Chapter 7 #2
That was the last thought she had before the door swung open.
Her head jerked up, her eyes widening as Josiah stepped over the threshold.
He froze only a moment before his gaze swept the length of her body clean to her toes before slowly coming back up.
When their eyes locked, he slammed his shut, and she let out a squeaking little squawk before turning her back to him.
She threw his shirt on, pulling it down over her bottom as he said, “I’m sorry. I should have knocked.”
Heart pounding, she turned to face him. “You can open your eyes.”
He did so slowly, but kept them on her face after doing so.
He cleared his throat before shutting the door and heading for the table. He unclipped his gun belt and laid it on the table before sitting down to remove his boots. “Edwin was out on the sidewalk.”
“What?” She turned to look at the window. “Is he still out there?”
“Hard to say.” His boots thumping against the floor were loud in the stillness. “He questioned why I wasn’t in here with you, so I lied and told him I was making sure the jail was locked up before retiring.”
Violet blew out a breath and sat on the bed. “That man is really starting to try my patience.”
They stared at one another in the silence as he removed the leather vest he always wore, the badge attached to it glinting in the light from the lamp, before pulling off his hat and running his fingers through his hair.
With only one lantern, the room was dimly lit, shadows dancing along the corners.
It felt—intimate. She looked away, smoothing his shirt down over her legs, which she realized he could see.
Well, from her knees down, he could. She still had her stockings on, but reaching under her hem to untie the ribbons to take them off seemed inappropriate.
Josiah stood and walked toward her. Her pulse started thumping again. When he did nothing but lift the lid to the chest at the foot of the bed and root around in it before pulling out a blanket, she tried to calm her racing heart.
A case of nerves was making her hands feel sweaty. Josiah opened the blanket and spread it on the floor near the table. Heading back toward her, he grabbed one of the pillows on the bed and tossed it on top of the blanket. He was making himself a sleeping pallet.
“You’re going to sleep on the floor?”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Unless you’re volunteering to do it. I much prefer the bed. Do you still need the light?”
She glanced at the lantern, then shook her head. “No.”
He blew the flame out. It would take a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, but she was still able to see him lay back on the blanket. He was lying on top of it. Was that all he had?
There was only one blanket on the bed, she noticed. It was nearly as thin as the sheets. Should she give it to him?
“Stop thinking so much, Violet, and go to sleep.” He lifted his head to look at her. “Come tomorrow afternoon, you’ll be a single woman again.”
That statement should have made her happy, but as she crawled underneath the blanket, she told herself the disappointment she felt was due to the fact she didn’t get to tell her family goodnight.
That it had nothing to do with the fact Josiah would probably run straight to Elkin the first chance he got and file a petition to get their marriage annulled, assuming he didn’t intercept Reverend Peele and destroy the license before he had time to file it with the courts.
She sighed and rolled to her side, putting her back to the room, and closed her eyes to put the entire day behind her. Disappointment made her eyes burn and if she thought about it hard enough, she knew it wouldn’t take much to make her cry.
This wasn’t how any of this was supposed to happen. She’d imagined herself in this situation so many times and never once had she felt so lonely.
The ticking of a clock somewhere in the room was the only sound she heard and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Josiah was only a few short feet away from her or that the pillow her head rested on smelled like him.
Would it make her look desperate if she turned her face into the pillow and inhaled deeply to savor his scent?
Probably.
Did it stop her from doing it?
No.
She inhaled a deep breath, the scent of leather and gun oil and something that was exclusively him filling her senses. She could drown in that scent.
How many sleepless nights had she imagined this very thing?
Of her being in his bed, his arms around her, while he showered her with soft kisses and told her she was beautiful.
Of how happy he was that she was his wife while whispering how much he loved her into her ear, his big hands roaming her naked flesh as he set her body on fire.
Josiah shifted behind her and a glance over her shoulder showed him on his side now. That floor had to be uncomfortable.
She turned back around, her thoughts on him laying on the floor. He’d be stiff as a board come morning. He should be able to sleep in his own bed. If anything, she should be the one on the floor. It's her fault he’s having to sleep there to begin with.
He shifted again a few minutes later, a small groan filling the silence. She bit her lip as a completely inappropriate idea popped into her head, but once it was there, she couldn’t get rid of it. Nor could she stop herself from opening her mouth to voice it.
“Would you like to join me in the bed?”
Josiah’s eyes flew open. Did she just say what he thought she said?
Lifting his head, he saw her sit up on her elbow and look at him over her shoulder.
He knew without asking, she wasn’t suggesting what his sex-starved cock hoped she was.
Even so, all the blood in his brain was slowly traveling to his lower extremities and once again, he saw her in his minds eye, splayed out on that bed, naked, legs spread wide waiting for him while those russet curls between them glistened with her arousal.
He swallowed past the lump forming in his throat and let his head hit the floor with a small thump.
“We’re both adults.” Her voice had lowered an octave and sounded almost breathy. “And technically married, so it wouldn’t be completely inappropriate. You shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor just because of the mess I got you into.”
No, he shouldn’t, but could he really crawl into bed with her and not get a raging hard on?
Hell no. Just thinking about it made his balls ache.
It took only a thought to see her standing by his bed when he’d stepped into the room earlier.
They’d both been shocked, him more so, he was sure.
If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never forget the sight of her standing there, her full breasts on display, rosy nipples peeked and so suckable his mouth had watered.
His heart nearly stopped when he looked down and saw those thigh-high stockings, tied on with dainty blue ribbons and the short underpants she’d been wearing. He could still see her in his mind's eye and his cock pulsed with each hard thump of his heart.
“Josiah?”
“Hmm?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“And…”
“And…I’m fine.” It was a complete lie, but he couldn’t make himself get up and crawl into bed with her. It wasn’t a large bed and it wouldn’t take more than a roll for her to know just how hard he was.
He shifted back to his side just so she couldn’t see how much he wanted her and hoped she let it drop. She was a temptation he didn’t want nor need, but damn his soul if that little devil on his shoulder wasn’t whispering to him to see where things would go.
He heard her lie back down and he blew out the breath he’d been holding.
“If you change your mind, the invitation is there.”
Spoken like a true vixen. Did she have any idea what was going through his mind right now? Surely she knew where an invitation like that would lead his male brain. Men thought about sex all day long, more so when a pretty woman was inviting him into her bed.
He tossed and turned half the night, his back aching to the point he wondered if he’d somehow broken it before finally sitting up long hours later. He propped his arms on his knees and stared at the bed.
If you change your mind, the invitation is there.
Violet's words whispered back through his head. He knew he shouldn’t even consider it but crawled to his feet anyway, grabbed his pillow, and crossed the room, sliding into the bed beside her fully dressed and sighing as the mattress cushioned his body.
He’d slept on the ground more times than he could count, but it seemed as if every year he grew older, the harder it was to do. He was barely thirty-two but felt ancient.
Violet rolled before he could brace himself and flung a leg and arm across his body.
He recognized the shirt she was wearing almost immediately.
It was one of his and at the moment, was riding high up on her leg to give him a glimpse of those stockings, the ribbon she had them tied with loose enough most of her thigh was showing.
He relaxed when she let out a small sound he could almost call a snore.
Turning his head, he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled her scent, his thoughts racing right back to her being naked and wanting him.
When his cock started throbbing all over again, he knew he’d be lucky to get even a wink of sleep.