AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ford
Ford Dixon watched as the sexy little brunette left the restaurant on the arm of some asshole and he wanted to get up and follow her the fuck out of there. Journey Ross had been his walking wet dream for as long as he could remember. Hell, he’d known her his whole life—she was his younger sister’s best friend since they were all just kids, and that was exactly why she should be off-limits. The problem was his dick didn’t get the memo that he needed to keep his hands off his sister’s best friend.
The question was, who the fuck was the asshat she was having dinner with? Ford had spent the better part of his adult life asking Journey out. Every damn time he asked her to go to dinner or even just come over to his place for some drinks and to watch a movie, she turned him down flat. Once, he got up the nerve to ask her why and she told him that she just didn’t have time for dating. She was a journalist for CNN and spent a lot of time traveling, chasing down the next story. He knew how busy she was, but he tried timing asking her out around her work schedule. He had even asked her out for tonight and she said that she had to work all weekend, to meet a deadline for an article, that was already past due. He was such a fool for believing her, but that was his own fault. He let his feelings cloud his assessment of Journey and she pulled one over on him once again.
Ford quickly paid his bar tab and followed her out into the parking lot, against his better judgment, to confront Journey. He stepped out into the cold evening air and quickly looked around the half-empty parking lot. He spotted Journey standing next to her SUV, door open, and smiling her best, “Get the fuck away from me smile,” at the guy she had dinner with. Yeah—that pissed him off. He wanted to walk over to them and punch the asshole in the face, but he needed to remember that Journey made her choice to go out with the guy instead of him. She made her bed and now, she needed to figure her shit out. Keeping his nose out of her business was going to be difficult for two reasons though. One, she saw him across the parking lot and made eye contact with him. He saw the pleading in her dark eyes and knew he wouldn’t be able to walk away from her. The second reason had to do with the fact that his pick-up was parked right next to her SUV and there would be no possible way for him to avoid her.
Ford casually walked up to his truck; his heartfelt about ready to beat out of his chest and nodded to Journey. That seemed to be the only recognition she needed. “Ford,” she almost squealed. “Good to see you.” Her fake smile was still in place and he could tell that something was up.
“Journey,” he breathed. “Good to see you too. I thought you were going to be working on an article all weekend,” he said. Letting her off the hook wasn’t something he was ready to do.
She nodded, and he knew she was going to ignore his snide comment. “Actually, I just had an impromptu meeting with my boss,” she said, pointing to the guy who was standing a little too close to her as if marking his territory. “This is Andrew Tinsley,” she said. “Andrew, this is one of my oldest friends, Ford Dixon.” The guy held out his hand but made no move toward Ford. He was being tested, and that was just fine with him. He was used to dealing with assholes who thought that he was beneath their station. In the military, he learned fast how to take orders and kiss ass when necessary. The thing was, he didn’t need to kiss Andrew Tinsley’s ass. Andrew dropped his arm back to his side when he realized that Ford wasn’t going to make a move to accept his hand.
“Good to meet you, Ford,” Andrew said.
“Likewise,” Ford lied.
“Um, I’m glad that I ran into you, Ford. Your sister just called me and that’s why I’ve had to cut our work dinner short. She needs me to run over to her place with some soup. Poor Lucinda said that she is not feeling well and I want to take her some chicken noodle soup. That always makes me feel better when I’m sick.” She smiled at him and subtly winked. Yeah, she was lying. He knew that his sister wasn’t ill. In fact, he stopped by her place on the way to the restaurant and he knew that Lucinda was just fine. She and Ty were planning a romantic night in, and he couldn’t get out of their place fast enough. The two of them grossed him out and made him long for stuff he never thought he wanted. He had a feeling that Journey was trying to get rid of her dinner date and for just a split second, he was thinking about letting her suffer on her own. But that would be cruel. Almost as cruel as she was to him every time he asked her out and she turned him down flat.
