“Yeah, but I could…work around my schedule.”
“I deserve more than a periodic late-night booty call.”
He sighed. He flopped onto his back and gently pulled his arm out from under her. “You’re right, you do. I just hate the idea of us never seeing each other again.”
Paige rolled over and placed a hand on Josh’s chest. “I know. The idea stinks, in fact.”
Josh smiled. He wasn’t sure if he could have said it better. They had woken up around three in the morning, and the sex had been long and languorous and amazing and not the speedy dance of the overly hormonal teenager, and that was something Josh would think about on lonely nights when he couldn’t sleep. “It does stink. I can’t…that is, there are limits to how much time I have right now, and I can’t give you much, but this can’t really be it. We’re too good together.”
Paige nodded. “Tell you what. Next time you get a night off, give me a call.”
“All right, deal.” Josh leaned up and kissed her. He loved how soft her lips were. He lifted his hand and wove his fingers through her hair, which even when disheveled was silky and smooth.
Paige pulled away gently. “That kiss was a very persuasive argument.”
“I’ll stay here in this bed forever if I can keep you.”
Paige laughed. “No, no. We have lives to get to. But I can stay here a little while longer.”
Josh smiled and kissed her. Probably whatever was happening here was doomed, but he was going to enjoy it as much as possible. Maybe he couldn’t do a relationship right now, but he could dothis, whatever this was. And in a few months or a year when the insanity of being a first-year associate at the law firm began to wane, who knew? There were a lot of possibilities. He looked forward to exploring them.
Paige smiled down at him and nudged her hips against his. “So…you wanna?”
He put his arms around her. “I’ve never heard a sexier half-hearted come-on.”
She raised her eyebrow.
“I wanna,” he said.
* * *
When Paige was able to breathe normally again, she turned and looked at Josh, who was still panting.
“So that was awesome,” he said breathlessly. “Again.”
“It was.” She let her head sink into the pillow. What was she doing? She really liked Josh, but this had no future. And still, three times in one night and they were in bed together despite the sun rising in the sky. To say the night had blown up all her expectations was an understatement. It was so unlike her to seize an opportunity like this without overthinking it until she chickened out, and yet she’d gone for it with Josh and it had been better than she ever would have hoped for. She was just as reluctant to leave as he seemed to be to let her. She wanted to keep seeing him if time allowed. Maybe it was time to take the dang apps off her phone and spend more time in the real world if more guys like Josh lived in Brooklyn. Or she could just…wait for Josh’s schedule to be less nutty.
But first, nature called.
“Mind if I use your bathroom?”
“Knock yourself out. Do you remember where it is? Go through the kitchen back toward the front door. Bathroom is the first door on the right.”
Paige pulled on her shirt and panties and found the bathroom again without issue. This room at least looked lived in. A shelving unit opposite the sink held a surprising array of skin and hair products and a few neatly folded towels. A coffee mug on the edge of the sink held a toothbrush and a razor—that was the sort of improvisation one employed when one had not yet finished shopping to furnish one’s new apartment, and Paige found it endearing—and a red terry cloth robe hung from a hook on the back of the door. She peeked in the shower and spotted a bottle of dandruff shampoo, so maybe he was human after all.
After she finished in the bathroom, she took a moment to look around the rest of the apartment.
Really, this guy was too good to be true. He was hot, he was easy to talk to, he had a real job and a nice, if sparsely decorated, apartment. The sex had been amazing. He had no obvious flaws, which meant he had to have a few hidden ones. And he read books, clearly; an industrial wood and metal bookcase was stuffed full of more books than really fit, with some of them wedged above the other books. There was a whole row of law books and textbooks on the bottom, then some sci-fi novels, then a shelf with some framed family photos. One of Josh with his arm thrown around some woman. Well, wouldn’t it be just perfect if he had a girlfriend? Or at least an ex he was still hung up on? That would certainly be a big flaw.
Paige took a closer look at the photo. Based on the posing, itcouldbe just a friend. A friend who…well, a friend who looked a lot like Lauren. Paige picked up the photo. ItwasLauren. Paige had seen Lauren wear that same shirt to the Café a few times. Had Josh dated Lauren? Were they friends? What was this?
She took the photo into the bedroom and said, “How do you know Lauren?” She held up the photo to show who she was talking about.
“Lauren? My sister?”
“Your sister?” Paige turned the photo around and looked at it. There was definitely a family resemblance. Lauren’s features were softer and Josh’s more angular, but their hair was nearly the same color and they both had freckles. “Lauren Harlow is your sister.”
“Yes. Hello, woman I just had sex with. My name is Josh Harlow. I’m a twenty-eight-year-old lawyer. I have an older sister who was loud and bossy when we were kids. I like piña coladas and long walks on the beach. What else did you need to know?”
