Chapter 13
Natasha
I rub my eyes. “Can you two hurry the hell up?” I frown as I lean my head onto the steering wheel. I’m frigging delirious. They finally finish up and we head down the street. Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ blares from my handbag.
“Shit, get that, Abbs,” I snap.
After rummaging through my bag, she answers. “Hi…. No, this is Abbie…um yeah, hang on a sec…. Who’s speaking, please?” She puts her hand over the phone.
“It’s Adrian.”
“Who?” I frown.
She hunches her shoulders. “Adrian.”
“Oh shit. Josh’s Adrian.” I quickly pull over the car. I snatch the phone.
“Hi, this is Natasha.” Damn, I sound like a schoolteacher.
“Hi, Natasha, sorry to bother you. It’s Adrian. Are you busy?”
I frown, that’s a strange question.
“It’s just…I was wondering if you could help me out?”
“Sure, Adrian. Is everything OK?”
“Not really, it’s Josh.”
My heart jumps in my chest. “What’s wrong?” I snap.
“No, it’s OK. We have just had a really long lunch and we are in a bar in the Rocks.” I smile as I imagine Josh drunk in a sleazy bar. “Anyway, that guy that Josh had that fight with the other night…um, that friend of yours.”
“Todd,” I snap.
“Yes, he turned up about forty minutes ago.”
“Right,” I wince.
“They are just glaring at each other at this stage.”
“Who is Josh with?”
“His two exec friends from IBM.” My mind is going a million miles per minute. Surely this can’t be good. “Um, anyway Josh just ordered all of the bodyguards out of the pub and asked me to go home.”
My eyes bulge. “Is that abnormal?”
“Well, he’s never done anything like this before.” Holy fuck, they’re going to kill each other.
“I know this sounds lame, but can you come and get him? If he gets into another fight it will affect his visa. This idiot already put him up on an assault charge.”
“OK. I’m on my way. Where are you?”
“Thanks. We are at the Observer in the Rocks.” Oh shit. I hang up and start driving like a maniac.
“What’s going on?” Abbie frowns.
“Todd, the fuckwit, has turned up at the place where Josh is drinking.”
“Oh shit, that can’t be good.”
“I know, anyway he has ordered his bodyguards out of the Observer Hotel. They are going to get into a fight.”
“Oh fuck.” Abbie winces.
“I know,” I snap. “OK, come up with a plan.”
“Plan.” She frowns. “I’m hopeless at plans.”
“Just fucking think of one.” As I speed up, a taxi pulls out in front of me and I swerve to miss it.
“I want to get there alive you know.”
My tongue is hanging out as I concentrate. I hold up my hand. “OK, I’ve got it. You’re going to take one for the team.”
“Huh.” She frowns.
“You need to get Todd out of there so, so…take one for the team.”
She bursts out laughing. “You want me to sleep with Todd to save him.”
I smile at her as I drive. “Please don’t grow morals now. I need you.”
“Jeez, chill out, will you? I’ve already slept with Todd and I don’t really want to do it again.”
I slam my foot on the brake and we both jump forward. “Eeww, you tried to set me up with your sloppy seconds?” I’m beyond mortified.
“Well, how else would I know he wasn’t a serial killer?”
“I have no words for you now. Actually, yes I do. You’re repulsive.
” She smiles her sneaky slut smile at me, and I shiver in repulsion.
Thank god Josh saved me, I shudder to think what could have happened.
I would have been scarred for life. We get to the bar and park the car.
With linked arms we gingerly approach the bar.
Adrian sees us.
“Oh, thank god you’re here.” He smiles. It is then I see the three burly bodyguards out front.
“Who are they?” I point to the three men with my chin.
“This is Thomas, Josh’s bodyguard.”
I frown. “Where’s Ben?”
“He went home to America for a funeral.” I smile and shake his hand. “And the other two are Josh’s friends’ bodyguards.” “What do Josh’s friends do?”
“They are executives at IBM.” Abbie rolls her eyes at me as if to signify more ridiculous wealth.
I smile and nod, totally understanding her meaning.
I look through the window and see Josh walk over to Todd, holy fuck.
It is actually laughable to think that a man with as much power as Joshua Stanton, who is probably wearing a fifteen-thousand-dollar suit, is in a bar, ready to pub brawl like a pig farmer.
With apprehension I walk into the bar and straight over to the two men.
I walk up behind Josh and hear him snap out the words.
“Why in the fuck did you say it then?”
“To piss you off, and it worked, didn’t it?”
“Don’t push your fucking luck or you will be coughing up a kidney.” My heart warms at the sound of my knight in shining armor defending my honor.
