AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Good grief, what was she thinking? How could she have forgotten the way she and Josh had drifted apart and failed to keep in touch after he left for college? Why the heck would he want some decade old acquaintance from his school days hanging around his neck?
She would have forgotten everything and made a swift exit right then and there if Joshua Scott, once her best friend in High School, hadn’t grabbed hold of her hand as she tried to hurry away.
“Hey!” Josh exclaimed softly. “I’m never going to be sorry to have a beautiful woman throw herself at me,” he teased, pulling her back towards him.
Penny couldn’t help it; she gave an unladylike snort and shook her head. “Come on, Josh. This is me you’re talking to. There’s no need to overdo the flowery compliments, especially where they’re not warranted.”
Josh’s eyebrows beetled together, and he reached out to stroke a finger down her cheek. “I just tell it like it is, Penny and I always thought you were beautiful.”
She shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot, refusing to look at him, and blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Yeah, well you were the only one who did, then. And even you disappeared on me as soon as you had the chance so…”
Penny stopped abruptly and bit her lip, dropping her head so her abundance of hair fell around her face and shielded it. She was revealing far more about herself than she was comfortable with. Nobody got to see her vulnerable parts these days. She’d learned the hard way not to put them on display.
Josh’s frown deepened, but he kept a tight hold on her while he finalized the dinner arrangements with the receptionist before he picked up her suitcase, grabbed her electronic key card and pulled her along with him after a quick glance at her room number.
CHAPTER TWO
“Josh, what are you doing?” Penny asked, hurrying to keep up with his long-legged stride. “I’m perfectly capable of finding my way to my room, you know.”
Although, she silently acknowledged that the view she had of his tight, sexy butt as she followed along behind him was worth it.
And when the heck had that happened? The Josh she had known in high school had been a slightly plump, slightly awkward, bespectacled geek and Penny had loved him completely. It had broken her heart when they lost touch. And that sure as heck hadn’t been her fault, she reminded herself.
In fact, it was that very thought which finally gave her the backbone to pull back and she dug her heels in, pulling them both to a stop. Of course, it was typical that they’d finally got to her room when she made that decision.
Josh looked at her consideringly, then turned and unlocked her door.
Penny huffed out a breath and hurried after him, determined to thank him politely and send him on his way so that she could have a nice long soak and get her head around everything before dinner.
What she hadn’t bargained for was him stopping dead, right inside the doorway.
Oomph! The breath was knocked out of her and she stumbled backwards. Before she fell on her ass, a strong hand grabbed her around the waist, and she was hauled up a rock-hard frame. Nope! This definitely isn’t the Josh I remember, she thought breathlessly as he steadied her against him.
Penny swallowed and took a step back. It was safer that way. Even as a seventeen-year-old nerd, Josh had made her pulse speed up. This new incarnation was like kryptonite and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself by doing or saying something that would lead to inevitable rejection. She might be able to feel the lust bubbling up under her skin, but she still had a healthy dose of self-preservation. If young, pleasantly plump, geeky Josh hadn’t wanted her, then this super-hot, drop dead gorgeous incarnation certainly wasn’t going to look twice.
She straightened, and pulled away further, putting on her best nonchalant face, the one she’d practiced many times over the years. “Look, thanks Josh, but I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than play bellhop and I’m really looking forward to a nice long soak before dinner.”
“I’m not sure that’s going to be possible,” Josh replied, his classically handsome face set in stern lines that were so different from how she remembered him.
“What do you mean?” Penny asked impatiently before it dawned on her and she clenched her jaw against the surprising arrow of hurt.
“Look, if you don’t want to have dinner with me that’s fine. I didn’t expect you to jump in there like a knight in shining armor. We can just go our separate ways and you can forget about me, just like you did ten years ago.”
Damn! Why had she said that? Penny silently berated herself for letting her tongue run off like that and tried to push past him. The strong hand banding her bicep, firm, but gentle, stopped her.
“Actually, I am overjoyed to have found you here,” he continued. “I am very much looking forward to catching up over dinner, and I never forgot you, Penny. Not for one single day.” Somehow, that quiet voice held just as much authority and conviction as if he’d bellowed it from the rooftops. But she didn’t have time to think about what he said before he dropped another bombshell. “What I meant was I don’t think you’re going to be relaxing in this room anytime soon.”
Penny pulled herself out of the spell he’d been weaving around her senses and frowned. “What do you mean?”
She peered around him and gasped in shock. “What in the name of…” Penny trailed off and looked in stunned disbelief at the destruction in the room. Never mind that it hadn’t been cleaned. It was completely trashed.
“Jeez! I can’t believe this mess. Do people really do this to hotel rooms?” She looked around in shocked disgust at piles of smashed glass, curtains that were torn down, a dark red stain on the carpet that she hoped was wine and a web of zigzag cracks on the mirror.
“Forget I said that,” she corrected herself. “Obviously they do.”
“It’s not common, well, to this extent, anyway. This really is over the top, but worse is the fact that it’s clearly impossible to turn this room and yet you were still given keys…”
Penny sighed. This whole fiasco was turning into a nightmare. She didn’t even want to be here, for goodness sake. “Right, I guess I’ll just go and let them know at reception and request a transfer. I never wanted this break; I just didn’t realize how bad it could get.”
