“I don’t understand. We had her sitting in the dining room chairs with the soft backs.”
“It’s not the chairs,” Sam answered, his glance shifting to the fireplace. “I think it’s the damn heels.”
Chance’s grip on her hand tightened, and Josie looked between the two men. Both seemed angry. She couldn’t blame them. She knew the purpose of this evening, and now they thought she was going to let them down. “Look, guys, it’s really not that bad. We can still do…uh…things. I’m really fine. This is just a little ache that I get almost every day.”
As she looked from one to the other their expressions got even darker. With the pain she felt, and her heightened nerves about tonight’s plans, she was just a morass of confusion. Everything was getting to be too much. She wanted to go home. Now. She was sick of not measuring up. For an instant in Sam’s arms last night, she thought she’d been good enough, but looking at the thundercloud on his face, she was obviously wrong. She wanted to go lick her wounds in private.
“Josie, come back to us.” Sam’s curt demand cut through her confusion. She looked over at him. When had he sat beside her on the couch? Why did he look concerned all of a sudden?
“Where did you just go?”
“Huh?”
“In your head, you just went to a really bad place. I could see it on your face. Where did you go?” Sam asked gently. He lifted his arm and put it around her, letting it rest as gently as a butterfly on her shoulder, as if he knew any kind of pressure might hurt.
“I’m just screwing this up, Sam.” Josie was aware of Chance still kneeling in front of her, holding her hand, but Sam seemed to understand her dark places, and it felt like he pulled answers from her, so she spoke to him. “Yeah, I really, really hurt.” She felt one tear drip down her face, and she swallowed so she could continue. “I wanted this to go right, even though I didn’t know where it was going. I care so much for both of you, it really scares me. You both seem to like me, and I don’t know why.” Another tear. “But now I hurt so bad I messed everything up and you just have to take me home.”
It was at that moment her back clenched in spasm. She gripped Chance’s hand, and gritted her teeth, arching up. It was gone in just a moment, leaving her breathing like a horse that had just run a race. She looked at Chance then back at Sam, the tears falling freely. “Please just take me home,” she begged.
Chance stood up and she was in his arms before she could blink.
“Baby, do you have your medicine?” Sam asked as he followed Chance down the hall.
It took a moment for Josie to comprehend the question, and then she shook her head against Chance’s neck. She was having trouble forming words.
Really? Really? Were the shoes worth it?
I’m going to give every pair of heels I own to Goodwill just as soon as I’m through dying, Josie promised herself.
“She said no, Sam. No medicine. Do you need to go back to her apartment?” Chance asked.
Josie felt herself being laid down on a soft comforter. It didn’t matter how soft, it hurt.
“Seriously, just…” She paused to take another deep breath, then another. “Home,” she finished. “Just take me home,” she panted.
“Are you out of your mind?” Sam snarled.
“Zee, you’ve got to quit poking the tiger,” Chance said as he leaned over and brushed her hair from her forehead. “Sam is ready to spit nails. You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here tonight. We’re going to take care of you.”
“Josie! The last time it was this bad, did you have to go to the hospital?” Sam demanded.
Josie just stared up at the two men. She really didn’t want to answer that question, but it was Sam’s fierce glare that forced her answer.
“Yes. I needed a shot,” she admitted.
“Gee, I can’t imagine anyone overdoing it so badly that they would need a shot,” Chance said sarcastically. Josie cringed at his tone, and her face crumpled. Now he was making fun of her, and she felt bad enough as it was.
“Oh, Zee, I’m sorry. I was talking about Sam, not you.” Chance leaned down and kissed her tear-stained lips, one kiss after another, until she finally believed him. When he drew back, she saw Sam standing beside the bed with a syringe.
