Chapter 19
Flower Delivery
Three days later
LEXI PROPPED HER OPEN laptop on the scarred coffee table with a huff.
She’d just sent the final cover letter to the last magazine on her list. If nothing came from those, she would need to expand into areas that didn’t appeal, like tech or automotive.
She had no choice. She had to eat, and she had to make rent.
Stretched out in the secondhand armchair beside Lexi’s slip-covered, dilapidated couch, Anna looked at her over the top of her e-reader propped on her baby belly.
The four dingy walls of Lexi’s run-down studio apartment reminded her she needed an upgrade, but that took capital she didn’t have.
If only she could travel back to her beautiful suite at the Sapphire Hotel …
and the beautiful man she’d left behind.
“Well?” her best friend prodded. “Any good news?”
“Not yet, but I only just submitted my sample article yesterday and these final applications today. We’ll see if I get any hits.
” Since returning from Destiny, Lexi had feverishly focused every waking hour on writing and applying for positions as a copywriter—anything to distract her from her heartbreak.
How could leaving Josh hurt so damn bad after only knowing him one week? She felt as though someone had fisted a knife, plunged it into her heart, and twisted it until it had hollowed out a hole too big to fill.
“That’s great about the job, Lex, but I was referring to Josh. Have you heard from him?”
“Not much. He’s been busy getting ready to go.
We’ve traded a few ho-hum texts. Not much else.
” His new team had only given him a few days to get everything together, and he’d had to sprint through his preparations.
He was leaving for Russia tonight. She crossed her fingers that they’d get a chance for a long talk later while he waited for his flight.
“Ho-hum in what way? ‘How’s the weather?’ That kind of thing?”
Lexi lifted her eyes to the ceiling. Jeez, were those new brown stains up there? “Last night he texted me for my address. When I asked him why, he said he wanted to send me something. He wouldn’t say what.”
“Flowers, probably. He sounds like the flowers type.”
“There’s a ‘flowers type’? What does that even mean?”
A sharp knock on Lexi’s door startled her. She reached it in two strides—her living room was only a few strides wide. “Who is it?”
“Flower delivery.” She exchanged a look with Anna.
“Told you,” Anna laughed.
Lexi opened the door and froze. There stood Josh, a huge smile on his face and a bouquet of flowers in his fist. “Miss me?”
Every circuit in her brain scrambled. Her jaw dropped, and she gawped at him.
Blinked. He still stood there. Maybe he was real.
He looked real, from his neatly groomed chestnut locks to those quicksilver eyes and that chiseled body she’d had her hands all over mere days ago.
He wore a brown leather jacket over a white button-down, blue jeans that fit him like a glove, and a pair of leather sneakers.
My, oh my, he looked good enough to eat.
He gently lifted her chin and closed her mouth. “Can I come in?”
“W-what are you doing here?”
He thrust the bouquet at her. “I brought you flowers.”
She swiveled her head toward Anna, who was behind the door and out of Josh’s line of sight. “He brought me flowers,” she said dumbly.
The smile slid from his handsome face, and he shoved his free hand through his hair. “Shit. You’ve got company. I should have called.”
Lexi’s brain began to come back online. “No, no. It’s only Anna.”
“It’s only me,” Anna echoed.
Lexi pulled him in by the wrist and slammed the door. “Um, Josh Wylder, this is my best friend, Anna Adamik. Anna, Josh. From Destiny. The Sapphire Hotel. Vacation,” she babbled. A blush blazed across her chest and spread to her scalp.
“Hello, Josh from Destiny.” Anna gave him a quick once-over. “Lex, you didn’t exaggerate. He is gorgeous.”
Josh beamed a confused smile. “Thank you?” He stood there, hand still extended and holding the bouquet.
Anna began hefting her pregnant bulk from the chair. “Somebody should put those in water before they wilt.”
Lexi jumped. “Oh! Um … No, Anna, sit. I’ve got this.” She snatched the flowers from Josh’s grasp and led him to the kitchen sink along one wall. She turned and narrowed her eyes. “So why are you here?”
Hesitation flickered in his grays. “Besides delivering the flowers, I came to ask you a question.”
“Why didn’t you just call?”
“This one needs to be asked in person.”
Not the greeting Josh was hoping for, but what had he expected?
A hungry kiss with her tongue chasing his would have been nice.
