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“What?”
Her voice was dreamy, making Josh wondered if she was just so tired she’d crossed into another realm.
“I’m glad my first time was with you. I always wanted it to be you.”
His thrusts became deeper, and she matched his rhythm, arching to get closer. What she’d just said surprised him, scared him even more, and made him face what he felt for her one more time. But everything blurred as they moved together. She was his right now. No other man knew her body. No other man had been inside her. She was his, and every movement made Josh aware that he didn’t want anyone else to have her.
“Josh, mmm...”
Hearing his name slip past her lips tugged at his heart and then he felt the gentle wave overtake her. This wasn’t the soul-stealing orgasm she’d had earlier, but as he felt his own climax approach and he spilled himself into her, he wondered what made this so perfect. They fit each other. Their bodies were in tune.
None of this made any sense. None. But as he settled back and pulled her to him, he wondered where this would go if it took its natural course. Could there be a future for them?
That’s when Caroline sniffed and burrowed into him, falling right to sleep. Josh’s mind started to race because he realized how far-gone this really was. They’d just had unprotected sex and Josh didn’t really care.
He knew he was clean, and Caroline had never had another partner, so STIs weren’t the problem. The reality was that Caroline could get pregnant, and as Josh let that possibility sink in he realized it didn’t bother him.
He never forgot protection. Even if he’d been seeing a woman for a while and she swore she was on birth control, he took responsibility. But Caroline made him think only about being with her, about making love to her, and this was a new and scary place for him.
But as he looked down at her curled against him, Josh understood that he was more committed than he ever expected he would be. He just didn’t know if he could find a way to stay.
11
Caroline double-checked her list of grocery items and was satisfied she’d gotten everything. Over the course of the past few weeks she’d stocked Josh’s kitchen, making him more than a few wonderful dinners.
In return, over the past week he’d managed to make her a couple of wonderful breakfasts.
Caroline was floating and for the first time in her life she wasn’t waiting for the bubble to burst. It was amazing.
She and Josh spent as much time as they could together. They cooked, they joked, and they talked about anything and everything. Sometimes he’d bring work home and she’d have something to write and they’d hole up in his den and spend time together, and that was when Caroline felt what they meant to each other. When the words didn’t matter.
She was having dinner with her mother the next night and Caroline was thinking about asking Josh to come along. She hoped he would. It was time for her mother to know about the two of them. It was time for Mom to know about her life.
And it was time to talk about changes that were coming. Instead of worrying or wallowing in her feelings about the situation at work, Caroline had acted. A few weeks ago, taking advantage of her contacts through her grad school program, she’d started looking for a new job.
Today she got an offer. And it was with a big, prestigious engineering firm that was progressive and female-friendly. Pretty soon she’d be able to kiss Roberts and Michaels good-bye.
Josh had taught her that she was in charge of her life. Whether it be engineering or writing, or family, she was the one who would make the difference. And he was right.
The writing was coming along. She had a ways to go on that front, but sending out her work and learning to deal with the rejections had given her more of a stake in what she was doing. She was hungry. She had a desire to be successful, and she’d stopped thwarting her own efforts.
Everything was pretty much perfect. Josh would be happy about the job offer. He hated the firm where she worked. She couldn’t wait to surprise him with the news and to thank him for pushing her. For having faith in what she could accomplish if she believed.
With regard to his project, he hadn’t asked for anything from her except advice on how to handle small glitches in the planning, but she knew the whole business was getting to him. The scuttlebutt at work was that there were delays getting the physical survey done. Possibly intentional ones. Caroline couldn’t put a finger on the reason, but she suspected Josh’s father was pulling Mark’s strings and she couldn’t figure out his motivation. It was in his best interest to move the project forward, but every time a test was scheduled, something went wrong. She asked Josh about it, but he wasn’t saying much and it seemed he was trying to protect her from knowing the details. She understood why he’d do it—Josh was nothing if not protective—but she knew she could get to the bottom of the problem. Caroline knew whom to ask, and how to get the survey nudged forward, but Josh was keeping things to himself. Maybe tonight she’d get it out of him.
It was their cooking-date night and this time, instead of going straight to his apartment, Josh had asked her to meet him at his office. Chewing on her lip, she admitted to herself that she was a little giddy that he’d asked her there, that he wanted her to see his world. He was letting her in, and that was no small thing. Miraculously, she wasn’t running behind, and as she left the building she noticed Mark on his cell phone, near the fountain on Sixth Avenue. He looked formidable. Square, strong and every inch the boss she didn’t want to piss off. But soon she’d never have to see him again.
Since the trouble with him had kicked into overdrive, Caroline had done some digging and unearthed a bit about Mark Strickland’s past. The man was a Princeton-trained civil engineer with almost twenty years of experience at high-profile firms. He’d moved up the ladder because he was a master game player. He was handsome and a great talker, which drew people to him, and he always managed to get the job done. When he did something questionable or unethical, he often got away with it, but there were lines even Mark Strickland couldn’t cross. And that’s when he got into trouble.
Mark “loved” women, almost as much as he loved himself, and she’d found out that in his last position more than one female staff member had lobbied for his removal. Whatever had happened went away quietly, but he did leave his firm, landing in the corner office at Roberts and Michaels, where he ran things with a combination of fear and finesse.
Most of the time he went for fear.
The man did every adrenaline-junkie thing out there from high-altitude skiing to skydiving. It was no wonder he engaged in high-risk behavior in his career regarding women. He wanted a thrill, a challenge, and his latest target was Caroline.
She was hoping she could get away from the building quickly, so he wouldn’t see her. But as she was making the turn toward the subway, she heard her name.
“Miss Rossi?”
