by Layla Silver
But what she thought was logical didn't matter. Every other part of her screamed to have more of him, burned with the desire to feel his hands on her naked flesh. Josh gently bit her lip, then broke away again. This time his lips didn't meet hers again, but instead found her neck, pressing light kisses onto the sensitive flesh. She suppressed a gasp, almost forgetting that this was a terrible idea, letting her body melt into his.
"Can I come in?" he whispered, running his tongue along her earlobe.
Angie almost froze in his hold. It took a conscious effort not to pull away and freak out. They were still outside. What would the neighbors think if they saw them? They knew she was a mother. If they saw her outside making out with someone they’d never seen before, would they think it was normal for her to kiss random guys?
Josh’s grip on her hips tightened, his nibbling on her ear growing more urgent. He wanted a response, wanted to know they could go inside and he could devour her.
But wouldn’t letting him in be worse than the neighbors seeing them? What if Josh went in and saw Emma's toys? She wanted him to stay, to come inside and re-enact that night they'd had together ... but it was almost impossible to hide the fact that she had a child. He couldn't find out about her. Not yet, not until she knew for sure that he wasn't going to screw her over.
"Something wrong?" he whispered, pulling away from her ear to look at her with those gorgeous green eyes.
She bit her lip and pulled him closer, distracting him with her lips. "No," she breathed. "Not at all."
There was no way she would go back inside without him. Since her mother had Emma for the day, she'd managed to do a bit of cleaning, so Emma's things weren't everywhere. If she took him inside and kept him focused on her, there would be nothing for him to see.
She took a step back inside, pulling Josh in with her, letting him push her against the back of the door to close it behind them. His tongue found hers, and for a moment, Angie forgot that she was supposed to be leading him to her bedroom. Inside he tasted different, like coffee and lazy Sunday mornings, like a life she was desperate to have, but that always seemed just out of reach. But it was probably her overactive imagination, thoughts that were easily cast aside when Josh slipped another hand under her shirt, his calloused fingers rough against her skin.
Now that they were inside, Angie allowed herself to feel his touch more fully. A shiver wound up her spine, little electric shocks dotting the places he'd touched. With her arms still around his neck and their lips locked together, she pushed Josh toward her bedroom. Angie stifled a sigh when they pushed the door open and tumbled inside, Josh's hands cupping her ass to keep her close to him. He squeezed, and she giggled into his mouth, earning a chuckle from him when he traced his hands along her back, spine, and then shoulder blades, guiding the hem of her shirt up and over her head, then tossing it aside.
His mouth left hers for a moment to glance at her almost naked chest, her bra the only obstacle between him and her breasts.
“You’re just as sexy as I remember,” he said, a little breathless.
Goosebumps tickled Angie's arms, and she pulled Josh's t-shirt off next but paused to admire the chiseled muscles of his chest and abs, running her fingers along them. He'd looked hot and in shape two years ago, but that had been nothing compared to now, where he was like a stone statue of a god who'd come to life just to throw her into bed and steal her away.
The edge of the bed hit Angie's legs when he pushed her toward it, and they fell onto the mattress together. Their lips met for another second before he pulled away to trail soft kisses down her neck, collarbone, and chest. She shivered with each one, spots of molten heat left in place each time he pressed his lips to her skin. An involuntary sigh left her when he kissed the sensitive skin of her breasts.
This was going to happen, and she wanted it. She wanted Josh to fuck her into oblivion, take her back to that place they’d been high in the clouds more than two years ago. Josh, who Angie saw in her little Emma every day, who’d frustrated her for the entirety of those two years they’d been apart. Josh, who she’d planned on calling out as a good-for-nothing, selfish asshole, had managed to seduce her again, and she let him, had wanted him to do nothing less than possess her fully all over again.
Josh lifted her a bit, reaching behind her to unhook her bra with a skilled hand. Angie tried not to think about how he'd learned to do it so quickly, instead trying to focus on the moment with him there with her, the hot need growing between her legs and in her belly, urged by the feel of his body against hers. The cool air and his gaze on her bare chest made her shiver. His hands lightly brushed across her nipples, and Angie's mouth opened, but she stifled her sigh when she met his eyes, seeing that mischievous smile.