“Baby, what my asshole of a friend is trying to tell you, is that I have been known to overdo and bring on my own migraines. He’s had to administer shots to me, when I’ve been too out of it. I checked out your prescriptions at your apartment, and this is just a stronger dosage of the same stuff. I knew we had a lot in common.” Josie was amazed to see the first real smile on Sam’s face since they had gone into the living room. It made her feel good to think he might forgive her.
“Chance, hold down her arm, I’m worried she might move if she has another spasm while I’m injecting her.”
Chance gently applied pressure to her arm, and Sam inserted the needle.
“Josie, do you need ice and heat next?” Sam asked. She nodded her head, amazed at his level of knowledge. He left the room.
“So, you hate other people’s baking so much, that you’ll put yourself through this level of pain just to get out of eating it, huh?” Chance asked as he waggled his eyebrows at her. Josie smiled at his teasing.
“I’m so sorry, Chance. I didn’t mean to ruin everything. I really did want to hear what you two wanted to say. I don’t understand how this could possibly work. Hell, I still don’t understand why either of you would be interested in me.”
Josie looked away from his intent, crystalline gaze, and took stock of the room she was in. It was lovely. One window had cut glass, and the late afternoon sun hit it in such a way that it cast rainbows throughout the room. Josie started to count the number of rainbows that fluttered along one of the walls.
“Josie, are you listening to me?” Chance asked.
“Here’s the ice pack, I think we need to start with that,” Sam said.
Chance picked her up, and Sam put the flattened pack of ice underneath her, then Chance gently settled her back down on the bed.
“How’s that?” Chance asked.
Josie wiggled just a bit, and realized that Sam must have crushed the ice so that there were no hard cubes sticking into her back. It made her eyes prick with tears that once again he had been so thoughtful.
“Sam, it’s hurting her.” Chance moved to pick her up again.
“Stop, I’m fine.” Josie held up her hand.
“You were starting to cry,” Chance argued.
“Sam crushed the ice. The pack doesn’t hurt when I’m lying on it.”
“Of course, he did, Zee.” She looked from Chance’s confused gaze to Sam’s embarrassed expression and smiled.
“You guys arth taking care of me,” she slurred. Both men chuckled. Sam eased onto the bed on the other side of her.
“Sounds like the shot has taken effect,” Sam said as he let his knuckles drift down the side of her cheek.
“Yeah, I’m feeling floaty. I don’t hurt more now.” Josie knew she was probably grinning like an idiot, but whether it was the drugs, or having these two men taking care of her lying in bed on either side of her, she didn’t care. “Can we talk our talk now?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sam said. He trailed his fingers across her lips, and she kissed them. She loved the texture of his fingertips.
“I disagree, Sam, I think now is the perfect time to have our little talk. I want to hear what Zee’s objections are, when she’ll probably tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Josie felt Chance’s fingers trail down her arm to clasp her hand. She held on as tight as she could, but she had a feeling that with the drugs in her system, it wasn’t all that tight.
“Chance, you’re out of line. We’ll talk tomorrow,” Sam said in that deep, dark, dominant voice that spoke directly to Josie’s core every time he used it. She started to cross her legs because she was feeling tingly, but then she groaned. It was pain, but good pain this
time.
“Stop moving, Josie. You’re hurting yourself,” Sam admonished.
“It’s sexy pain. Your voice gives my sex pain,” she frowned.
Chance let out a whoot of laughter. “I think your dom voice is arousing our girl.”
“Wassa don voice?” Josie asked. “Who’s Don? I don’t want any more men. Just you two.”
Sam chuckled. “Good to know.”
“So, what’s the plan, Stam? How does Fate Harbor work?”
“You’re too drugged up to talk about this,” Sam reiterated.
“I wanna do this talk now. I wanted to do this talk when I came over here, but I was scared, and Chance is right, I was probably going to prevabate, prebericate…” she trailed off.
“Prevaricate?” Chance supplied.
