I’m already out of the office Tessa thinks I’m chained to.”
“Great, they’re holding a table for us,”
Josiah said as he pushed his arm out indicating for Susan to go before him. Susan
closed her eyes briefly as he placed his hand at the small of her back. She
wanted to push it away but the heat from his fingertips seeping through the
barrier of her cotton shirt felt too damn good to ask him to remove his fingers.
Instead, she enjoyed the feel of it and walked into Joe’s with Josiah at her
side. The smell of freshly cooked seafood, along with Joe’s famous crab
biscuits, bombarded her senses and suddenly she found herself famished.
“Thank you for the rose, by the way,”
she said as Josiah led her to a table in the far corner.
“You’re welcome,” he responded helping
her seat herself then lowered himself in his own chair.
Chapter 19
Susan pushed papers around on her desk
trying to look busy. Since her lunch with Josiah, she’d not been able to
concentrate on anything other than him. They’d talked briefly about the
incident with Erin as Susan didn’t feel much like spending her lunch break
talking about the woman. Josiah needed to clear the air, as he put it, and Susan
had decided that she’d avoided the conversation long enough. Hell, Rowan and
Cade had already moved on, so why shouldn’t her and Tessa. Well, Tessa was a
whole other story, but Susan really had no right to be angry with him or
begrudging. Actually, after they talked about it then dropped the subject,
Josiah promising never to bring up Erin’s name again in conversation, she’d had
a great time with him.
Josiah turned out to be not only a
gentleman, but had a great sense of humor. Susan found out that he was the
youngest of three kids, the only boy, and that he had always been extremely
close to his family. Susan made sure to avoid any talk of her own family; she
wasn’t yet ready to divulge the complications with her mother. When Josiah
revealed that he had spent time in Afghanistan, Susan had been shocked, to say
the least. Tessa had never told her anything about Josiah’s military life,
except that he was an ex-Marine. Or as Josiah quickly corrected, former Marine.
“Once a Marine, always a Marine. Hoorah!” He had said with all the seriousness
possible.
Damn, what she wouldn’t give to see him in his uniform
, she
thought, as the cursor on her laptop against the stark white empty page mocked
her. Instead of daydreaming about Josiah, she should be writing her next story.
Only problem…she had no idea what to write. Until the thought of Josiah at war,
patching up Marines and soldiers and in harm’s way, made her pause.
“Hey, boss, you got a minute?” She asked
Dominick as she peered into his office.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’ve got an idea for a story I want to
run by you. See what you think.”
Ten minutes later, Susan sat at her desk
and began to do an internet search on the effects of war on men, women, and
their families after someone has come home from doing their time in the midst
of fighting. Typically, she wouldn’t do a story like this, but when she thought
of Josiah in Afghanistan away from his family and then coming home and trying
to adjust, it peaked her interest. Hell, she might even be able to get him to
give her an interview. He had been so eager to talk about his time there, but
they’d had to cut the conversation short since her allotted lunch break had
come to an end. Staring at the results of her search, she grabbed her phone and
sent Josiah a text message to the number he’d given her when he’d walked her to
her car.
Would you like to meet for dinner
tonight?
Within moments he’d sent her a response:
I thought you’d never ask. Any time, any place.
Great. Seven, at Pasta and Pesto? It’s a
great Italian place.
I know it well. I’ll meet you there.
****
Josiah stepped out of the shower, ran a
towel over his chest then down to his abdomen, drying off as quickly as
possible. The time had gotten away from him since he’d taken a call from the
military shrink assigned to him upon his return to the states, around
five-thirty. He’d intended to make it quick, but the doc wanted to make for
certain that Josiah wasn’t having any signs of PTSD now that he was back home
and settling into the civilian life. Much to the doc’s surprise, and his own
really, Josiah was handling life outside the military just fine. Although he
did still need to make a decision about whether he planned to stay in
California and go into practice with Cade and Rowan or head home to Texas and
find something there. After today’s lunch, California was looking to be the
more appealing of the two. The time he spent with Susan this afternoon had been
enjoyable, and even if nothing developed between them romantically, she
definitely would be someone he could hang out with. The qualities he valued in
a woman, she held. She was funny, straight forward, honest, and she’d already
proven to him that loyalty to her friends and loved ones was one of her
strongest attributes. The beauty she possessed just made the package complete. Josiah
ran a towel over his hair, tossed it in the brown wicker clothes hamper in the
corner then dressed, leaving just in time to get to the restaurant to meet
Susan.
Josiah and Susan sat on the outside
patio of Pasta and Pesto, the cool air chasing away the heat of the day. They’d
just finished their dinner and were enjoying a glass of red wine, when Susan
dropped the bomb on him. She wanted to interview him for a story she’d been
contemplating about adjusting to life after war. The story didn’t really peak
his interest, he’d seen the likes of it done too many times from too many
angles, but when her face lit up as she told him her idea, he decided he
couldn’t turn her down. Although, he did inform her that he probably wasn’t the
best candidate for the interview since life had been a pretty easy transition
for him. The support of his family while he was gone and even upon his arrival
home had always kept him grounded and kept his mind where it needed to be. Coming
out to California and seeing his friends again only strengthened him and
cleared his mind putting his time in Afghanistan behind him as much as could be
left there.
