The knock on Rose’s door froze her in place.
While her sister slept upstairs, Rose worried. And ran different scenarios in her head. And thought of Josh. And worried some more.
The whole thing had pushed her blood pressure to the limit, and when the knock came again, Rose was amazed she didn’t simply explode. “Shit,” she murmured. “Hang on!”
She kept the security chain on until she saw who it was. “Josh, what the hell are you doing here?”
And he had Harrison with him. Perfect. Heaven help them if Ron showed up. She didn’t want a child mixed up in whatever might happen next.
“Can we come in? Not for long, I swear.”
“Please?” Harrison added, looking sleepy.
How could she say no to that face? “Not for long, though,” she said as she removed the chain and pulled the door wide. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
“Yeah, I heard,” Josh murmured.
Oh. Hell. “What did you hear?”
“That you were in the middle of some sort of emergency. David wouldn’t give up the details.”
She sighed. He deserved to know, after everything they’d said to each other the night before. “Hey, Harrison? I have a whole bunch of puzzles on the shelf in the living room. Why don’t you go and find one to work on while your dad and I talk?”
It probably wouldn’t keep him busy for long, but it would give her a few minutes with Josh to talk.
He turned to her as soon as Harrison left the room. “Are you okay? Your text worried the hell out of me, and Dave didn’t help.”
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intent.” She sighed. “My sister showed up this morning. She has a black eye. I guess she’d tried to call last night but she called from a new number. She left her boyfriend. The same one who…you know. He’s not a good guy, and she thinks he might try to kill her if he finds her. I need find a safe place to take her.”
His face clouded over. “This is the same sister who chose that asshole over you after he did what he did?”
Her stomach twisted. “Yes. And that still hurts, but I can’t in good conscience leave her on her own. She could be in actual danger.”
“What about the police?”
“She said he has friends on the force where they lived. David, this is serious. I called Vicky and told her I need some time. I’ll be working part-time from home. Or from wherever. So I can help Lily.”
“Rose, this is crazy. What about—”
She slapped a hand over his mouth. “Can you use your library voice please? I don’t want Harrison to overhear. And my sister is upstairs sleeping.”
Josh took two steps into the living room and grabbed the remote from an end table. He switched the television to a cartoon channel, and Harrison was immediately caught in its tractor beam. “That’s one problem solved.”
“Josh—”
He sighed, pulled her across the way into the kitchen, and then threw open the pantry door in the corner. “This’ll work.” He flicked on the light and shut the door behind him.
The tiny, triangular storage room left little space for them to do anything except stand practically nose to nose. It made Rose so aware of his size and his smell and the touch of his skin, which her body clearly had not gotten enough of.
“Josh, this is crazy.”
“You’re damn right it is.”
Rose shivered with each pass of Josh’s breath across her cheek. “What I mean is, you shouldn’t be here. Harrison shouldn’t be here. Lily said Ron probably doesn’t know where I live, but ‘probably’ doesn’t mean for sure. I could be wrong. God knows, everything I know about stalking I learned on television, but wouldn’t it suck if I was right?”
“So what are you planning to do?”
“Like I said, I think I need to find Lily a place to stay. In case Douchebag Ron tries to find her.” She didn’t have any answers. Not for sure.
“You can’t just leave,” Josh murmured. “What about all the things we talked about?”
Her heart thumped mightily against her rib cage. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know how long this will take to get resolved. When we said all those things, my sister didn’t think her boyfriend was trying to kill her.”
He squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to block it all out. “I have to ask, Rose. Absolutely you should help your sister, but how do you know she won’t turn around and choose him again?”
It would easier if he wasn’t saying things she’d already thought of. The tight ball of nerves in her stomach squeezed tighter and tighter. “I’ve got to take that risk. How could I live with myself if I turned my back on her?”
