Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Joshua
The evening wasn’t going to plan. Hartford was still dismissing my flirting, and she couldn’t take a compliment no matter how many I gave her. I was supposed to be stoking the fire of desire according to Tristan, but so far, I hadn’t seen evidence of so much as a spark.
“You know, you’ve got me thinking . . .I know I agreed to all this dating stuff to keep Gerry happy, but I’m coming round to the idea that maybe finding someone to love might not be the worst thing in the world.”
I nodded and glanced down to see if my heart was actually beating out of my chest. Had I managed to break through to her? Or was she talking about love in the abstract? Someone she might find in the future?
The attraction I felt for Hartford wasn’t anything like what I’d felt for Diana.
It felt deeper somehow, despite the fact that Diana and I were going to be married.
We’d both been so young and stupid. Hartford was delightfully open and honest, but she wasn’t na?ve.
I’d watched her save a man’s life tonight, stop a family’s grief before it started.
She was phenomenally capable, and although she was a little green in so many ways, it was nowhere that mattered.
She was a clever, sensitive, caring woman.
I completely respected her. But it was more than that.
As I sat holding her hand, listening to her experiences of medical school and Yemen, her theories on death and love, I couldn’t look away from the variety of expressions that danced across her face, the way she was so kind to the waiter, the patterns she drew in the air with her free hand as she waved it around to emphasize words here and there.
By the end of the evening, if I’d had any doubts of my need to be with Hartford, they had all fallen away.
“We should go,” Hartford said, glancing around. “There’s only us and one other couple left.”
“I’d stay here all night listening to you.”
She tilted her head and smiled. “So smooth, Joshua.”
She thought everything I said was a line.
But it wasn’t. It never was when I was with her because I didn’t need to fake anything when she was around.
I could just come out and say it, tell her how I was feeling—be as open and honest with her as she was with me.
It was a risk, and one I wasn’t prepared to take at the moment.
I wanted her to know I was serious; my feelings for her weren’t going to change overnight.
I nodded to the nearby waiter, getting his attention for him to bring the bill. “Just a hint. You might want to act a bit more impressed by your next date.”
“I’m immune,” she said, tapping her nose. “Created a Joshua Luca forcefield when my mum said she’d arranged me to sleep in your guest bedroom.”
The waiter interrupted with the bill before I got to ask about the forcefield.
“You’ve been so kind to me with the flat next door and coming to Gerry’s for dinner, introducing me to your friends, setting me up on dates, and now so thoroughly preparing me for one.”
We’d spent a lot of time together the last couple of months. I might have only realized that I wanted Harford recently, but looking back, the feeling had been coming on for . . . since that first day when I picked her up from the airport. “You’ve been a terrible burden, Hartford. But I’ve endured.”
“You can’t call me a terrible burden! I’m your date for the evening. I presume if Mr. Number Three tells me I’m a burden, I should cut the date short?”
“If anyone ever calls you a burden, you need to give me a call and I can remind you of the time you saved a man’s life over dinner.”
We locked eyes again. For a moment, I thought she understood what I was thinking, how I was feeling.
Did she understand that this date was anything but fake for me, that I wanted her to see how much I liked her?
Then the scrape of tables being moved at the other end of the restaurant broke the spell, and she grabbed her bag. I led her out of the restaurant.
I slipped my hand into hers as we headed back to the residences, strolling along in the warmth of the summer evening. Being with her felt so incredibly right—like life was exactly how it was meant to be.
“If he offers to walk me home, what do I say?” she asked me.
“It depends if you like him. It might be easier to take a cab, even if it’s walkable.
Then you don’t have to make a decision about whether or not you want him to come up.
” The very thought of another man riding up the elevator with her, his hands at her low back, his lips on her— “He’ll just see you to the cab door if he’s worth knowing, which this guy apparently is. ”
She nodded as if she was assimilating what I’d just told her. “That way, I don’t have to deal with any kind of . . . kissing incident.”
“Kissing incident?”
“Yes. Can you imagine if he wants to kiss me?” She made a face like she couldn’t fathom anything worse. I hope she hadn’t felt like that about our kiss.
“You might want to kiss him,” I replied over the dull pang in my gut.
“I can’t imagine I will,” she said. “He’ll be a virtual stranger. And we will have just eaten.”
As we continued back to the residences and up to the penthouse floor, she continued to tell me all the reasons she didn’t think she’d be kissing her date. I was happy to listen.
When we reached her front door, she turned to me. “I had the best time tonight.” She beamed up at me as if she couldn’t have wished for better company. “You’re a great date.” Her bluest of blue eyes sparkled clear and bright.
She pulled out her keys.
“You’ve forgotten one thing,” I said.
She frowned at me.
“The goodnight kiss.” I stepped closer to her and circled one arm around her waist. “I mean, we should be thorough.”
She gazed up at me, and I wasn’t sure what it was I could see in her expression—did she want this as much as I did?
“Okay?” I asked as I cupped her face.
Her mouth opened slightly as if she was going to say something, then she seemed to think better of it and just nodded.
My heart thumped on my ribcage as if it were desperate to be let out. I took a breath to steady myself.
Don’t fuck this up, Luca.
Why was I so nervous? I’d kissed her before. We’d slept together, for goodness’ sake. I supposed the difference was now I knew what I wanted and what I had to lose.
As if she could sense my anxiety, she gave me a small smile. It was all the encouragement I needed.
I dipped my head and pressed my lips to hers.
This time I wasn’t trying to silence her.
Or calm her down and make her see she was beautiful.
I was just doing what felt good. Again. And again.
I couldn’t remember focusing so much on a kiss before.
Usually, I was more interested in what came after the kiss.
But all I could think about in this moment were her warm, soft lips and the scent of cinnamon.
My tongue glided into her mouth and I had to tamp down the urge to slide my hand up her dress and press her against the door with my hips.
Her hands crept up my chest and I sank into her touch.
It just felt so right. Hopefully she was thinking the exact same thing.
Eventually, I pulled back and watched as she opened her eyes.
“Right,” she said, nodding. “I always think I must have been imagining it, but nope. No wonder.”
She wasn’t making much sense. “No wonder?”
“No wonder you can have your pick of women when you can kiss like that.”
I grinned. That didn’t sound like I’d fucked up.
“Can I though?” I asked.
Her eyebrows pulled together a fraction, but she didn’t answer. And I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there was at least one woman I wanted who I simply could not have.
“I should go inside,” she said. “That’s what I should say now? Even if he’s as hot as you and can kiss like that?”
“You’re thinking of inviting me in?”
“Goddamn that dimple,” she said. “I should definitely excuse myself or I’m going to .
. .” She narrowed her eyes as if she were trying to make sense of our ridiculous situation.
Instead of finishing her sentence, she pressed her palms to either side of my face and drew me toward her lips.
I closed my eyes, expecting to feel her mouth on mine, but instead she pressed a soft kiss just to the side of my mouth, where I realized that goddamn dimple must have appeared.
I couldn’t help my smile, or the sharp intake of breath that rushed into my lungs when Hartford’s soft kiss turned into a gentle bite.
Before I could react, she’d kissed the spot again.
“I’ve been thinking about doing that for fifteen years,” she whispered, her voice gone husky. “Good night, Joshua.”
She scuttled inside as if she’d catch fire if she stayed out a moment longer.
When her door shut, I pulled in a deep breath.
One date wasn’t going to be enough to have her see me as potential boyfriend material. But it was enough to tell me she was the only woman I wanted.
I just needed her to see I was the only man she needed.