Lisa really enjoyed being around Josh. There was never a moment she felt bored. She was surprised, because at Becky's she felt sad and lonely. He was an amazing man. She knew that someone would change his mind about love one day. It made her happy to think about him having a family someday. He deserved happiness after everything he did for everyone else.
When Becky called to tell her they were home and she could have Josh drop her off, her stomach dropped. She felt sick and nervous, but she wasn't sure why.
Josh came home and walked past her room. He stuck his head in the room.
“What are you doing? Are you okay?” he asked.
She was packing her clothes in her bags. He walked into the room and took her hands in his to stop her from moving.
“What's going on? You look sad. Why are you packing?” he asked.
“I'm not sad. Becky called to say they are home from the trip, and you can bring me back anytime. It will be nice to get back into a place of my own one day. I appreciate what you guys are doing for me, but I feel like I'm living out of a bag.”
Lisa laughed when she thought about it. She looked up at Josh's face, and he looked upset. Oh no, she thought. She didn't mean to sound ungrateful.
“I didn't mean it like you are taking it. I truly appreciate all of you guys and what you are doing. I don't know where I would be without you. I just meant it feels weird only having enough stuff for a few bags. I haven't gotten used to that,” she said.
“Why don't you just stay here?” he asked. “Becky and Gavin have so much going on with that huge project at work and their planning a wedding. I'm a single guy. It would be nice to have a roommate for a few more weeks. I'll make sure not to walk around naked.”
“You can walk around naked,” she laughed. “It's a pretty nice view.”
He shook his head at her.
“I mean it. It's nice having someone eat the food while it's warm. You already have your stuff here. Why not just stay?”
Lisa thought about it. She knew she should go back to stay with Becky, but the thought of leaving Josh's was sad. She had to stay somewhere. Maybe she could help him with his business or something while she was there. She did want to find something to do. It would be at least another four weeks before she could get her cast off and several more before she could go back to work.
“I'll stay, but only under one condition,” she said.
“Okay, I'll walk around naked.”
Lisa burst out laughing.
“Hey, that wasn't supposed to be funny,” he replied, with a fake frown.
I could look at that naked chest and ass all day long, she thought. Lisa felt her face flush.
“That's more like it,” he winked. “I wonder what just went through your pretty head to make you blush like that. You know I look good naked.”
She smacked him on the arm.
“Back to what I was saying. Let me do work for you for the restaurants. I have a business degree, and I am great with numbers. I know that probably shocks you. I have the job that I have because I love to travel, it is fun to meet new people, and I'm single. You haven't let me buy groceries or do anything, and I don't have any money coming in right now. There is no way I can stay here, unless you let me do something to pay my way.”
Josh put his hand on his chin and looked deep in thought. She knew he was just being an ass. He tapped his lips with his finger and his left eye went up at the corner.
“I can think of a few ways you can earn your keep,” he laughed loud.
She rolled her eyes and tried to hold back her smile.
“I'm being serious. That's the only way I will stay. You go in and out of the apartment all day. Wouldn't it be nice to have some help with stuff? I promise you, I am good at what I do. Just give me a chance. If you're not happy with my work, I'll stop. It's your business. You need to feel good about it.”
“Okay, you can help me. If I lose any money, I'm taking it out of your ass,” he smiled.
“Josh,” she said.
“I'm being serious. It will be nice to have a fresh set of eyes on things. Maybe you will have a great idea and come up with something I missed,” he said. “You are going to learn to cook. I'm going to teach you.”
She laughed at him and made a funny sound.
“That's going to be a big job buddy,” she said.
He told her to unpack while he called Becky to tell her Lisa was going to stay with him.
Instantly, Lisa felt her nerves relax and her stomach calm. She hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake. Why did she feel so comfortable around him? At least neither of them wanted love. That meant that neither of them would get hurt, right?
Chapter 17
Josh knew that Lisa would stay at his place for at least another six weeks. He told her she needed to write a list of foods she wanted. If she was living there, then she needed to make it her home as well. She told him he better watch out, she eats gourmet. He told her as long as she could cook gourmet, he would eat it. He knew there was no cooking gourmet for her.
She only had the seven outfits Josh had Becky picked out for her. He knew she needed some more clothes. On his day off, he told her to get ready. He was taking her shopping. She argued with him that she couldn't afford it, and the clothes she had were fine. Why did she have to be so stubborn?
“Get ready,” he said.
“I told you no,” she snapped.
“If I go by myself, you will be in trouble. I won't buy things you would approve of. Just save me some money and go with me.”
“I am not letting you pay for my clothes, Josh.”
“You can work it off on the business.”
He could tell she was thinking about it.
“Fine, but not a lot.”
When she was dressed, they went to the mall. After ten stores and three hours, Josh collapsed on a bench. Lisa laughed and asked him what was wrong. He shook his head.
