by Claire Adams
I paled and sat down hard in the chair next to Josh's bed. “Andrew?” I whispered incredulously, my hand creeping up to cover my mouth. I had figured it was him, but part of me had kept hoping that it hadn’t been him. I wanted them to say any name other than his.
Had Andrew really been behind all of this? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I remembered having originally recognized the blue truck as being similar to the one near Andrew's home. Maybe it was, in fact, the same one. It could have been stolen from his neighbor and then sold to him. Wouldn't that provide a good cover for him, in case I ever asked? He could just say that he had borrowed the vehicle. Was that even logical? Hell, maybe he saw the neighbor’s truck and liked it so much that he bought one like it. Maybe they weren’t the same trucks? I couldn’t wrap my head around the answer, and I was too tired to try.
“Are you okay?” Josh asked softly, squeezing my hand.
I gave him a tight smile. “I should have known that it was Andrew,” I said. “I mean, I considered it, but I never imagined he could do something so crazy, you know?”
“Can you tell me a little about your relationship with Andrew?” Officer Sanders asked. “Of course, we've heard the details from his side, but I'd like to ask you, just so that we can corroborate the story.”
“Andrew is my ex,” I told him. I bit my lip. “I broke up with him a couple months ago. He proposed to me, and I realized that I just wasn't interested in being with him long-term.” I winced. “God, that sounds like such a horrible thing to say.”
Josh squeezed my hand again, but both men remained quiet.
“After the breakup, Andrew kept coming around to talk to me and invite me out,” I finally continued. “He would show up at my house as though nothing had ever happened between us. This was both before and after the road trip that Josh and I took in December.” Suddenly, I frowned, one of the details striking me. “And when he came back to my house in January, he mentioned the fact that Josh and I had only been on a road trip as far as Nebraska and then he left to go do a work thing.” I shook my head.
It was obvious, then, that Andrew had been the one tailing us. If I'd only paid attention to the signs, maybe Josh would never have ended up in the hospital.
“That sounds like what he admitted to,” Officer Sanders said, nodding. “Mr. Simon told us that he had a difficult time with your breakup. He thought that if he could scare you a little, Ms. Summers, then you would come running back to him.”
“And what, he figured if he could get me out of the picture entirely, then of course she'd come back to him?” Josh asked sarcastically. “The man tried to kill me!”
“He claims that he only intended to knock you around a little but things got out of hand,” Officer Sanders said mildly, but his expression told both of us what he thought of that. “Either way, Mr. Simon has already signed a plea agreement, and he's going to be in prison for a very long time.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't believe that this was all over. I couldn't believe that Andrew was behind it all. I knew that his behavior had seemed erratic since the breakup, but I would never have thought he would go this far.
I looked over at Officer Sanders. “Do you need us to come down to the station and answer some more questions?” I asked faintly.
“Not right now,” Officer Sanders said. “As I said, Mr. Simon has already confessed to everything, so he’s staying locked up. I'd like to have you two over to the station in a few days, just for the sake of paperwork and to answer a few questions, but I understand that Mr. Green is in no condition to leave the hospital just yet.”
“Okay,” I said.
“For now, you focus on feeling better, Mr. Green. And Ms. Summers, thank you for you quick wits and the information regarding the blue truck.”
I nodded at him, and he tapped the brim of his hat. Then, he left the room.
I looked over at Josh with some trepidation. “So, it was all my fault,” I said, feeling horrible.
Josh wouldn't have been in the hospital if it hadn't been for my relationship with Andrew, or if I hadn't broken up with Andrew because of the feelings that I had for Josh, or if I had paid attention to the signs and realized that Andrew was really dangerous.
But I'd ignored all of that, just like I'd ignored my feelings for Josh for so many years. And now, here we were.
“Kylie,” Josh said, tugging at my hand so that I'd look up at him. His eyes softened. “Oh baby, don't cry.” He shook his head. “You don't know how much I wish I could just pull out all these tubes and pull you into my arms right now.”
“But you can't,” I sobbed. “And it's all my fault.”
“It's not your fault that Andrew was off his rocker,” Josh said, shaking his head firmly. “And in just a couple days, they think they're going to be able to release me. There's no long-term damage. I'm fine. The worst that this has done is maybe tank a couple of my business opportunities, but you're always telling me that I need to work less, anyway.”
I couldn't help laughing quietly at that one.
“That's what I want to hear,” Josh said. “You and I have managed to sort out our relationship finally, neither of us is permanently injured, and this chapter with Andrew is finally over. We're free to enjoy ourselves now.”
“You're right,” I sighed. “I should just be happy that we're both okay. But your Lamborghini has seen better days.”
Josh winced. “She probably won't be drivable again,” he agreed. “My driver showed me pictures of the damage, and it's heart-wrenching.” He was grinning, though. “I guess it's a good thing I'm a billionaire, huh?”
I bit my lip, but a slow smile spread across my face as he grinned at me. “You're not mad?”
“Of course I'm not mad,” Josh said. “I'm not going to let anything stand in the way of our relationship, not anymore. Including some idiot like Andrew.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding my head. I still felt guilty for this whole thing, but it wouldn't be good to dwell on it, and especially not when Josh was already looking ahead to the future.
