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His surprising openness was proving to be more entertaining than she ever imagined. Caroline found she was really enjoying his company. He wasn’t acting like the man who usually sat across the dinner table from her at Meg and Jason’s. So, who was he exactly? Meg had a very strong opinion about him, mostly because Josh was close to his parents and they’d caused nothing but trouble. But Caroline always had a different impression of him. It was something deep in her gut that told her he wasn’t like them and she wanted to find out what made him tick. As long as she kept her guard up, fantasy wouldn’t overtake reality.
Josh said goodbye to Vinnie, promising that they’d go to a baseball game when the weather warmed up, and Caroline followed him out of the shop onto Chambers Street. He was going to hang out at a ball game with the guy from the pizzeria?
“How long have you known Vinnie?” she asked.
“A couple of years. Since I moved into the neighborhood.”
“Really?” Caroline couldn’t quite wrap her head around the familiarity between Josh, a millionaire investor, and the pizza guy. The banter was unexpectedly genuine, but she had started to realize that Josh was full of surprises.
“Why do you look shocked? I have friends.”
She looked shocked because shewasshocked. She assumed he’d have friends, but figured they’d be men like him. Rich, good looking, intimidating. “I didn’t think you would be buddies with the pizza guy, that’s all. Is he some Wall Street dropout? Did he come back to the family business to save his sanity?”
Josh stopped walking and turned to face her. “What?” The word came out with a laugh, but it wasn’t a funny “ha-ha” laugh but one of those “Are you crazy?”laughs. Great.
“Never mind,” Caroline said. Once again her mouth ran faster than her brain. “I do that sometimes. I say things without thinking.”
“You had to be thinking something.”
Caroline considered the man. “I just... I mean...” Looking at her shoes, she said what had been running through her head since they walked into Nonna’s. “I guess it surprises me that your favorite restaurant is a little pizza joint. That you’re friends with, you know, a regular guy. You’re an Ivy League-educated millionaire who grew up in a mansion. I guess I thought you’d be more, I don’t know, more aboutthatkind of life.” He continued to stare at her and a grin teased the corner of his mouth. “I’m sorry. That was incredibly rude.”
He adjusted the box in his arms and then the smile bloomed. “I guess it’s no different than what you have to deal with. People probably think you’re a geek.”
“Well, much as I try to avoid the obvious, I am a geek,” she said. “I’m a geotechnical engineer. You don’t get much geekier than me.”
Shaking his head, Josh resumed the walk toward his apartment. “But there’s more to you than that. I’m not just about money or the next deal. Sure, I live the life I want and I’ve had lots of advantages. But I tend to keep it simple. I’m not my brother.”
There was probably some truth in that. Jason and Meg did live a pretty spectacular life, though they claimed to be “normal” people. They were on the A-list for every party and benefit in New York, and she guessed they were as normal as any couple who had a private jet at their disposal. But that didn’t explain Josh.
“You always seemed so distant, so...” She stopped talking before she really insulted him.
“What? Detached? Arrogant? Ruthless, maybe?”
“I wasn’t going to sayruthless.”Crap.She sucked at this, but Josh just kept grinning and shaking his head.
“You don’t have a filter, do you?” he asked.
“No. It’s a problem.”
“Nah, it’s great.”
Caroline found keeping up with him was difficult; his legs were long and his stride was naturally deep, producing one step for every two of hers. He had a point about preconceived notions. She was more than her job; at least she wanted to be. And as proud as she was of the work she was doing, she just couldn’t muster a lot of enthusiasm for engineering. Caroline fought against two things. First, was her natural reserve. She wasn’t exactly shy, but she wasn’t outgoing and bold like her siblings. That made interactions with colleagues and clients uncomfortable. The other issue had to do with her natural proclivity to say the most awkward things ever. Josh’s comment about a lack of filter was accurate. If she wasn’t struck mute, she would more than likely say something completely ridiculous. Social situations were, at best, difficult. At worst, curling up in a ball and falling into a deep hole was sometimes a good alternative.
Tonight was different, though. She wasn’t making a complete fool of herself and she’d only said a couple of silly things, which was amazing considering that just being in Josh’s presence still made her insides quiver. But the Josh she was walking with was very different from the Josh she saw at family functions. The one she grew up adoring.
He possessed the same Highlander good looks, and his confidence was palpable, but there was something real about this Josh, something normal. He’d let his guard down, and whether or not Caroline would ever see it again, she was going to enjoy him now.
* * *
Josh shortenedhis stride when he noticed Caroline had to run to keep up. God, she was tiny. Both she and her sister were short, but Caroline’s petite frame made Meg seem like an Amazon. When he turned toward his building she kept walking. Where the hell was she going?
“Caroline?”
She stopped and looked around, almost in a daze. “What? Oh.” She turned and scooted back and Josh wondered what had caught her attention. So far she seemed more distracted than he’d ever seen her.“I guess I was daydreaming.”
“Anything good?” he asked.
“I love this area. The structures. All the conversions are such a tribute to people who wanted to preserve the old buildings.”