He massaged her breasts with his hands, thumbing her nipples in slow circles. "You have no idea how much I've missed these ..." he said, pinching them a bit. "How much I've missed you."
Angie gasped and rolled her hips, grinding against the knee he had propped between her legs. His hands left her chest and wandered down her sides, holding her in place when he leaned forward to flick each nipple once with his tongue. He tilted her face to meet her eyes before he wrapped his lips around one, sucking it briefly, letting it go with a quiet pop.
"Josh ... I ..." she started, but her words were lost to a groan when he started sucking on her other nipple.
Finally, he abandoned her breasts, trailing his kisses along her stomach until he reached the edge of her yoga pants. He wedged his fingers between the fabric and her skin, pulling them off with a single tug. Angie watched the muscles in his arms and chest tighten with the sure movement of undressing her. Now she was bare and vulnerable beneath him, her panties the only remaining layer of protection from his gaze.
Maybe if it was any other guy, she wouldn't have cared about him looking at her, she wouldn't get nervous, or worry if he liked what he saw. But for some reason, it mattered with Josh. She wanted him to love every part of her, to worship her body. He was doing exactly that, his mouth slightly open, eyes flicking up and down her body, much like what he’d done when he examined her body after offering to pay for her car repairs, but much more intimate. Had this been his plan all along?
Angie squirmed under his gaze and pushed the thought out of her mind. She sat up to hide herself, reaching for his belt, unbuckled it, and then fumbled with the button and zipper of his jeans. Josh finished the job, taking his jeans the rest of the way off and throwing them into some corner of the room with his boxers.
He wrapped an arm around her, his fingers like fireworks against her back as he eased her back onto the bed. His lips caught hers again, heavy and passionate with bolts of electricity that sizzled through her. She trembled beneath him, forgetting that there was anything else in the world but the two of them. She arched her hips to press against his hardness through her panties, eager for more than just the feel of her hands on her skin.
Her hands found his back, and she ran her fingers along his taut muscles, holding him against her while she moved her hips. Josh groaned against her mouth, biting her lip in response.
Angie opened her eyes again to see him looking down at her. "You sure about this?" he whispered. "I don't want to make you feel like—"
She silenced him with another kiss, finding his tongue with hers, forming an intricate dance within their mouths that broke and resumed with each kiss. Though she appreciated Josh making sure this was what she wanted, she didn't want to give herself the chance to second guess herself. Not even fifteen minutes ago, she'd scoffed at the idea of him being someone different, but now that he was here with her, in her bed, she was almost sure of it. He was something more. But that didn't mean she wouldn't change her mind and put a stop to this if her right mind came back to her.
That was all the encouragement he needed. There'd been no space between them while they made out, but Josh peeled himself from her to slip his hand between Angie's legs, rubbing her through her panties. She moaned and rocked aga
inst his fingers, a subtle warmth spreading through her with each movement. Josh captured her bud through the fabric, rubbing it between two fingers, soft and slow.
Angie's breath caught. "Y-you tease," she gasped, pulling him closer so their lips met again.
But it was only for a second before Josh pulled away, this time so he could pull her panties off. He tossed them aside just as quickly as everything else, not letting their bodies part for more than a second. Him against her felt like home, that thing she'd always wanted, but couldn't have. What she wanted wasn't what she needed, though. What she needed—
A moan bubbled in her throat as he slipped inside her. Slow at first, tentatively filling up that space where she needed him most. That warmth inside her spread like fire through her arms and legs while he pushed his length all the way inside her.
“Fuck, Angie,” Josh groaned. Before she could respond, his lips found hers again, hungry for her, and she obliged, devouring his taste of coffee and spice.
He rocked his hips, nudging a sweet spot deep inside her, and Angie moaned into his mouth. Josh thrust faster, pushing all the way in with each stroke.
