Just a Summer Fling (17 page)

He trailed one finger down the soft skin between her breasts, then flattened his hand over her rib cage. She arched her back, pressing up into him invitingly, but he just grinned at her. He’d be a little late starting work that day, and that was just fine. He’d have plenty of time to make up for that later, after she was gone.

He pushed himself up onto his knees, hovering over her, the hardness jutting out of his sweatpants so close to its ultimate target but separated by layers of fabric. She was staring at him; not his face, but lower, and he dipped his fingers beneath his waistband and wrapped his hand around himself. She licked her lips unconsciously, then grinned at him and raised her eyebrows.

“Got anything I could help you with?” Her voice was husky, and this time when she licked her bottom lip, then bit it, he knew she was doing it on purpose.

“I can take care of it,” he said casually, running his fist along his hard length to demonstrate.

“You had better not, you asshole!” She was laughing, her eyes dancing, her breasts jiggling just right as her chest moved. He couldn’t tease this woman for long; he didn’t have the self-control.

So he leaned down and kissed her, ground his hips down to meet hers, and he wasn’t sure which of them was moaning and which was gasping, but he was pretty sure it didn’t matter. He slid a hand under the quilt and found his target, then kissed her as her body responded.

The early morning sun streamed into the room, Daisy the Demon Dog flopped to the floor beside the bed, disgusted at her humans for apparently planning to waste even more of their time indoors, and Josh knew things would never be better than they were right at that moment. If he’d been able to freeze time, he would have done it.

But he couldn’t, and Ashley seemed completely unaware of how fragile their happiness was. She leaned up to him, murmured encouragement and dares and threats into his ear, kissed him until he couldn’t think, couldn’t control himself, couldn’t resist the temptation to strip down the covers and let her roll over on top of him.

“Condom,” she ordered. “Right now.”

Obedience was a virtue. And there was something hot about having her arms restrained behind her back and her still being in charge and bossing him around. So he found the condom and she sank down onto him with a satisfied moan.

“Perfect,” she whispered as she started to move, and he looked up at her, and he absolutely agreed.

Eighteen

ASHLEY LEFT HER
sweater in Josh’s bedroom. It wasn’t deliberate, exactly, but it wasn’t accidental, either. She liked the idea of establishing a beachhead, making it clear that the full invasion into his life and home would soon follow. But he frowned at her as she was heading out the kitchen door, jogged down the hall, and came back with the garment in his hand.

“Oh,” she said. “Thanks.”

He nodded an acknowledgment, but didn’t say anything. They were quiet as they walked to his truck. Ashley clambered into the passenger seat, shut the door, and looked out at the property. The horses had come down to the front of their pasture and were watching the humans, and Daisy was sitting near them. They felt like an audience, but Ashley wasn’t sure just what kind of show they were going to see. “Uh, Josh . . . I didn’t want to tell you last night. I don’t really want to tell you now, but I guess I have to.”

He stared at her for a moment, then said, “You’re going back to L.A. with Charlotte?”

“What? No. No, it’s not about me, really. Well, a little bit about me, but mostly . . .” She sighed. She wasn’t going to be able to sneak up on this, wasn’t going to find any magic words that would make it all okay. “Last night when my manager called, it was to warn me that somebody sold some pictures to a gossip site on the Internet. Pictures of . . .” Damn it. She didn’t want to do it. But he needed to be warned. “Pictures of you. And David McArthur. At The Splash. And I guess whoever sold the pictures gave a pretty good idea of why David was hitting you.”

He stared at her. “On the Internet?” He didn’t sound upset, exactly. More stunned.

“Yeah. On a gossip site. A pretty popular one.”

He kept staring, then asked, “Why? Why the hell would anyone care?”

“Because the McArthurs are big players in Hollywood.” She didn’t want to add to that, but she made herself say, “And because you’ve been seen with me. I guess they got a shot of us driving out of The Splash parking lot. Maybe a few other shots. I don’t know.”

His nod was too jerky, too forced. “Okay,” he said.

“I’m so sorry—”

“It’s not your fault,” he said. His voice was louder than it needed to be, but he quieted it before he added, “I’m the one who made the mistake. Not you.”

“But the mistake is being publicized because of me—”

“Not your fault,” he repeated, and he turned on the engine and drove just a little too fast down the driveway.

