Chapter 5
Chapter five
Apparently, I drank a little too much wine because I woke up with a raging headache. My forehead feels like it’s being split in two from the inside out. I should be getting ready for my coffee date with the girls, but instead I’m cleaning up the mess I left in my living room last night.
When I finally rolled out of bed this morning to hunt down something for my head, I found my living room in shambles.
For a moment, I thought someone had broken in and trashed my house while I was in my wine-induced coma.
I was seconds away from running back into my room to grab my cell phone and call the cops.
That thought lasted about another two seconds before I saw a ripped-up photo of my own face at my feet in a pile of dozens of other images. All torn to pieces and thrown haphazardly in my living room.
The night slowly returns to me as I drink my morning coffee silently while staring into the beautiful red roses on my kitchen island across from me.
The flowers. The wine. The photo on the mantle.
Sure enough, the frame that once held a photo of my entire friend group is now the proud home of a poorly taped-up photo of Josh and me.
I really need to quit drinking.
Rolling my eyes at myself, I grab a plastic trash bag from under the sink and start tossing all the ripped-up photographs inside. One by one, I cringe at how feral I let myself get last night.
My brain is running a looped montage of me searching through all my photo albums, then ripping apart every single photo that contained Teagan.
This obsession needs to stop before someone gets hurt.
What if she had stopped by out of the blue and saw all our photos torn to shreds like this?
She’s my best friend. I can’t keep doing this to her.
What would have happened to me if my friends had seen this?
I shove the last of the evidence from last night’s episode into the bag, tie it in a knot, and push it to the bottom of my trash bin so nobody can stumble upon it.
I’m startled by the loud knock at my front door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and the girls usually call rather than show up unannounced. This is the second uninvited visitor at my door in the last twelve hours, and I’m not amused.
My eyes scan the room to make sure I got every single photo. Everything looks back to normal here after my cleaning sprint. I check my reflection in the mirror by my front door and like what I see enough to let the world take a peek.
I open the door slowly, then fling it all the way once I see who’s waiting on the other side.
“They forgot to send this with the roses,” he says with a smirk while he twists a little white envelope in his hands. I see my name written in dark, bold ink on the front.
I grab the card from his hands and open it in a rush.
Lexi,
I would give you the world if I could.
But I hope you’ll settle for my silent affection.
I smile at him and hold the small card to my heart. “I’ll take whatever you’re willing to share with me.”
His answering smile weakens my knees as he tosses his dark hair back. “So are you going to invite me in or…”
Instead of answering him, I grab him by the collar of his charcoal grey button-up and pull his lips to mine, relishing in his warmth and the familiar taste of him.
I pull away and look into his dark eyes.
“Hi, Josh.”
He pushes past me, stepping into my home like he owns the place, and throws his jacket onto the back of my white leather couch before making his way to the small kitchen.
Rationally, I know I should be annoyed that a man dismissed me so easily. But when Josh does it, I find it endearing, like he’s comfortable enough here to call it his own one day.
I follow him, perch on one of the three barstools lined up against the island, and watch him silently move around my kitchen.
Something about it feels deliciously sinful.
My best friend’s boyfriend shouldn’t know where my favorite wine glasses are, and he most definitely shouldn’t know what drawer I keep the wine opener in.
But Josh does. He knows almost everything about my place and even more about my heart.
Because Josh should have been mine, and he would have been in another life.
Until Teagan stole him from right under my nose.
Not that she knew I had feelings for him.
At the time, I was his interim secretary at the architectural design firm where he worked, and I made it very clear that he was off limits to me.
Before the firm hired me full-time, I wouldn’t risk sleeping with my boss.
I didn’t think I had to specify to my best friend that he was also off-limits to her.
I foolishly invited her to the office for lunch one afternoon and asked her to wait in the lobby for me since the taco truck I loved was just around the corner. Unfortunately, Josh decided he also wanted tacos that day and was already waiting in line when we walked up.
I finally knew what that whole ‘love at first sight’ thing was when they first laid eyes on each other.
I just wish it had happened to me instead.
Not that it matters. I have him now. All it took was Teagan choosing her friends over him, over and over again, to drive him straight into my waiting arms.
“Do you want red or white?” Josh asks, bringing me back to the present as he holds up two bottles.
“Isn’t it a little early for wine?”
Josh sighs with annoyance, and I know I’ve screwed up. “But, it’s your engagement celebration, you pick,” I say with a playful smirk, hoping to ease the tension I caused. I know he didn’t propose.
“Last night didn’t exactly go as planned. I didn’t propose to her,” he tells me. His face flushes quickly before his features return to their normal stoic state. “But I don’t want to talk about that. I want to enjoy the next hour of free time with you.”
He sighs and looks down at each bottle before putting the white back in the fridge. The sleeves on his shirt are rolled up to his forearms, and I watch the muscles bulge and flex as he twists the wine opener into the cork.
The cork comes loose with a muted pop, and he pours us each a generous glass of Merlot. Josh hands me my glass, and that electric current pulses through my body the moment our fingers graze.
I should tell him I don’t want the wine because I’m supposed to meet the girls in an hour and a half. But I don’t say anything because I’d rather drink him up in every way I can now that he’s here with me. Plus, nothing quite cures a hangover like drinking again.
He taps his glass to mine. “Cheers to…” His eyebrows furrow for just a moment as a flash of hurt skates across his handsome features.
“No cheers, just drink,” I tell him softly as I lift my glass to my lips and sip. The bold flavors of the wine erupt in my mouth, making me moan in response. “Then maybe you can fill me in on what happened last night?
He shakes his head. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.
I just needed a place to go and unwind in private.
” His eyes flash to mine as he sips his wine.
“Teagan is driving me nuts with all this anniversary vacation shit. I finally got her to agree to the cruise I’m so lovingly paying for.
I told her I got called into the office just to get some space away from her.
I’m not ready to go back to Teagan’s—” He pauses when he says her name for the second time.
His eyes flick to mine with a silent apology.
The one rule is that he is not allowed to speak her name while we’re together.
I purse my lips and put my glass back on the countertop harder than I meant to. Red liquid sloshes over the sides and onto the marble.
When I look back up, Josh is staring at my lips. His eyes graze down my neck and stop at the cleavage peeking out of my silk robe. His hand reaches out, grasps my belt, and tugs me closer to him before he takes a large drink of his wine.
And just like that, I know how we’ll spend the rest of the morning. The girls won’t mind that I’m a little late.
My lips meet his in a frantic frenzy as his mouth savagely claims mine.
“Don’t tell her,” I moan. I remind him of this every time we meet in secret. “She can never know about us.”
Josh’s lips leave mine as he grabs me from under my thighs and pulls me to him. “Never. She’ll never know.”
I sigh with contentment before tugging my robe off and surrendering entirely to him.
Our affair is my most coveted secret—a secret I think I might just kill to keep.