Redemption (Forgiven Series) (5 page)

“He’s not coming. We broke up yesterday.” My tone made it clear I didn’t want to talk about it right now.

Right then, Angie walked up. “Oh, Lauren, that sucks. He didn’t deserve you anyway,” she said with a wink.

Emily must have told her. I pulled her into a hug. “Happy Birthday. Tonight is your night so don’t worry about me,” I whispered in her ear.

She pulled back to look at me. “This night is special because my friends are here, and I never stop worrying about my friends.” Angie was one of those people that just cared about everyone around her. As long as they were happy, so was she.

Angie turned to look at Jillian and Heather, “Okay, so how did you keep Em from blowing the surprise? We all know what she’s like with secrets.”

“Hey now, I’m not that bad,” Emily chimed in walking with Caleb to stand next to Angie.

“Yes you are,” we said in unison.

“Bite me,” Emily snapped, but then started to laugh. It was good to see Emily acting more like herself.

We all joined in the laughter. Angie hugged everyone else in the group and thanked them for coming.

“Thank you so much for coming.” Tears glistened in her eyes again.

Caleb put his arm around her. “Baby, if you keep this up, you are going to end up spending your whole party in tears,” he said kissing her on the temple. “Now, let’s go get the birthday girl her first legal drink.”

Caleb guided Angie to the open bar, while the rest of us waited for them to come back. Even with the conversation going on around me, I found myself looking for Josh. The two drinks I had had dulled my nerves a bit and I wanted to talk to him.

Over the next few hours I saw him talking to different people but our paths didn’t cross. Surrounded by Emily, Angie, Andrew, Nick, and Caleb’s parents, I decided to look for him again.

I’d noticed him head in Caleb’s direction a few minutes ago so I directed my gaze that way. Suddenly he turned and headed in my direction, a smirk on his face that told me he’d caught me looking, I felt the blush spread across my face so I turned and pretended to be absorbed the conversation going on around me.

When Josh walked up, he spoke to Emily first, ignoring everyone else in the group. “Hey, Em, having fun?”

She looked over at him. “Absolutely! This night couldn’t have turned out any better.”

I guessed that was because she and Andrew were talking again. I watched him look at Emily, turn his head to look at me, and then back to Emily. What was that? She must’ve realized he was waiting for her to introduce us. Thank God, because I’d been about to do the same thing, especially since we talked about it earlier. At least now I’d calmed down.

“Oh, sorry. Josh this is Lauren Pierce, a friend of ours. Lauren, this Josh Walker, Caleb’s roommate and best friend,” Emily said pointing at each of us in turn.

He smiled at me and reached out his hand for me to shake. “Nice to meet you,
Lauren
.”

This time I
really
looked at him and oh holy hell was he hot. He was over six foot and muscular. I guessed he was on the football team and it definitely showed in his build. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Then I realized he was just watching me because I hadn’t said anything back. I took a deep breath and said, “Likewise,
Josh
.”

Emily and Angie talked about all of the work the professor had assigned for our class. I was trying so hard to concentrate but I couldn’t, not with Josh standing right next to me. I felt the tension between us, and it had me considering things I normally wouldn’t. If I wanted Josh it would only be one night, but for someone as sexy as him, I might be willing to do it… literally.

Caleb came up and asked Angie to dance with him. I watched him lead her to the dance floor, when Josh turned to me and asked, “Would you like to dance?”

Shit, dance with him? I would get to be even closer to all of that male perfection? Abso-freaking-lutely! I smiled up at him, nervous, but excited at the same time, “Sure.”

He took my hand and led me out to the dance floor. Josh turned and pulled me in against his chest. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and wrapped my arms around his neck and began to move with him to the music. Josh was a fantastic dancer and I was so excited to have him this close to me. I could feel the heat of his body against mine and though there was barely an inch between us, I wanted to be so much closer.

The song ended and he kept his arms wrapped around me. Not that I minded, because there was no way I was going to complain about dancing with him. The next song was much slower and he pulled me in tighter, which was just fine with me. As we moved to the music I felt his breath on my neck. The air was hot but it left goose bumps on my skin and I shivered. At only five foot seven, he was much taller than me, but the heels I’d chosen for this dress put me at just the right height.

His nose skimmed my ear. “You smell amazing,” he whispered and I gasped. His words set my body alight. He moved back and looked me in the eye. The fires burning in their brown depths made me realize that he was feeling the same thing. Without a word he pulled me back to him and we continued dancing.

When the DJ lowered the music, it pulled me out of the spell that was Josh Walker, but I was confused as to what was happening. Josh had stopped dancing and I turned to see what he was looking at. Caleb was down on one knee with an engagement ring in his hand. I covered my mouth with my hand. How romantic. Seeing Emily across the way with the same look on her face and the tears glistening in her eyes, caused the ones in mine to slowly slide down my cheeks.

I looked back to Caleb and Angie. He pulled the ring from its box and held it out to her. “Angelina Powers, will you marry me?”

The tears were streaming down her face, as her smile slowly broke through. “Yes, Caleb. Yes, I will marry you.”

The DJ turned the music back up, but the cheering around us was louder. I was so happy for them. I hoped someday to find someone to love me as much as Caleb loved Angie, but right now I would take one night with Mr. Hottie next to me.

Josh held out his hand so we could continue dancing. I quickly took it and moved myself back into his body before looking up at him and admitting, “That was the most romantic thing I have ever seen.”

He laughed. “It better be, he’s been planning it for forever. He started freaking out more, the closer we got to tonight.”

“They deserve to be happy,” I smiled.