“I need more than one point of view,”
she’d said. “People need to know that there are some that come back and
continue with ‘normal’ lives with the help of friends and family. They need to
know how important it is and what a difference a support group is to helping
those who’ve seen the gruesome effects and how it helps them cope.”
Josiah supposed she was right. Apparently
he’d just taken it for granted that he had such a great support system with his
family and found himself realizing that all the calls and talks from the shrink
would have been necessary if he hadn’t had that support. The waiter brought
over the bill, placing the black leather bill holder on the table, but before
Josiah could reach for it, Susan snatched it up.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Paying the bill,” she responded as she
tucked her credit card inside and gave it to the waiter before he got a chance to
leave.
“Hold on,” Josiah said to their waiter. “I’ll
be taking care of that.” The waiter stood dumbfounded as if he wasn’t sure if
he should leave or not. Susan waved her hand at him to encourage him along.
“I’ve got it. Plus, since I brought up
the article I can claim this as a working dinner and turn the receipt in for
reimbursement.”
“Smart girl,” Josiah winked.
“I have my moments.”
Yes you do
, Josiah
thought. And he’d like to see a few more of those moments. Not so much to
reveal her intelligence, he already knew what she had to offer there, but more
along the lines of her other assets, the ones she had covered up at the moment.
When the waiter returned and Susan signed off on the bill, she stood to leave
and Josiah followed after her. They walked to the parking lot, Josiah taking
his time as he listened while Susan continued on about the article she planned
to write, and him mentally kicking himself for meeting her at the restaurant
instead of picking her up. The night was ending entirely too early for his
liking. If he had driven the two of them then he’d be taking her home instead
of dragging his feet to draw out their time together, and who knows, maybe
staying for a night cap.
The headlights to Susan’s car flashed,
indicating that she’d unlocked it with the keyless remote and Josiah’s mind
went into overdrive. How could he get her to stay with him a little longer? Most
likely she wouldn’t be up for The Launchpad and a stop at a local coffee shop
might not sound too appealing either if coffee affected her the same way it did
him. He couldn’t drink the stuff at night or he’d be awake until the morning
hours. Opening the driver’s door with his left hand, his slid the fingertips of
his right hand down her spine to the dip in her back resting his hand just
slightly on her ass, smiling as he felt a shiver run through her body.
“Thank you for dinner,” he whispered
into her ear, a few strands of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail,
tickling his nose.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for joining
me.” Josiah smiled when he saw Susan swallow hard. They stood for several moments
without any words – Susan fiddling with her keys and avoiding any eye contact
with him.
“Are you up for a drink at The
Launchpad?” he blurted out, wishing like hell he could suck the words back into
his mouth and wishing he could think of a better place to take her. Wishing he
had a place of his own to take her because right in this moment he’d wanted
nothing more than to feel his body pressed to hers.
Susan shook her head, pinching her bottom
lip between her teeth as she continued to run her thumb over the length of her
key. Damn, that small gesture sent all the blood he had in his body to his
nether region causing his cock to grow hard. If he went home alone tonight,
he’d either be spending time in a cold shower or making friendly with his hand.
Neither of them appealed to him near as much as finding Susan lying naked
underneath him with his cock buried deep inside her wet core.
“I’ve gotta get up early tomorrow, so a
trip to The Launchpad is not a good idea,” her words bringing his focus away
from his cock and his attention on her. “Besides, I have no desire of taking a
chance on the possibility of running into Erin. She frequents that place so
often you’d think she worked there.”
“I guess you could say she does, right?”
Josiah laughed trying to shake off the image of him with Erin. That had been
one of those moments in his life that he wanted a do over on.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Susan reached for
the door handle then turned again to him. “If you’d like, we could just go to
my place for a drink. All I have is cheap beer, but it’s better than nothing, I
suppose.”
“I love cheap beer,” he said with a
grin. Honestly, he didn’t have any intention of drinking anything, unless it
was covering her body, or dripping from the heat between her legs.
Chapter 20
Josiah sat on the sofa in Susan’s
apartment while she went in the kitchen to grab a couple beers. The sounds
coming from the other room made him smile as he heard her rummaging through a
drawer.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” he
asked.
“Nope, got it,” she said as she
sauntered into the living room passing off a beer bottle to him and then
lowering herself next to him.
Josiah glanced at the label, Turquoise
Blue, unfamiliar with the brand or the maker. Taking a drink, he did his best
to swallow the liquid without spewing it out in front of him. The stuff was
bad, worse than anything he’d ever let slip past his lips, and how they got
away with labeling it as beer was beyond him. He was certain if he could see
himself he’d have the infamous bitter beer face. Unable to take another drink,
he placed the bottle on the coffee table and leaned back into the sofa with his
hands on his thighs and tried to wipe the sweat from his palms without her
noticing.
“I told you it was cheap,” Susan
shrugged.
“It’s okay. I’m not really all that
thirsty.”
Sitting like a ridiculous teenager on
his first date, Josiah’s mind played over a million different ways he could
approach kissing Susan. An arm resting on the back of the couch after a long drawn
out stretch was too obvious and too ridiculous to give it another thought; maybe
he could start out with just a hand on her knee, or even widen his legs a
little more so that they were touching.
Jesus Christ
, he thought.
What
was wrong with him?
Of all the women he’d been with who he just kissed and
bedded and he couldn’t make a move on Susan. As he sat and contemplated, Susan
downed the remaining of her beer.