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Some conversations you needed to have face-to-face. Courtney skated in front of him and stopped. “Sorry? Why, because those fans came over to you? I knew it would happen eventually.” Moving closer, she placed her palms on his shoulders. “You don’t need to apologize.”
She intended to kiss him on the cheek. Give him a friendly, sisterly kiss to let him know she wasn’t upset. Somehow the message got changed before it reached its final destination, and her lips brushed against his instead.
Considering the outside temperature, his lips should be cold. Instead, they were warm and, in a single word, perfect.
The gag slipped off the bad girl in her, and she spoke up. No point in stopping now.
As if they had a mind of their own, her arms slipped over his shoulders as she moved her mouth against his. With each pass, the rest of the world slipped away a little more. Soon the only things registering were Josh’s lips and his body against hers.
A loud wolf whistle brought reality crashing back down around her. She was holding onto Josh as if her life depended on it while having her way with his mouth in a public place filled with people. Clearly, the left side of her brain had turned off for the day. Her sister did things like this. She didn’t. Courtney forced her gaze up past his nose. Considering the heat in his eyes, she wondered how her clothing wasn’t on fire.
The arms around her kept her from moving away. Exactly when he’d put them around her, she didn’t know, but she wasn’t in any rush for him to move them either. Unfortunately, they were getting in the way of other skaters. Already a small group forced to go around had thrown dirty looks in their direction.
“I’m ready for a break.” She unclasped her hands from behind his neck and settled her palms back on his shoulders. “Why don’t we go to Ambrosia for some hot chocolate? After, we can stop in Benoit Jewelers and look at wedding rings.” Benoit wasn’t the only jewelry store in the city, but in her opinion, its selection far surpassed any other in Providence.
He loosened his embrace, but his arms remained where they were. “Whatever you want.”
Talk about a loaded response. Part of her wanted to say “let’s go home and spend the rest of the afternoon getting reacquainted with each other’s bodies.” Her more logical side reminded her why it was a good idea to keep their relationship as platonic as possible and urged her to remain in public places.
The left side of her brain switched back on. “We still need wedding rings. We might as well get them today.”
Nine
Josh grabbed the cell phone on the nightstand and checked the caller ID. The device had remained silent up until now, unlike Courtney’s. He’d lost count of how many calls she’d received between the time they left the ice rink and returned to the Mayfair. Several of the calls she’d ignored. The handful she took were short, and she’d ended each of them with the promise to call whoever it was back later.
Mom appeared on his screen now. Despite the text message she’d sent him earlier in the week and the media attention since news of their engagement went public, she hadn’t called him back. Even though Josh hadn’t met the woman yet, he knew if Marilyn Belmont had received a similar message to the one he left, she would’ve been on Courtney’s doorstep within a matter of hours.
He considered letting the call go to voice mail. So far, his day had been fantastic. He knew from experience a conversation with his mom could easily ruin it. Josh didn’t think she set out to do that, but rather she simply didn’t always think before she spoke. Most of the time she was too concerned about herself and what was going on in her little world to think about anyone else, including her three children—a fact he and his siblings accepted a long time ago.
Still, it was his mother. She deserved to know the details of his upcoming wedding. Whether or not she attended was up to her.
He pressed the green icon before the device rang again. “Hey, Mom.”
“When I got your message, I thought it was some kind of practical joke,” she said after greeting him.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Josh shook his head. A practical joke? When had he ever been known to pull practical jokes? And if he did decide to take it up, he wouldn’t have started by telling his mother he was engaged.
“
But then Eve mentioned it when she stopped by on Wednesday night.”
He’d met Eve, his mom’s stepdaughter, once, and it’d been when his mom married Trevor six years ago. It didn’t surprise him she’d mentioned his engagement. While he didn’t interact with the woman, his sister, Shannon, did. According to her, when Eve wasn’t promoting her new fashion line, she was either posting pictures of herself in various states of undress or searching for any mention of herself in the media.
“I saw the pictures of you and Courtney on the Star Report website. She is definitely not as beautiful as her sister or her cousin Sara. But she’s pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way.”
Josh ground his teeth together rather than say what he was thinking, because after all, this was his mother on the phone. He kept his mouth closed until he was confident he could speak and not be rude.
“I disagree, Mom.” At least he disagreed with his mom’s assessment that her sister and cousin were more attractive. She wasn’t far off by saying Courtney had that girl-next-door look. Although in his head, she had more of a sexy librarian vibe going on.
“We both know what she looks like doesn’t matter as much as who she’s related to anyway. An association with the Sherbrooke family is going to be great for you,” his mom said, further demonstrating that there was no filter between her brain and her mouth.
He considered disconnecting the call. Once again, the fact the woman had given birth to him kept him from doing so. “Mom, I didn’t ask her to marry me because of who she’s related to.” If the dull ache in his forehead was any indication, the sooner he ended this call the better.
Evidently, even his tone-deaf mother didn’t miss the anger in his voice, because after a moment she said, “Josh, of course, I wasn’t saying you did. But it must have occurred to you how beneficial being a part of that family will be.”
His mom didn’t give him a chance to disagree before continuing. “I read the wedding is on the first in Newport.”
At the knock on the bedroom door, Josh crossed the room and opened the door. “Yeah, we decided against a long engagement.” He gestured for Courtney to enter. “I know it is short notice, so if you and Trevor can’t make it, I understand.”