He sighed, pressing his forehead to hers. “I know. You’d never forgive yourself, and I’d hate myself for suggesting it.” He went quiet, and he tightened his arms around her. His solid support was nice. Too bad they couldn’t stay this way. “Okay,” he said. “Let me help you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You also can’t ask me to walk away without knowing your plans and whether or not you’re all right.”
“We just need to press pause, okay? While I deal with this.”
His mouth tightened. “How long?”
“I already told you I don’t know. Josh, I’m kind of freaking out. Worrying about Lily is about all I can handle right now, and I don’t want you here if Ron figures out where I live. I love you, and I don’t want you or Harrison in any possible danger.”
Not exactly the way she’d planned to tell him. It was out now, though. No taking it back.
His kiss took her by surprise, but it also pulled her out of her what-if spiral. The heat of his lips and the firm grip of his hands grounded her.
Before he’d arrived she’d been sitting in that living room alone and unmoored, trying not to resent her sister for choosing the worst possible time to resurface in her life. For forcing Rose to be the mature sibling. Then Josh had arrived, and as much as she hated to admit it, seeing him had been a relief. The Josh of ten years ago had turned into Josh the father, the hard worker, the calm inside the storm. Secretly, she liked the way he wrapped her up and made her stronger.
But she couldn’t let him be a part of this. “Josh, I’m serious.”
“So am I.” He kissed her again. Kissed her softly, and then firm, sliding his tongue along her lip and claiming her in a way Rose never thought she’d want to be claimed.
He pulled back, sliding a hand from her waist down the back of her leg, inching his way under her skirt. The involuntary gasp she let loose from her mouth made him pause.
“What are you doing,” she whispered.
“If we really need to press pause, this could be our last chance to be together for…who knows how long? I need to touch you again. Please, Rose.”
She nodded against his mouth, not entirely sure what she was agreeing to. Not entirely sure she cared. Only knowing that the rush of tingles across her skin when he touched her and the heady taste of his kiss was a thing she’d never gotten from anybody but him.
“What about Harrison and my sister—”
“Your sister is sleeping, and Harrison is like a zombie when he’s locked into the cartoon channel. We’ve got a little time. Right?”
“Let’s not waste it then.” Who knew how long they really had?
Josh was right. This could be their last chance to be together for a while. Besides, touching him helped soothe the ache in her heart. The one that told her once again, she needed to say goodbye to him.
“I need you so fucking badly,” Josh breathed as he nibbled her ear. Kissed her neck. Her collarbone. Pulled aside her top and brushed his lips across that tiny mole on her shoulder.
A mighty drum pounded in his chest as he swept his fingers across her hip and teased at the edges of her skirt, each touch cranking up the throbbing in his balls. They had been so close, so many times, only to be interrupted.
Ridiculous, fucked-up, horrible timing be damned. He needed Rose right now.
He’d last seen Kara with her face red from anger as she’d screamed at him that she needed a break. He’d never had the chance to apologize or make things right. If he had to say goodbye to Rose, he would say it with every inch of his body.
She wrapped one finger around his belt loop, using the other hand to pull at his zipper and free him. The heat of her hand on his dick knocked his breath from his body, making it whoosh out, along with a nearly pained groan as she stroked him.
“Rose.” He stumbled and grasped for purchase on her arms. “I’m so hard for you, I think my dick might break. You gotta stop or this will be over before it starts, you know?”
She chuckled. It was good to hear her laugh.
“Tell me what you suggest,” she said.
“I’ll show you.” He lifted her and pulled her legs around his waist, then pushed her against the pantry door. All those mornings dragging himself out of bed to work out before he got Harrison up were finally paying off. Josh shoved her thin satin panties aside. He was poised, ready to enter, when he realized he’d forgotten something important.
“Shit. Condom.”
“My purse is in the kitchen.”
“I’ve got one.” He lowered her and fumbled for his wallet. “Damn.” Which had never been so hard to get out of his pocket in his life. “I’ve got to wear looser pants from now on.”