Ashley had no idea what to say. She didn’t think he was ready to joke it off, and she doubted he’d appreciate any sage advice about how the first time in the gossip-go-round was the worst and it would only get better from there. But changing
the topic felt fake. So they drove in silence until they pulled up in front of the lake house. Charlotte and Kevin were on the porch, and it was clear from their cautious expressions that they’d already heard the news.

Josh’s smile looked forced as he turned to her and said, “It’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it.”

She knew he was lying, but didn’t think there was any point in calling him on it. She wanted to lean over for a good-bye kiss, not worrying about their little audience, but something about the way Josh was holding himself made her wonder if he’d push her away. She didn’t think she was brave enough to take that chance, so she pushed her door open and slid down to the ground. “You want to come over for dinner?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. Business might be . . . Things might be a bit hectic today. You know. Tidying up, trying to contain the damage. I might end up working late.”

“Call me,” she said. She supposed she was a cliché, the desperate girl trying to hold on to a man who just wanted to escape, but she could remember his gentle touch, his sweet smile, and she knew he was worth sacrificing a little pride. “Whatever time you finish work. Even if you don’t want to come by, just . . . call me. Okay?”

He nodded, then turned to look at her and his expression slowly softened. “Yeah. Okay.” He leaned over then, and she stretched back into the cab and the angle was awkward and impossible but the kiss was still sweet. “I’ll call.”

It was all she could ask for, so she made herself pull away and then watched as he backed up and drove off. It shouldn’t have felt like such a final departure.

She waited a bit to make sure he wasn’t going to turn around, then groaned in frustration, stalking up the stairs to the porch and sprawling onto one of the padded wooden chairs. “What a mess,” she said.

Kevin grinned at her. “Yeah, that’s how people tend to react after spending too much time with Joshy. He’s a pain in the ass, huh?”

“He’s lovely,” she countered. “None of this is his fault.”

Kevin looked at her skeptically. “Really? You don’t think so?”

“None of the publicity is his fault. And the rest of it? Josh wasn’t cheating on anyone. It maybe wasn’t totally honorable, but I know how Jasmine is. She can make you do the stupidest things.”

“Interesting to hear you defend him like that,” Charlotte said. “You sound very . . . enthusiastic about him.”

Ashley snorted. “You’re acting like you’re some sort of genius because you’ve noticed I’m crazy about him? I’ve been telling you that since you got here! I’ve been practically broadcasting it to the whole state for half the summer! You noticing that I’ve got a thing for Josh Sullivan is not evidence of you having super-psychologist powers.”

“You’ve had a thing for the
idea
of Josh Sullivan for half the summer,” Charlotte said. “But you haven’t actually spent much time with him until recently. I was wondering how the real thing was going to compare to the fantasy. But apparently physical Josh is just as good as dream Josh?”

“Better,” Ashley said with a meaningful look at her friend. “That man can do things—”

Kevin threw up his hands. “No! Okay, no. If you guys are going to have a conversation about the things my cousin can do, when you’re using that tone of voice? I do not need to hear it.”

Ashley ignored him. “I swear his tongue is, like, prehensile . . .”

Kevin looked disgusted, then confused. “Wait. Prehensile. What does that even mean?”

“Go look it up, babe.” Charlotte patted Kevin’s shoulder and eased by him, crossing the room to take Ashley’s hand
and pull her toward the living room. “And take your time. We have some girl talk to do.”

Kevin squinted at them. “Seriously? This is—you’re going to talk about—while I’m
right here
?”

“You can go inside if you want,” Charlotte said generously.

“I have to go inside or I’ll hear about my cousin’s tongue?”

Ashley pulled her legs under her and curled up in the corner of the big chair. “You’re going to hear about a lot more than just that if you stick around,” she warned.

“I’m going!”

And he did. They sat quietly for a while, then Charlotte said, “This is what Adam called you about last night? He said it was really important, so I was hoping . . . well, when I saw the Internet this morning I figured out what it was probably about. But last night I was hoping you got an audition for the Western.”

“No,” Ashley said. The movie seemed strangely distant. Still something she wanted; something she wanted more than anything. But she’d somehow managed to almost forget about it over the last couple of days. “I don’t know if they’ve even set up auditions yet.”

