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“I don’t know why. Why are there a fifty flavors of Ben and Jerry’s? Because people like different things.”
“I hate this.”
“The ice cream? The ice cream is good,” he said.
He was so damn dense! Did he have a clue? He sat there with the ice cream, grinning, and Caroline swore if he tried to kiss her forehead again she might actually scream. Then again, if she could see the kiss coming, and she was quick enough, she could get a kiss that wouldn’t leave any doubt about what she wanted. Yup. That would show him.
Caroline had decided when they first became ”friends” that she shouldn’t try to figure everything out. He was here in her apartment, trying to make her feel better, and that was a start, but Caroline was tired of waiting. If Josh had gotten anything right, it was that Caroline had to stop leading a passive life.
And this applied to everything, not just Josh. “I know you’re right, that this is all part of the process, but...” She sniffled and felt the fear creep up inside. She was terrified. “What if I fail at this?”
“So you keep ice cream in the freezer and prepare yourself, but you have to try or you go nowhere.” He grabbed a tissue from the end table and mopped her eyes. “Great reward requires risk.”
“You sound like a fortune cookie.”
“So if I add ‘in bed’ to that would it make you laugh?”
Caroline smiled, but not because it was amusing; it was because she thought about Josh... in bed.
“I was always taught not to take too many risks, so this is new for me. Kind of like sleeping with you was a big risk.” It was the first time she’d brought it up in the month they’d been hanging out together.
He tapped her nose with his index finger. Could any gesture be less seductive? “Do you regret it?”
She thought for a second. Did she? “No. You?”
“I don’t regret it either.”
A little bit of light was suddenly sprinkled over Caroline’s dark mood. If he didn’t regret it, then maybe…
Then Josh finished his thought. “But I don’t think it should happen again. I know we said we’d leave things open, but I worry it could mess things up between us.”
God, she was living a cliché. This totally sucked. Why didn’t he just say he didn’t find her attractive? She could deal with that and move on. But to have a hot, dreamy guy attracted to her and not willing to act on it? Just her luck. “It would be a mistake. Of course...”
Josh placed a finger over her lips, halting her speech. “Nota mistake. But the way we’re connected I just don’t think it would be a good idea for us to go there again. I had fun with you, and I care about you now, so don’t say it was a mistake.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”
He took another spoon of ice cream. “That’s really good, but you need to put it away. There’s a new restaurant on Tenth and I want you to come with me to try it out.”
Did she hear him right? “Um, okay? Wait. What?”
“Dinner. Some celebrity chef opened the place. It’s supposed to be good. I’ll come back and pick you up around eight? You need to get out and have some fun.”
Caroline found she was stunned and couldn’t speak. Talk about sending mixed signals. Josh was asking her to dinner and there was no one around, no one he had to rescue her from. He was asking her out to someplace very hip and very trendy. Not his apartment, not some dark theater. He might have just said he wanted to keep things platonic, but this very public date was saying something else altogether. This might just give her the perfect opportunity to send some signals of her own. Holy. Shit.
Her inner geek was doing a happy dance and she suppressed the urge to squeal. But when Josh rose and took a deep breath, there was something not right about the expression on his face. “I guess dinner was a bad idea. I’ll go.”
Crap. She hadn’t answered him. As he turned to leave, Caroline’s hand shot out and touched his arm. “It’s not a bad idea. I’m just shocked you asked, especially after what you just said.”
Turning, he looked her over. “So what do you say?”
“I’d love to go, but I’m not sure why you want to.”
The corner of his mouth twitched a little and Josh took her hand and kissed it. “I do like hanging out with you. Don’t ever question that. You keep me honest.”
“Honest?”
“You don’t take my shit, Caroline. Like now. No one else is willing to call me out. I’ll see you later.”
