Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Reginald
The next morning, after the worst night of sleep I’d had in years, I met Josey in the driveway of the first house on the schedule.
My sister, who also happened to be my real estate broker, was already inside, but I hadn’t wanted to go in in case Josey pulled up and didn’t see me. What if he changed his mind?
Lifting my wrist to my face, I took a deep whiff of the lavender essential oil I’d rolled on in the car and then closed my eyes and waited for it to work.
Lavender was one of my favorite oils, really multipurpose, but it could be overpowering if not mixed well.
The roller I had in the car was one I’d hung on to for years.
The label had nearly worn off, and I couldn’t make sense of the company name anymore to buy myself a new one. I used it sparingly but appreciatively.
“Hey, Reg,” a soft voice said from a few feet away.
I must have gotten lost in my thoughts because I hadn’t heard a car pull up, and I definitely hadn’t seen Josey and his shock of hot pink hair close the space from the curb to where I rested near the garage with two cups of coffee.
“Josey?” I asked, even though it was obviously him.
He smiled, dipping his chin toward his chest in what I assumed was an attempt to hide his blush.
“That’s me.”
“I know.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, I didn’t know. But the hair.”
He gave me a small smile and nodded his head. “I get it.”
“Uhm. Right.” I shifted my weight awkwardly, holding my arms open halfway. “Are you a hugger?”
I asked him for selfish reasons, the main one being that I desperately wanted to hug him.
Josey was good looking in the face, and I didn’t’ know how to explain it, but he just looked like the kind of person I wanted to hug.
Thankfully, he gave me a bigger smile at the ask and walked into my embrace.
Josey slid his arms around my waist, pressed his cheek against the front of my shoulder, and my first thought was oh, my God, I could stay like this forever.
“You smell good,” he murmured, and heat rushed through me.
I broke the hug in a flash, laughing awkwardly and gesturing to the coffee. God, I was a mess.
Maybe Claire had been right about me needing to be with someone because I had clearly forgotten how to act with other people.
“Right,” Josey said. “Thanks.”
I held out the to-go tray in his direction, and he gently pulled one of the iced coffee cups out of the saturated carboard.
“Were you waiting long?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I’m chronically early; don’t worry about it.”
“Alright.” He blinked at me, the dark fan of his lashes a sharp contrast to the pink of his hair and his face. “I won’t.”
I swallowed hard, staring at the man in front of me who had already accepted two of the things about me that gave everyone else pause like they were all very normal and usual things.
We both had to know it was very uncommon for men to walk around smelling like a day spa, but Josey liked it on me.
And normally when I told people how early I liked to arrive to functions, they gave me a list of reasons my preparations weren’t necessary.
But not Josey.
“Are you ready?” I asked, jerking my thumb in the direction of the front door. “My broker is already inside waiting. She’s got a whole list of houses, I’m sure.”
“Of course.” Josey took a step back and looked up at the garage and the front entry of the house, his plush lips turning down into a frown before he asked, “What’s our budget, Reg?”
I got distracted by the way his mouth moved when he talked, thinking for a fleeting moment what it would sound like to hear him call me by my full name. Embarrassed over my ill-timed lapse in judgement, I blurted out my actual budget—which I hadn’t planned to do. “Three million.”
Josey cleared his throat.
“It was an inheritance,” I quickly explained, covering half my face with my coffee cup.
The lingering tension in Josey’s face vanished as quickly as it appeared. He gave me a sincere smile and took a step toward the house.
“Three million it is,” he said. “What are the things you want most in a house?”
“I don’t even care,” I said, another inappropriate bit of commentary.
“I mean, I do care. But I have an apartment, and I love my apartment. I also work a lot, and my sister is pushing me to have an actual home to spend time in when I’m not at work as opposed to my apartment which she has deemed unsuitable for life. ”
Josey chuckled. “Meddling sister, got it.”
“She means well.”
“They always do,” he agreed.
“She’s also the one who set me up on H2H,” I admitted.
“That’s what you said. You know, I’m sure she means well,” Josey parroted back to me, and I answered that with a jerky nod.
Ahead of us, the front door pushed open from the inside and Claire stuck her head out, eyes darting between me and Josey with laser precision.
“You boys ready?” she hollered out.
“My broker is also my sister,” I muttered under my breath, which earned me a laugh that sounded like it had grown and burst right out of Josey’s soft belly. “Her name is Claire.”
“Perfect,” he said to me, projecting his voice for the next bit. “We were born ready, Claire. Let’s get into it.”