“They have,” Charlotte said quietly.

Ashley frowned. “They have? Who’d you hear about it from?”

Charlotte made a face before admitting, “My agent. That’s what I’m flying down for. They’re going to let me read for both parts.”

Ashley let herself feel the disappointment, but not for too long. As soon as she could be sure it would be honest she said, “That’s great, Char. I’m really happy for you.”

“I didn’t want to tell you.” Charlotte looked miserable. “It makes no sense, them looking at me and not you! I’ll tell them how great you are, okay?”

“Oh my God, Charlotte, don’t be stupid! This is the
business! We both know how it works. You win some, you lose some.” Ashley was pretty sure that if she said it often enough she’d remember that it was true. “We need to focus on getting you ready! Did they tell you what scene they want you to do? Are you reading with someone else, or on your own?”

“You’re really okay with this?”

“I’m a tiny bit jealous and a big bit disappointed, but mostly I’m happy for you, Char. Really.”

Charlotte exhaled a breath she’d clearly been holding for too long. “And you don’t mind working with me a bit more? Until I have to leave, you’re okay working on the script a bit more?”

“Of course. I want to.” It was mostly true. And hopefully the part that wasn’t true would go away if Ashley just ignored it hard enough.

*   *   *

JOSH
was at the Washburns’ when he got his first taste of life after pissing off David McArthur. Larry Washburn didn’t seem apologetic, exactly, but there was something hopeful about the way he said, “You understand, right? I mean, I’ve done a bit of business with David McArthur and I’m hoping to do a lot more. It just—it really wouldn’t look good.” He forced a smile and added, “And from the way my wife’s been looking at you ever since you started, I think maybe I’d feel safer with a little distance, too!”

It was supposed to be a joke, but it wasn’t funny. Not to Josh. Hard to be offended by it, though, given that he’d earned the reputation fair and square. Just because he’d reformed didn’t mean everyone was supposed to just forget what he’d done in the past. So he forced his own smile in return and said, “Do you want me to finish up this job?” He was repairing the rustic lattice around the base of the Washburn deck, so it wasn’t exactly an emergency job, and he
wasn’t too surprised when Larry made a face and said, “I guess not. You’ve already bought the materials, right? If you could just leave those under the deck. And bill us for them, of course! And then when we find someone new he can just take over where you left off.” Larry looked down toward the lake, then cut his eyes back to Josh’s and quickly asked, “I don’t suppose you could recommend anyone, could you? Anyone looking for work?”

Josh thought about recommending someone he knew would overbill and do poor work, but he managed to resist the temptation. “Everyone’s pretty busy at this time of year,” he said instead.

He gathered his tools and drove away, wondering whether Larry would actually pay the bill he’d urged Josh to send. It was hard enough getting money out of summer people when Josh could threaten to withhold his services until he was paid. If they didn’t
want
his services anymore, he’d lost a pretty valuable bargaining chip. But he’d worry about that when the time came.

The next project on his list was tiny, just trimming some branches away from a short path in the Balfours’ backyard. It wasn’t easy with his sore hand and aching shoulders, but at least he got through it without seeing the homeowners. He was pretty sure they were back in the city, so he probably wouldn’t be technically fired from the job until they got back up to the lake and heard the gossip.

Or maybe they’d read about it on the damn Internet. He’d forgotten all about that. He pulled out his phone and thought about searching for the gossip site, but then shoved the phone back in the glove box and resolved not to worry about things that were out of his control.

Which was a pretty good philosophy, considering just how much of his life seemed to be out of control just then. He made it to the next site and had barely got the truck door
open before the man of the house was running outside and waving his arms to stop Josh from going any farther.

He spent most of his morning driving around and getting fired, and only completed one billable hour of work. Then he went into town for lunch and everything was just as bad.

It started with the staring. He’d more or less expected that, and had even considered driving back out to the house and finding something to eat in his cupboards, but there wasn’t much food there, town was closer, and he’d be damned if he’d hide. He wasn’t really sure which of those reasons was the most significant.

The bell over the door at Abi’s café felt like a trumpet signaling the beginning of a play, and Josh was stuck with a starring role. He tried to ignore the other players, focusing his attention on the feet of the person in front of him as they waited, but the audience demanded a show.