To our future. That, if nothing else, got a smile out of me.
“Now, where were we when Officer Sanders came in?” Josh asked slyly.
I grinned and bent to kiss him again.
This time, we were interrupted by Mandy. She groaned when she saw us. “Get a room, you two,” she said.
Josh raised an eyebrow at her. “We do have a room,” he pointed out. “It's not our fault if you didn't knock first.”
“You'll have to get used to it, anyway,” I added shyly. “Josh and I have just finally agreed that we love one another, and we're going to be in a relationship.”
“About time,” Mandy said. “Hey, what was that police officer doing here? You're not being arrested, are you Josh?”
“No, I'm not being arrested.” Josh laughed.
“It was Andrew all along,” I told Mandy, shaking my head. “He was the one in the ugly blue truck. I think he followed us the whole way on the road trip, and then he came back here to LA and decided to try to run Josh off the road. Then, he came after me.”
“Why?” Mandy asked, sounding appalled. “Didn't he realize that killing your best friend wasn't the way to win you back?”
“I don't know,” I said, shaking my head. “I guess he just wanted to scare me. That's what Officer Sanders said.”
“And scare me as well, I guess,” Josh mused. “Officer Sanders said he didn't mean for things to go this far. Maybe he didn't mean to actually hit the Lambo.”
“I still feel horrible about that,” I told him.
“Don't,” Josh said. “This means I get to buy a brand new car. Trust me, as much as I loved my Lamborghini, I'm not upset.”
“Any idea when they'll be letting you out of here, Josh?” Mandy asked, sitting on the end of his bed.
“Probably just a couple more days,” Josh said. “They think all the swelling has gone down around my brain, and they're satisfied that my memory
is still there. This morning, we did a little rehab, walking around. My balance is still a little wonky, but I'm getting there. Shouldn't be much longer.”
“That's good to hear,” Mandy said, looking relieved. “Obviously, Kylie was way more worried about you, but it's good to hear that you're going to be okay.”
“Thanks,” Josh said.
“Don't let Mandy fool you,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She's been in here almost as much as I have. If I didn't know better, I'd say that she was the one in love with you.”
Josh laughed, but his eyes looked shrewdly at Mandy. “Thanks for keeping Kylie company,” he said. “I assume you're the reason she continued to eat food and take care of herself while I was in my coma?”
“I had some help from the doctors and nurses,” Mandy said.
Josh laughed again and squeezed my hand. “I'm going to be all right,” he told me seriously. “And the first thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is take you on a proper date.”
“And a week later, when you're finally sated and can take your hands off one another, we should all go out for drinks or something,” Mandy said.
“You think it's only going to take a week for us to feel sated?” Josh asked teasingly while I blushed.
Mandy groaned. “I don't want to hear about any of that,” she said firmly. She hopped up off her seat. “I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. How does that sound? But Josh, I'm glad you're feeling better. And both of you, I'm glad that you've finally sorted yourselves out.”
“Thanks, Mandy,” I said.
She waved as she walked out, and I turned back to Josh, unable to stop giggling.
“Where were we?” he asked, his voice husky with desire.
I grinned and leaned up to kiss him again. This time, at last, no one interrupted us.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Josh
I dozed off a little as I lay beside the pool, the warm Pacific sunlight drenching my body. I stirred as Kylie pulled herself up out of the pool and started to towel off. With her in that bikini, I really got to appreciate every inch of her curves and her sunkissed skin. Definitely no regrets about whisking her off on this cruise.
“What are you thinking about?” Kylie asked, giving me a quick kiss before she settled into her own lounge chair.
“I like this, being out on the water,” I told her. “I was thinking that maybe I'd like to take up sailing. It could be just you and me, out by ourselves on the water.” I paused and then laughed. “But knowing our luck, I'm sure we'd get attacked by pirates or hit horrible weather!”
Kylie laughed, too. “I could totally see that happening,” she agreed. “But I like this anyway. We may not be totally by ourselves, but it's just us and the staff. And they leave us alone for the most part—when they're not refilling our drinks.”
I grinned. “Glad you're enjoying yourself,” I told her. I shook my head. “I want to take you on all sorts of trips, to the most exotic places. Actually, I know a guy who's the CEO of a spaceflight company, and I bet I could get seats for the two of us on one of their flights in a few years. What do you think?”
Kylie shook her head. “Oh no,” she said. “I'm all for doing more traveling, but I have no desire to go to space.”
“Why not?” I asked curiously.
Kylie laughed. “I've probably just seen too many horror films where the windows crack or they lose control of the ship and start drifting forever. Things like that. It really scares me.” She paused. “Plus, there are plenty of places that I still want to see here on Earth.”
“Such as?”
“Italy, for one,” Kylie said. “That's been my dream ever since I started studying art. You know that.” Her eyes shone as she told me all about her dream trip. “We'd start in Rome, of course, going through all the museums there. But I'd also like to see the places that inspired all the works of art. Cinque Terre, Tuscany, the Dolomites, Florence. I think I could happily spend a year traveling around Italy and not get bored with it.”