I put my hand on his back. “Hi baby.”
He turns and frowns, shocked at seeing me. “Tash, what are you doing here?” he slurs. Oh my, he is drunk.
I smile. “I came to take you home, baby,” I whisper in his ear.
He smiles and leans into me. Simultaneously Abbie grabs Todd’s hand and drags him to the dance floor.
I give her a wink as she passes me. Todd looks like he is the cat that got the cream and is quite happy to be sidetracked by my beautiful friend.
Surely, it’s not going to be that easy, is it? Josh smiles and pulls me into an embrace and starts to immediately suck on my neck. I step back.
“Down boy,” I whisper. It is then I notice the two men in very expensive suits across the room. Josh drags me over to his friends.
“This is Natasha,” he pronounces as he kisses the back of my hand. His eyes linger on my face with a look I have not seen before. Oh, I like drunk Josh—he’s quite charming.
“Showstopper, it’s nice to meet you,” one of the men says as he puts his hand out to shake mine. I frown and Josh and the other man burst into laughter.
“Showstopper? I’m sorry, you have me at a loss.” I frown.
“We—” he gestures to him and his friend, “—have renamed you showstopper.” I frown as Josh once again kisses the back of my hand without one bit of embarrassment. Hmm, I definitely do like this cuddly version of my man.
“You are a showstopper because we weren’t allowed to go to any strip shows tonight because—” he puts his two fingers up to accentuate the quote, “—Natasha wouldn’t like it.
” He pokes me in the chest as he smiles at me.
Really. This is news. My face turns red as I smile at Josh and he pulls me into an embrace and kisses my forehead.
I smile, a little embarrassed and unsure what to say.
He’s dead on target; I would have gone postal if he went to a strip club tonight.
The two men giggle and Josh leans in and grabs my face.
“I fucking adore you.” He then grabs me and starts to full-on tongue kiss me in front of his two friends.
OK, not so sure about the cuddly PDA now, way too far.
I pull back and do wide eyes at him to signify for him to stop it.
He giggles and starts to kiss my hand again.
Jeez, he’s so touchy and over-the-top affectionate.
The two men laugh, and one slaps a fifty-dollar bill into the other’s hand.
“I told you. I give it six months and he’ll be fucking married.
” Thankfully Josh didn’t hear that. He’s too busy trying to sex me up in public with my fingers in his mouth.
Oh boy, I need to get him home or he will try to go for it on the pool table.
I pull him over to the door and out into the cool air and he trips down the stairs.
“How much did you drink, baby?” I giggle and he stumbles.
“Too fucking much. We’re going home,” he announces to the bodyguards and they in turn smile at me as if to say job well done.
“Can you give my keys to my friend, please?” Big burly guy smiles and nods and disappears into the pub.
Abbie takes the keys and smiles and gives me the thumbs-up.
She probably will get with Todd tonight.
Yuck, so not going there. Josh and I stumble toward his limo with his arm draped around my shoulder.
“I’m going to take you home and fuck you three ways,” he slurs into my ear as he stumbles sideways. We both sidestep down the footpath.
“Josh, sshh, keep your voice down,” I whisper as I look around to see if anyone can hear him.
Jeez three ways, what the hell? My eyes widen.
Oohh, shit, I know what he means…surely not.
Not when he’s in this state. Maybe I should have gotten drunk tonight too.
We get to the limo and I open the door and signify for him to get in before me.
Instead he pushes me up against the car with the door open behind me.
He slowly swipes his tongue through my open lips as his hands hold on to either side of my face.
I feel faint as my heart rate picks up. How in the hell can this man bring me to my knees even in this inebriated state?
He slowly and gently commands my arousal as he kisses me deeply, his tongue demanding me to give myself over to him.
He tastes like Cointreau, and his now hard, throbbing length is digging into my hip, my body softening against his hardness. He pulls back and stares into my eyes.
“Do you love me?” My heart jumps and my world stops spinning on its axis. Never in a million years did I imagine he was going to ask that question.
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation, relieved that he asked, and I didn’t have to spit it out on my own. He smiles the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, and I fall just a little bit harder. How did I get here, so in love with a man that I can’t even see straight?
“Get in the car, baby, let’s go home,” I whisper. I don’t need to go anywhere in all honesty, as long as I’m with him I am already home. Even blind drunk he has me totally under his spell. In fact, I am the one feeling intoxicated, drunk on his pheromones. He nods and kisses me again.
“Hmm,” he whispers as his eyes stay closed.
“Josh…car.” I smile.