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ou a question?”
“Why not? Go for it.”
“Was I the first guy you’d…? You know, after Jamie?”
Feeling a little nauseated at his need to know, she nodded.
“It makes sense then. You’re just a little sensitive.”
She scowled at him. “Shut up. I am not sensitive.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all.” But he was smiling at her, and she wanted to smack the smile off his lips.
Stacking her hands on her hips, she demanded, “Why are you asking me to come to this party tonight? Why is it so last minute?”
“Because I was going to go alone, and then I wanted to see you.”
She stilled at that admission. “Why do you want to see me?”
He blew out a breath and lifted a hand to run his hand through his hair. “I could lie to you, Samantha, I really could. But I won’t. Not just because of Jamie but because you don’t deserve to be bullshitted around by me, and I’m not going to lie, my track record isn’t great.”
She snorted. “Like I don’t know that. I was Jamie’s wife, you know? And I’ve seen you in the society pages.”
When he winced, she grinned. “Anyway, I just… I can’t get you off my mind. That’s why I’m here.”
Stunned by the admission, she gaped at him a second. “What?”
“You heard me,” he said grumpily, and she could see how ill at ease he was having made himself vulnerable to her.
“But why?”
“You were there, weren’t you? What we had… that was incomparable with anything, anyone. It blew my mind… You blew my mind.”
Her cheeks turned pink, and she felt herself flush harder when he lifted a hand and used it to cup her chin. His thumb stroked over her cheek. “And you still blush. How is that even possible?”
She frowned at him, with more than just her brow, but with her eyes too… whatever she’d expected from him, it hadn’t been this. “I’m not ready for… well, anything, Josh. I’m still trying to get over everything that happened.”
“I know. I do. And I’m just trying to say that I want to be here for you. As more than just a fake fiancée.”
She stared at him. “But why? Why do you want to get involved? Do you still feel sorry for me? Is that it?”
“No! Dammit, Samantha, no. My empathy and generosity only extend so far. Look, our hands are tied anyway if we’re to maintain this façade of a false engagement.”
“We don’t have to now Janice and Frank have signed those papers.”
He licked his lips. “We should maintain it for a while longer. It looks weird for us to break things off now they’ve acceded to our requests.”
She tilted her head to the side to stare at him a second—he was lying. Or at least, stretching the truth. “What’s going on, Josh?” she asked, feeling like she’d wandered into a parallel universe.
“I don’t know.”
His words had her scoffing. “BS. You’re the kind of guy who knows exactly what’s going on. At all times.”
“Yeah, usually. But you’ve thrown me for a loop,” he admitted gruffly. “I never saw any of this coming, and if I’m being honest, I’m not happy about it.”
“No, I can see why you wouldn’t be,” she said wryly.
“It’s damn inconvenient,” he admitted, and he was so annoyed, just like Erin would be if he broke a toy, that she had to laugh. “I’m glad you find it funny,” he said on a huff.