“I’d like to check on my sister too,” he said, playing along. “You want to ride with me?” he asked.
“Well, I have my car,” she said nodding to her SUV. And if she left in her car, her boss would probably follow her home and insist on a nightcap.
“Right, but this way you can run in and pick up the soup, from that little place that Lucinda likes, and you won’t have to fight for parking,” he insisted. He was hoping she’d catch on, but he could see that she was ready to give him a fight.
“Or I could just take you over to see your friend. We could take my car, and then finish our meeting back at your place,” Andrew offered. It was almost as if Ford could see the lightbulb go off in her head when she realized what he was trying to do.
“Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” Journey said. “I wouldn’t want to expose you to whatever Luci has. Besides, she’d kill me if I brought someone over when she’s not at her best.”
She turned her back to Andrew and mouthed, “Thank you,” to Ford. “I’d love a ride, Ford. Thank you,” she said. “I’ll see you at the office, Andrew,” she said, effectively dismissing her boss. Ford noticed the flash of anger in the guy’s eyes just before his easy smile was back in place.
“Not a big deal,” Andrew lied. “I hope your friend is feeling better soon. I’ll see you at the office on Monday,” he said. Andrew leaned in to kiss her cheek and she pulled away from him before he could pull her into his body for a hug. For a boss, the guy was pretty handsy and Ford wondered if there might be some history between Journey and her employer.
“See you Monday,” she said. Andrew crossed the parking lot and got into his very expensive, overly pretentious car. He made no move to start his car or leave the parking lot.
Journey looked back over her shoulder and back to Ford. “What now? He’s not going to leave while we’re standing here. I can’t just get into my car and leave because then he’ll know I was lying.”
“Are you sleeping with your boss, Journey?” Ford asked. Sure, it wasn’t any of his business but he just couldn’t help himself.
“What? No,” she spat. “I’ve never slept with him. How unprofessional would that make me?” she asked.
“Yeah—I have a feeling that your boss is an HR nightmare,” Ford said.
“So, you’re not with that guy?” he asked, nodding to where Andrew still sat, watching them.
“No,” she breathed as he took a few steps closer to Journey. He was so close to her that he could feel her breath on his face. God, he had wanted to kiss her his whole life, and he never just took a leap of faith and took what he wanted from her. He was a coward and playing the nice guy was getting him nowhere with her.
“Good,” Ford breathed. “Then, he won’t mind if I do this.” He pulled her up against his body and didn’t give her a chance to protest. He knew she would give him a fight, but that was part of what turned him on. Ford crushed his mouth to hers and took what he had wanted from her for so long. He kissed her with every ounce of the pent-up desire that he had felt for her since they were just kids and she tasted like sunshine and honey. Journey tasted like home.
Journey
Journey wasn’t sure how her night had ended with her standing in the parking lot of her favorite restaurant, kissing the man she had wanted her whole life. He had asked her out so many times and she turned him down each time, out of fear that if she told him yes, she’d lose her best friend. Lucinda and she had made a pack when they were nine that they’d never let a boy come between them and Journey was pretty sure that dating Luci’s brother would fall under that pact.
And now, she was standing in the parking lot, kissing Ford Dixon. When she allowed herself to relax and wrapped her arms around his neck, he deepened the kiss and God, could he kiss. She felt as though she had been waiting her whole life for Ford to kiss her. The only reason he broke their kiss was because her asshole boss started his sports car and revved the engine. Ford ended their kiss, leaving her needy and breathless, panting for air.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“Fucking right, wow,” he agreed. “I’ve been waiting a damn long time to do that, Journey,” he whispered. He looked back over her shoulder to where her boss still sat in his car, his smile was almost mean. “We need to get going. I don’t think that our audience is too happy with our little show.” She looked back at Andrew and could tell that he was pissed. She was going to have to deal with him on Monday and knowing her boss, he was going to give her a load of shit and a good bit of attitude.