A hug, at the very least. All he got was an adorably flustered Lexi, which was great, considering how much he’d missed her, but her reaction wasn’t giving him much confidence in this crazy-ass venture he’d put together only yesterday.
At least she still wore the pendant—she’d touched it at least five times since he’d walked in.
What if he’d grossly miscalculated? Too late to turn back now.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean the question the way it sounded. What I meant was you went to a lot of trouble to bring me flowers and ask a question.”
“It’s an important question.”
“Um, okay.” She went up on tiptoe and stretched for a vase on the top shelf of a cabinet, her fingers merely brushing it. She wore black leggings that showed off her shapely legs and that gorgeous ass of hers, along with a baggy sweatshirt that hid too much.
“Here. Let me get that.” Without intending to, he pressed against her back as he reached for the vase.
Her sweet scent wreathed him, all oranges and flowers and Lexi.
God, he’d missed that! As he brought down the vase, he stuck his nose in her hair.
Couldn’t help himself. “Damn, you smell good,” he whispered and pulled away before he embarrassed himself further.
She turned her head and gave him a smoldering look that arrowed straight to his crotch. Maybe this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.
He glanced toward Lexi’s BF, Anna, who gave him an eyebrow bounce and a pinkie wave from where she sat a mere ten feet away. Lexi’s apartment was smaller than his hotel room at the Sapphire had been. “Um, is there somewhere private we can go?” he said under his breath.
“Only the bathroom, but it would be a tight fit for two. Nothing like my suite,” she whispered back. To Anna she said, “Isn’t it time for you to pee again?”
“No, I’m good,” Anna announced cheerily. “Don’t mind me, kids. I’ll cover my ears.”
Josh reined in his annoyance with the pregnant woman. She’d been invited, and she’d been here first; he was the one crashing the party.
Lexi shook her head, a smile hitching a corner of her mouth he wanted to lean in and kiss. Lick. Suck. Unaware of his wayward thoughts, she filled the vase with water and began arranging the flowers.
This. A domestic vignette. Josh had had a glimpse of what having Lexi in his world could be like—though he pictured it in a space much larger than this one—and he craved that comfortable home life with her.
Craved her. Despite all the warning signals—his mom’s failed relationship, his brother’s divorce—he wanted a future with Lexi.
More importantly, he didn’t want a future without her.
When Josh had announced his plan to fly to Denver to his mother and brother, Brad had told him he was out of his fucking mind.
“Why would you want to tie yourself down to one woman when you can switch them up all the time?” Josh’s answer?
He didn’t want women he could “switch up.” He didn’t want the smorgasbord his brother fantasized about. He didn’t want anyone but Lexi.
Later, his mother had pulled him aside with concern lining her features.
“I get it, Mom,” he’d said. “You loved someone once, and that didn’t turn out so well.
He abandoned us. But thanks to the way you brought us up, I’m not that guy, and I don’t think Lexi’s wired that way either.
Hell, she was loyal to a guy who didn’t care about her—for three years.
And even if we’re not right for each other, how will I know unless I take a chance?
Playing it safe means losing her, and I can’t live with that. ”
She’d placed her hand on his arm. “You’re right, Josh.
You’re not your father, and I shouldn’t let his and my past cloud my judgment about your future.
Just because he and I failed doesn’t mean you’re bound to repeat our mistakes.
This is your life. So whatever you decide, wherever your heart takes you, you go live your best version of it. ”
“You had a question for me?” Lexi prompted, pulling him from the echoes of that conversation.
He leaned a hip against her cracked counter and crossed his arms over his chest protectively. His stomach was a riot of acid and spiky things. “I do. I got another opportunity, and I can’t decide between that one and Russia.”
Her hands stilled, and her eyes went wide. “I thought Russia was done, that you were on your way. Like, tonight.”
“No. I bought some more time so I could get your input.”
Her eyes widened farther, her shock evident. “Mine?”
He nodded. “Let me tell you about the other offer.” He filled her in on the chance to sign as a backup for the Dunehawks.
“I thought you didn’t want to be a backup.”
“It’s not the worst thing in the world—as long as I can talk you into moving to Phoenix with me.”
She dropped the flowers. “What? We’ve known each other for ten days!”
“So move in with me, and we’ll get to know each other a whole hell of a lot better.”
“That’s crazy talk!”
“Like I said before, I go a little crazy whenever I’m around you.”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times, and her gaze darted to the ceiling, the counter, back to the ceiling. Let her process. Don’t push.