“Not be totally truthful,” Josie said. “Well, fuck it. I’m full of good drugs, and I’m just going to say it like it is. You guys are out of your goddamn minds. Lookit me. I’m the most boring woman in the world. I’ve had to work most of my life just to make sure social services dint take Sarah and Becca away from me. No dating for Josie, ’cause I had to live an exemply, emplery…”
“Exemplary?” Chance once again supplied with a smile.
“No, a really boring, sexless life!” Josie explained. “I made sure that when I finally had a boyfriend, he had a good job, an’ led a good life, and would be interested in marriage.” Josie didn’t notice the look that passed between the two men. “I don’ know why he asked me out to begin with, because all he wanted to do was change me. He dint like how I dressed, he said I was a fat cow, and we could only make love with the lights off, “cause my body disgusted him.”
“Zee!”
“Shud up, Chance! I’m talking.”
“Baby, you can’t believe—” Sam began.
“You, too, Sam. I’m goin’ to finish what I have to say, before I pass out from this rather specular, spetular, spectaculous shot you gave me.”
Josie waited until both men nodded, Chance wisely choosing not to correct any more of her pronunciations, and then she continued. “So here I am, overweight, with hardly any sexual experience to provide, an’ I have two guys who say they are interested in me. Fine, but these are two men who are intelligence, gorgeous, caringly…and the strawberry on top is that, they say they want to share me for the afternoon. So, I came over here, thinking this could be the afternoon experience that I could have to take with me to my grave. You know, the one that I could take out and fondly remember forever and ever and ever and ever, ever. But, guys, I can’t do it. I like and admire you both too much, and I know me. I can’t have sex and not be involved emotionally. If I’m involved emotionally, I’ll get hurt and then we can’t be friends, and it will be awkward between us and I don’t want that. So, as much as I wanted hot, kinky sex this afternoon with the two hottest guys in the world, I guess I am going to pass.”
Josie hadn’t been looking at them at all during her entire speech. Instead, she kept focusing on the rainbow prisms on the far wall. She waited for them to respond. After a minute of silence had come and gone, she peeked over at Sam. She was surprised to see that he looked sad. She’d been expecting angry, or at the very least frustrated. When she slid her glance to Chance, there was the anger she’d been expecting. Seeing that expression, she struggled to get up, and then the room began to spin, and there were rainbows everywhere.
“Zee.” She felt hands behind her head, guiding her back to the pillow. Someone pulled the icepack out from beneath her.
“She needs to sleep now, brother. It’s for the best, because if she said one more thing, I might throttle her.” How could Sam be talking about choking her in such a gentle tone of voice, Josie wondered as she fell asleep.
Chapter 11
“Josie, can you wake up for a moment?” It felt like lead weights were attached to her lids, but finally she was able to open her eyes. She saw Sam leaning over her. “Baby, I’ve been alternating ice and heat packs, but now you’re burning up. I need to get you out of your dress.” Josie looked around. The room seemed kind of familiar. She vaguely remembered Chance carrying her here after their early dinner.
“Why didn’t you take me home?” she asked sleepily.
“If I’d been hurting that badly, would you have let me be alone, Baby?” Sam asked.
Josie didn’t even have to think, she just shook her head. “Same goes, Josie, I care about you, so I’m going to take care of you when you need it.” He helped her to sit up and pushed three more pillows behind her. He unzipped the back of her black dress, and then lowered it down her arms. When the dress pooled at her waist, he pushed her back into a reclining position against the pillows, then pulled the dress gently over her hips and down her legs, taking care to not move her back.
He left the comforter at the end of the bed and looked at her nylon-clad legs, with her silver-and-black corset. “Let’s take off the nylons, then I can apply the ice again and you can get more rest.” Sam’s hands went to the tops of her nylons, but Josie grabbed both of his wrists.
“No, you can’t.”
“Honey, you’ll burn up. Just let me get these off, then the heating pad.” Josie dug her nails into his wrists, embarrassed.
“I’m not wearing panties.” Sam’s gaze shot down to the opaque hose, and then he looked back up at her.