“I'll have to file that away,” I told her. And I was serious. If Kylie wanted to spend a year traveling around Italy, then we were going to spend a year traveling around Italy. I'd make sure that it happened. “Where else do you want to see?”
“Thailand is another place that's high on my list,” Kylie said, looking embarrassed to admit that. “I've had a lot of friends who went there, and they all rave about it. Apparently, the food and the beaches are incredible, and the locals are really friendly. And it's supposed to be super cheap there, so you can really do everything that you could ever want to do.”
She frowned. “Of course, I expect that's how you travel anyway,” she said. “That's kind of how the road trip went, after all. You booked us into the nicest places, and we ate at the best restaurants.”
“Are you still upset about that?” I asked in surprise.
“I was never upset about it,” Kylie said, frowning. “It just surprised me, that's all. I expected that we were going to be slumming it like we did on our college trips. I forgot that it's the people, not the places, that make the trip. As long as it was still the three of us, we were going to have fun, even if it was in a swanky resort.”
I hummed in agreement. “So, Tuscany and Thailand? Anywhere else?”
Kylie smiled over at me. “Wherever you want to go,” she said, reaching her hand over to tangle our fingers together.
“What if I want to go to space?” I joked.
“If you really want to go that badly, maybe I could get over my fear,” Kylie said, pausing as though considering it.
I shook my head. “You're something else,” I said.
“I love you,” Kylie said simply, shrugging her shoulders. “Anywhere that you want to go, I want to go there with you. Or at least try to go there with you.”
I shook my head and tugged at her fingers. “Come here,” I said.
Kylie dutifully got out of her lounge chair and came over to mine, straddling my hips and resting her hands against my chest. I pulled her into an electrifying kiss, my hands pulling her hips closer, fingers splaying out across her warm back.
Our tongues twisted together, and our lips pressed against one another's. I was instantly aroused and thrilled by the knowledge that if I wanted to take her right there, beneath the blue sky, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I could.
But there was something else that I wanted to do first.
I pulled back from the kiss, hands framing Kylie's face as I stared seriously up at her, waiting for her to catch her breath and open her eyes. “There's something I've wanted to say to you for a while now,” I told her.
“Oh?” Kylie asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
But she looked nervous, like she thought I might want to get rid of her or something. I was baffled. We had already told one another that we loved each other. Surely, she didn't think I was going to leave her.
But then again, I knew her history with men, and it wasn't all pretty.
I nodded firmly to myself. I was going to have to spend the rest of my life showing Kylie all the tenderness and care that I could manage. I didn't mind the thought of that.
“Kylie, you know how long we've been friends,” I said slowly. “I can't imagine my life without you in it. I've wanted something more with you for years now, and now that it's finally coming true, I can't stand the thought of going back to what we were, or the idea of losing you entirely. I want to show you the world. I want to take you to places like Italy and Thailand. I want to take you to space, but if you don't want to go there, I'll respect that. I want to give you everything that you could ever possibly want. The best in art supplies, a roof overhead, food on the table. Maybe kids? We haven't talked about that, but maybe we could have kids one day.”
I took a deep breath, knowing that I was rambling. “What I'm saying is, I want to have everything with you. I want to be with you every day for the rest of my life, making up for all those lost years when we could have been together. I don't ever want to l
ose you.”
“Oh, Josh,” Kylie said softly, tears in her eyes. “I love you, too. I've always loved you. It just took me a while to realize it. I don't want to mess up our relationship any more than you do. And I want to spend every moment with you. I want to be the best that I can be for you.”
I grinned and reached into my pocket, pulling out the small box that I had stashed there. “You realize what we've just agreed to, don't you?”
Kylie frowned, looking puzzled.
I lifted her up and turned her around, so that she was sitting on the edge of the chair. Then, I got down on one knee in front of her, watching as her eyes lit up and her hands crept up over her mouth.
“Kylie Elizabeth Summers, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Kylie said. “Oh yes, Josh.” She shook her head, and I could see that there were goosebumps on her arms despite the warmth of the sun. That was exactly the reaction that I wanted.
I pulled out the ring and slowly slid it onto her finger, watching the way it sparkled in the sun.
“Josh, it's beautiful,” Kylie said reverently.
And it really was. The ring was vintage, Edwardian in style. The band was white gold, with one large round diamond in the center and a couple of smaller diamonds on either side of it. The etching in the band was simple yet elegant. What's more, it looked like it was made to be there on her finger.
Kylie giggled. “I suppose since I'm marrying a billionaire, you had the pick of the lot when it came to engagement rings, didn't you?”
I smiled at her. “This ring has been in my family for a few generations,” I admitted. “My mother gave it to me years ago, for when I found the right woman.”
“Oh, Josh,” Kylie said, slipping off the chair and into my arms. “Thank you.”
I held her close, lightly kissing her hair. “So, do you want to tell Mandy or should I?” I finally asked.
Kylie burst out laughing. “She's never going to let us hear the end of the 'I told you so's,'” she said, shaking her head. She slowly sobered. “But I bet she'll be happy. Her two best friends, finally getting their shit together and getting married.”