“You are on crutches and I'm the one tired. We need to be done. You shop to much.”
“The big, strong fireman is tired from a little shopping. How do you keep that body of yours? You were the one that suggested we go shopping.”
“I work out, and I am happy to know you approve of my body. I thought we would go to a couple of stores, not all of them.”
“Just one more store. Come on, you'll like this one,” Lisa said, as she winked at him.
She grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bench. He whined and followed.
“Next time, I am giving you my credit card, and Becky can take you.”
“Big mistake, she can shop more than me. We would max that baby out.”
Josh laughed out loud. Lisa spent all that time in the stores and only bought a few things. He knew there was no way she was maxing out anything. Josh had nice cars and his apartment was large, but he knew Lisa had no idea how much money he had. He invested his money, and his restaurants did very well. Josh snickered when she walked into the fancy panty store.
He knew she wanted to kick his ass after only a few minutes. Josh followed her around the store and picked up the tiniest panties he could find.
“Hey baby, these would look great on you. My fingers would slide perfectly inside of them, don't you think,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Her eyes were open wide and her cheeks very red when she turned to face him. She shook her head and held in her laugh. He loved that adorable look on her face. She thought it was funny to laugh about how tired he was while questioning his manhood. It was his turn to laugh.
“Really,” she whispered to him. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
He smiled brightly and nodded to her. Lisa looked directly into his eyes, but he didn't flinch. Lisa got a little closer and leaned up to his ear.
“Your fingers would feel good buried deep inside any of these panties,” she whispered, as she slid her tongue across his ear.
No damn way she was turning the tables on him. He could feel his cock harden at her whisper. Josh
hadn't been with a woman since Lisa was hurt in the fire. Her comments were harder on him than usual. Josh picked up another pair that barely had anything to them.
“Maybe these would be better babe,” he smiled. “They would give me better access to that-”
Lisa grabbed the back of his head, pulled him down, and thrust her tongue into his moving lips. He knew she was afraid of what was going to come out of his mouth. Did she really just kiss him to shut him up? Oh, it was on.
Josh wrapped his arms around her back, pulled her against him hard, shoved his erection between her legs, and claimed her mouth hard. He ground his hips into her, as he made sure she knew what she was doing to him. After a very long, hot kiss, he pulled back from her. Josh straightened his t-shirt and walked out of the store, leaving her there to catch her breath. It was worth what he was left feeling.
Lisa walked out into the hallway and looked down at the ground.
“Let's go, I don't need anything from there,” she snapped, as she started to go toward the exit.
“You started it,” he snapped.
“No, you were the one talking about sliding your fingers into my panties.”
“You questioned my manhood. And besides that, you touched me first.”
“Ugh.” she grunted, as she crutched away.
They drove home in silence. Lisa went straight to her room and Josh went to the office. He needed to get some work done. He could not help thinking about her kiss. It was like her taste was left behind on his lips. All he could think about was kissing her. He had never wanted a woman as bad as he did at that moment. Josh scooted down and leaned his head on the back of his chair. When his phone beeped, he picked it up.
“Are you done being a baby?” she sent.
“Don't start what you can't finish.”
“Oh, I can finish.”
“The next time you put your lips on me or your hands on my cock, I'm going to take you up against the wall so hard and deep, that you will never forget how good I feel inside of you. Do you understand me?”
“Yes sir!”
“Yes Josh, is what will slip out of those precious lips.”
After a minute or two he sent another text.
“You have been warned. Think about that before you do it again.”
***
Lisa could only imagine how hot sex would be with Josh. He had the most amazing body. She had been with good looking men, but none of their bodies compared to Josh's. His chest, shoulders, arms, and stomach were rock hard and gorgeous. She could lick every part of him. His ass looked good in anything he wore. He was strong. When he kissed her, there was so much power and force behind it. Just thinking about the way he kissed her, made her wet between her thighs. He was her perfect man. She valued his friendship and didn't want to mess that up.
He knocked on her door.
“I'm making dinner, what do you want to eat?”
She didn't answer.
“Answer me before I open this door.”
“I'm not hungry,” she answered.
“Fine,” he replied.
Lisa did not come out of her room the entire night. She felt bad for upsetting him. He was hot, and she wanted him. She knew it would be bad for their friendship to do anything sexual with him. A relationship would never work between them, and meaningless sex never turned out good. That was something you did with strangers.
Draped across her bed, she thought about Josh the whole night.
Chapter 18
Josh knocked on her door over and over.
“What?” she shouted.
“Get up. You said you wanted to help me with my business stuff. It's time to help.”
“I'll be right out,” she said.
He knew he was hard on her the night before, and he felt bad. She seemed to really want to help him. He wanted her to know he trusted her and was willing to take her help. Lisa didn't understand what it did to him when she touched and kissed him.