“No panties could have only been better if you had done that while wearing a garter belt and stockings.”
“Sam,” she reproved. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
Then she buried her face in her hands. That herd of horses has already left the barn.
“Why didn’t you wear panties, Baby?”
“Panty lines underneath the dress,” Josie admitted.
“What about a thong?” Sam asked.
“They’d look wrong on someone my size.”
Sam chuckled, and Josie felt herself wither.
Oh God, don’t let me cry in front of him.
“Josie, what’s wrong?” Sam demanded, concern written on his face.
“Nothing,” she croaked out the word as she turned her head.
“I heard laughter,” Chance said as he strolled in, “What’s going on, are you feeling better?” he asked Josie.
She nodded, her nose shoved into the pillow.
“What the fuck? Sam, what’d you do. Why is she crying?”
“I didn’t do anything. She was making a joke about not being able to wear thong panties and I laughed, and then she started to cry.”
It seemed like the air around her started to freeze. Sam had thought she had been making a joke? That’s why he’d laughed?
“You’re a dumbass, Booth,” Chance’s voice was a low growl. She’d never heard him sound so mad.
The mattress depressed near her head. Strong arms wrapped around her. She’d recognize that smell anywhere.
Chance.
“Sam would never make fun of you, Zee. Never.”
“I’m going to go get another ice pack,” Sam said from someplace far away.
“Zee, will you look at me? Please?”
Josie hated that her eyes were filled with tears, but she couldn’t resist the way he said please.
“Sam told me about your old boyfriend. He has you conditioned to think men might not like your body or that they would laugh at you, and that’s what happened just now, right?”
“I feel stupid. I shouldn’t have let that happen. I hurt Sam’s feelings.”
“Fuck him. He should have been more careful with you.” Chance kissed her temple. She started to push against his chest, but instead found herself stroking her fingers through his blond chest hair where his shirt was unbuttoned.
He smiled sensually. “You are an amazing woman, Josie Decker.”
“Who is very thin skinned. I should have known better. I’m pretty sure that for some weird reason my body turns you both on.”
Chance sighed, and pushed up against the headboard taking her with him so they were eye t
o eye. “Have you ever considered the fact that we aren’t the ones who are weird, but it was that perverted asshole you dated who had some need to make you feel shitty so he could feel good about himself? Maybe he is the person who is wrong in this equation?”
Chance’s big hands stroked up and down the back of her corset, then up higher, so that he was massaging the back of her neck.
Sam had walked into the room holding the ice pack while Chance had been talking. He was nodding in agreement by the time Chance was describing her ex.
“Do you think it’s possible he’s right?” Sam asked gently as he put the icepack on the night stand and sat down beside her on the other side of the bed. “Because from where I’m sitting, I see nothing but a gorgeous woman.”
She couldn’t help it, her fingers were drawn to the part of her belly that pooched out between the top of her support hose and the bottom of her corset. Sam saw her, and tugged her hand into his, and twined their fingers together.
Chance moved her so that she rested against the pillows and he slid down the bed far enough so he could begin the slow, and to Josie’s mind, awkward process of pulling down the support hose. God, she hated how her hips and thighs seemed to expand outward as he pulled the lingerie down her body.
Had she just made that little squeak of protest? Or was she just shy? The way her hand trembled against his shoulder and her breath came out in pants he wasn’t sure.
Chance tossed the hose on the floor then crawled back up the bed and slid his body behind hers so that her cheek nestled into the hollow of his shoulder. He took a long moment to stare down at the beautiful woman that was displayed before him.
Josie wiggled just a little, he knew she was just trying to get more comfortable, but she was brought up short when her hips pressed against his erection.
“Damn right I’m hard as a rock. Bet Sam is too. What man in his right mind wouldn’t be with someone as beautiful as you in his bed?”
Theirs To Treasure: Happily Ever After (Fate Harbor Book 1) Page 9