He let the fact that he’d made her laugh again drown the bittersweet knowledge that he didn’t know what would happen to them next. He wrestled the foil packet from his billfold and wrapped himself up faster than he ever had in his life. His fingers shook. “Shit. Rose. This is… I mean, it’s not like we haven’t already…” Fuck. Why was he suddenly nervous?
“Shhh.” She threaded her fingers through his hair. “Me too.”
God, he’d always loved her honesty. How Rose was so unapologetically herself, so loud and vibrant. He’d missed the way she’d colored his world. And the thought of saying goodbye again made it hard to breathe.
So he pushed his hands under her skirt and pulled down her sexy-ass thong, wrapped her legs around his waist again, and pushed inside.
“Oh my God,” she whispered in his ear. “I forgot how good this was.”
Holy shit. He could definitely relate to that feeling.
Josh groaned. “I missed you so much,” he said as he moved his hips. And he had. He loved his son, and when it came down to it, he’d cared for Kara. He wouldn’t dream of a history where that part of his life hadn’t happened…but he wished it hadn’t cost him Rose. She’d always been the person who lit him up.
Here he was, looking at an uncertain future with her again. Maybe they just had terrible timing.
She tightened her legs around his waist and he thrust deeper, harder, chest pounding and legs shaking. He tried to tell her with his body how much he craved her, how much she stirred him up, how she made him crazy in all the best ways. How he loved her, and he couldn’t bear to let her go.
His lips wouldn’t work, so this would have to do.
“Josh.” She gasped harder, faster, breathier.
So he pumped faster. Held her tighter. “Can’t believe…I ever thought…one last time would be enough, Rose. It’ll never be enough.”
“But— Oh God!”
She bit his shoulder, a whine escaping from her throat. The slick walls of her sex clamped tightly around him, and his effort to have the world’s quietest orgasm nearly made his head explode.
Josh held her there, breathing in sync with her, until his arms shook from the tension of holding so still.
“That was amazing,” she whispered.
He lowered her feet to the floor. “It always has been.”
Her smile turned sad. “I’m so sorry. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing for us to do. But it doesn’t feel safe to have Lily stay here. I need to help her. She doesn’t even have clothing.”
“I get it,” he said. The shit part was, he really did.
He didn’t want to. But he did.
“Here.” He grabbed a roll of paper towels from a shelf and cleaned himself up before grabbing his wallet where it lay discarded on the floor. “I’ve got some cash.” He held up his hand when she opened her mouth as if to argue. “Giving you a few dollars won’t hurt me, and it’s a good idea for you to have cash.”
She nodded as she adjusted her skirt. “You’re right. Okay.”
He withdrew the bills he’d gotten from the bank that morning. “If you’ll permit me to offer a suggestion. Wherever you’re planning to go, don’t take a direct route. Pull more cash out of the bank than you think you’ll need. Zigzag for a little while, and make sure you use your credit cards when you’re going the wrong way, so he has a false trail. Ditch your phone. I don’t know if he’s got access to that information but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”
“Well, someone’s clever.”
He smiled. “I’m not, but I read a lot. If Simon Prince has done it then it must be a good idea.”
“The supernatural mercenary?”
He laughed. “He’s got all the answers.”
She took his hand in hers. “Thank you, Josh. Really.”
“Hey.” He stopped her with her hand on the knob. “You’ll call when you two have a plan, please? Doesn’t have to be me. Vicky. Anyone. So I know you’re safe.”
“Of course.”
“Dad?”
“Oh no.” Rose’s hand went to her mouth.
Dammit. Harrison. “Hopefully he didn’t hear anything.”
They adjusted their clothing and stepped out to find Harrison staring at them from one of the kitchen chairs. Next to him sat the woman he presumed was Rose’s sister. She looked tired, but slightly amused.
Harrison stared at them with wide eyes. “Are you guys okay?”
Rose’s sister gave them a small smile. “There was some banging on the door.”