Lisa showed up in his office a half an hour later. He had an extra chair at his desk for her. He motioned for her to sit down. Josh had a cup of coffee waiting for her.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said.
“Good morning. Thanks for the coffee,” she said.
He went right into showing her things about his restaurants on the computer. They worked all morning. He explained the way he kept track of things and how he compared costs and profits. Josh heard her stomach growl and told her they could break for lunch.
They made sandwiches and ate at the table. She continued to ask him business questions. He was excited that she was so interested in his work. By the time lunch was over, their awkwardness was gone.
There were a couple of times that his phone beeped with a text. She couldn't help but wonder who they were from. He read them, but never responded. She saw one of them was from someone named Patty and could not help but feel a bit of jealousy. Stop it, she thought to herself. She let out a huge breath and grunted.
She sat with him until it was dark out. There was more to everything than she thought there would be. He explained how he had to keep each restaurant separate. She could not believe he was going to open a fifth one.
“You ready for dinner? I think we have gotten a lot done today. It is going to be nice having your help. I really appreciate it. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. I don't expect you do anything.”
“I want to help. I don't want to just sit around for weeks. It drives me crazy. I am very interested in learning everything you are willing to teach me. It is great how well you keep your records. You are amazing,” she said. “Truly amazing.”
“There is more to me than just a nice body you know. I went to school for business and investing. I keep very good records of everything. I love it. I have passion for all of it. It's fun for me.”
“When you're not fighting fires. I don't know how you keep it all straight. I used to have passion toward business. I love numbers and everything that has to do with them. I am impressed that you keep such good information. I am excited to dive in and play with the numbers,” she said.
They spent the rest of the week together, when he was home, looking at his business stuff and working things out. Josh was surprised at how quickly she picked things up. She had seen all of the numbers for each of the restaurants. That was something he had never shared with anyone. He was private when it came to things like that. Josh was shocked that she had never made a single comment about how much money they brought in or about the profits.
She was the first woman that didn't want things from him. It was very refreshing. Josh looked over at her with a smile.
“Will you go with me Sunday to my mom's house?” he asked.
“I don't know about that. That is for your family,” she said.
“My mom knows you are staying here. She already said you are welcome to come with me. Go with me. I want you to meet them. I have already told you about them. That way you will know what they look like when I mention them.”
“Okay, if you're sure. You have to help me make something to take with us.”
“We'll make spaghetti salad. My mom likes the way I make it. You can impress her with that for sure. Have you talked to Heath?” he asked.
“No.”
“You need to talk to him. I need to know you guys are still friends. I don't want him upset with you.”
“I'll text him later. I didn't like the way he talked about you. He's supposed to be your friend,” she said.
“He just wants to protect you. There's nothing wrong with that.”
“I'll text him later.”
That night Josh had a vivid dream about her. He woke up wrapped in his sheets, dripping with sweat, with a major erection. What the fuck, he thought. That was why she needed to keep her distance and stop touching him. There would be no more dreaming of her. He got up and took a cold shower.
Sunday morning, Josh and Lisa made the spaghetti salad together. It was easier than she thought. He put a cha
ir in the kitchen for her to sit on to make it easier. When they were done, he had her taste it. She really liked it and jumped up to hug him.
“Thank you for helping me. It's really good. We need to make that next time we go over Becky and Gavin's.”
Josh was surprised by her hug. He hugged her back. What was it about her that made him calm as soon as she touched him?
“Let's get ready. We don't want to be late, or I will never hear the end of it. My mom is all about being on time.”
Chapter 19
Lisa was so nervous as they pulled up to his mom's house. She let out a loud breath.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
“I hope they like me.”
“They are going to love you. My mom is awesome. You are going to be her daughter by the time we leave here today. I'm not kidding.”
“I'm nervous to see you with your mom. I have not seen a motherly love since I was a little girl. I don't know how to explain it.”
“It'll be fine. Let's go,” he said.
Josh helped Lisa out of the car and gave her the crutches. He grabbed the bowl from the back seat and shut the door. Josh held his hand on her lower back as they walked up to the house. The front door swung open and his mother held the screen door open for Lisa to go through.
Josh put the bowl down in the kitchen and went back to Lisa. He introduced her to his mother. Lisa was shocked when his mom wrapped her arms around Lisa and hugged her. She could feel the huge smile on her face. His mom was so friendly.
“Josh told me you're the little girl that used to sit on Heath's porch,” his mom said.
“I can't believe he told you that,” Lisa said, as she looked up at him and he shrugged.
“You are so beautiful and grown up. It used to be so cute to watch you sit out there and watch him for hours. You were so adorable.”
Hot for Love (Bachelor Billionaire #2) Page 10