We danced through the end of the song while everyone else rushed off the dance floor to offer their congratulations to the happy couple. Caleb’s mom was crying, and so were Emily and Angie. Josh stood back and watched it all with my hand in his. Angie looked up at Josh and started to make her way over.

She walked up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Caleb stood off to the side. Letting go of my hand, he put his arm around her. “Thank you so much for everything,” she sniffed.

“Always, Angie,” he promised looking down into her eyes. “I want you guys to be happy. Caleb’s like my brother and I can’t imagine a woman any more perfect for him than you,” he said solemnly.

The tears started again. “Caleb couldn’t ask for a better friend than you.” She leaned in to whisper the rest in his ear. A look of disbelief crossed his face, when Angie pulled back. “You deserve to be happy too,” she told him.

He shook his head. “You never give up do you?”

“Never,” she said ruefully.

Caleb walked over with his hand outstretched. “Can I have my fiancée back now?”

I smiled at that, but Angie exclaimed, “I love the way that sounds.” She threw herself into Caleb’s arms and kissed him. When she turned back around her face was flushed.

I gave her a hug. “Congratulations, I am so happy for you.”

She hugged me back. “Thank you, I couldn’t be any happier than right now.” When she let go I could see the biggest smile on her face. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her this happy.

I held my hand out to her. “Well, let’s see that ring.”

She put her left hand in mine. The ring was gorgeous. A square diamond, it must have been more than a carat in size, and had smaller diamonds about halfway down on each size of the band. I looked up to Caleb. “This is gorgeous! Caleb, you did good!”

Caleb smiled. “Thanks, Lauren.”

Emily came over a second later, practically bouncing up and down. “I’m just so excited. Can I borrow you two so I can get some pictures?”

Caleb and Angie agreed, leaving me alone with Josh once again. He turned to me with a smile and asked, “You wanna dance again?”

How could I resist that smile? “Absolutely,” I replied. I knew I sounded a little too eager but with my nerves settled I didn’t care. I might actually get to go home with him… something that I was seriously considering.

Song after song flowed and we danced for a little while longer before making our way back to the bar.

The party was winding down, and Angie and Caleb said their goodbyes before heading up to their room. Even though it was Angie’s twenty-first birthday, we all knew that they had something even bigger to celebrate. She could go and get drunk any night.

I was getting ready to say goodbye to Emily when Josh grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. “Hey, we’re going to hit a bar on the way back, do you want to come with us?”

“Sure, why not,” I said. I tried to hide my enthusiasm as I let him lead me from the room. Maybe I would have something to celebrate too.

I’d been hoping she would say yes. The more time I spent with her the more I wanted her in my bed. My dick had been at half-mast for most of the night. Dancing with her was pure torture, but I was hoping it would be worth the pain in the end.

I looked over at Emily and Andrew kissing on the dance floor. Obviously they’d made up, but hopefully they actually
talked
to each other this time. As for Nick, he was talking to another girl by the bar. There was no way I wanted to rely on any of them for a ride home after the bar.

I turned to her. “Hey, do you think you could give me a ride home later? I have a feeling Em and Andrew are either going home really early, or really late.”

She laughed and looked over at them. Seeing them still stuck in a lip-lock she said, “Yeah, no problem. Are you ready to bail?”

“Sure, I just need to let them know to meet us there,” I said, pointing towards Emily and Andrew.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her over to where they were standing. Emily looked up at us and then down to our joined hands before her eyes snapped to mine. She gave me a look that clearly said, ”Do not screw around with her.” Damn, I’d forgotten how scary she could be. I did my best to act like Emily’s glare wasn’t having an effect on me.

“Lauren’s going to give me a ride to the bar, so we’ll meet you there,” I explained. I knew there was no way Emily wouldn’t come to the bar, even if was just to keep an eye on me.

Her eyes continued to bore into mine. “Absolutely, we’ll be right behind you.”

I could see Andrew’s confused face as he looked back and forth between the two of us. I could only guess that one minute he thought he was going home to get some, but the next he was stuck staying out.

“Are you ready?” I asked, turning to Lauren.

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

We walked out to her car and when I saw it, I stopped dead in my tracks. “Shit, is this yours?”

She laughed and nodded. “Yep. Why, are you surprised?”

It was a BMW Z4 so of course I was. “Absolutely, but it’s hot as hell to see a girl driving a car like this.”

I watched as her breathing sped up at my comment. Fuck waiting until we got to the bar, I moved until I was standing in front of her. She looked up into my eyes and I cupped the sides of her face with my hands, pushing her back into the side of the car while I bent my head and took her lips in a possessive kiss.

She matched enthusiasm until I sucked on her bottom lip and she gasped. Taking advantage, I slipped my tongue between her lips. Just the taste of her on my tongue was enough for me to lose all control. My hands pushed back and fisted in her hair. Tiny hands slipped up my chest and around my neck while I deepened our kiss. I knew we were in a public parking lot but she tasted way too good for me to stop. After this there was no way I was going to be able to go home alone.

I heard someone clear their throat behind me. Slowly I pulled away and looked down to see Lauren breathing as heavy as I was. Whoever it was better have a damn good reason for interrupting us. I turned to see Emily standing there looking like she wanted to rip my balls off.

“Josh, can I talk to you a minute?” she asked tightly, but I knew it wasn’t really a question. She was telling me to get my ass over there before she dragged me away.

I looked back down at Lauren and saw that her cheeks had turned an enticing shade of pink. God, why was that so sexy on her? “Give me a minute and then we’ll hit the bar.” I winked.

“U-u-umm… okay,” she stuttered. I liked that I had that kind of effect on her.

Emily took a few steps away from where we were standing and I moved to catch up with her. As soon as we were out of earshot she started.