"Mmmm ..." Angie moaned. A building heat coiled somewhere inside her, and she dug her fingers into his back to steady herself as she reached that cloud of bliss in her head.
The warmth inside her tightened and spread. She arched her back, breaking the kiss, and Josh groaned against her neck. This was what she’d needed.
"Fuck, I'm—" she started but couldn't finish the words as the coils of heat inside her tightened and released, pulsing around Josh as he bucked his hips against her. His groans turned into animalistic growls, possessive and sexy as he held her close to his chest. He filled her up so she couldn't move besides a subtle rock of her hips, and that feeling of him possessing her forced her over the edge when he finally allowed himself to finish inside her.
He growled again, breaking into a quiet moan as Angie eased away the fingers that had been digging into his back, and his hips slowed against her. They both fell still for a moment, and Angie became aware of her racing heart and gasping breath, the sweat-slick between their bodies.
Josh pulled away from her, and cold air violated the hot skin that still burned with his touch. He leaned in to kiss her again, and she lifted her chin to meet him, closing her eyes for just another second of believing the world was just the two of them.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered, brushing hair from her face.
Josh rolled off her and onto his back, pulling her head up onto his chest. She listened to the beating of his heart while he stroked her hair until his breathing steadied, soothing them both into a deep sleep.
***
A few hours later, Angie's phone buzzed. She jerked up from Josh's chest, patting the bedside table to find her phone. It was just her alarm telling her it was 4:30 p.m.; her emergency alarm to get Emma from her mother's.
"Shit," she said, untangling herself from Josh's arms. She slipped on some clothes, then looked back at Josh, who was groggily rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Something wrong?" he said.
"Yeah, you have to go."
He still looked sleepy, but she didn't have time to make up an excuse, and she needed him out of there before she regretted it. Or before he looked too closely at her room to see evidence of Emma’s existence, like her dirty clothes stuffed into the bin beside her bed, or the photos pinned to her dresser mirror. Or, even worse, if he tried to wander into another room, where Emma's toys still lingered around in abundance. It was a small blessing that she’d set the alarm, making sure that she woke before he had the chance to explore.
Angie found his jeans and shirt and threw them at him, staring at him with crossed arms until he got up. The silent, confused expression he gave her before he started putting on his clothes hurt to watch. She wished she could explain herself ... but she wasn't ready to tell him, or trust that he really was different than he’d been before, different than all the other men who’d walked out of her and her mother’s lives. Sleeping with him meant nothing yet.
Finally, Josh was dressed, and she almost pushed him out of the house, but he seemed to get the message and hurried himself out. At the door, he stared at her for a moment, almost like he wanted to kiss her before leaving.
“I’ll see you later?” he said.
“Maybe.” Angie wanted nothing more than to pull him closer and lose herself in his hold, in his lips, but she couldn't do it. They probably wouldn’t touch each other that way ever again.
She locked him out before he had the chance to try.
Chapter 7 – Josh
The phone went to voicemail again, and Josh slammed his cell onto his makeshift kitchen table. It'd been two days since Josh had shown up at Angie's house unannounced, two days since he thought Angie was going to let him show her he'd become a better man. But not once in those two days had she returned any of his calls.
Josh hadn't planned on sleeping with her that day, but it'd happened ... it had felt so right, so natural to be together again. Half of the time since Angie had pushed him out of his house had been spent returning to that moment, remembering the smell of her, the caramel taste of her lips, the warmth of her skin against his. The other half, he spent attempting to distract himself from worrying about what had happened while he was asleep. Josh had been in heaven, sleeping with Angie in her bed, then her phone rang, and she’d kicked him out before he’d had the chance to process what was happening.
The sex had been amazing, the best he'd had since the first time Josh had been together with her. At the moment, just like last time, he thought she had felt the same. But he'd growled at her when he finished, had accidentally let a bit of the Bear out of him in that special moment with his mate.
He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. That had to be it. She knew he was a shifter, and him losing control like that, just like last time, had to have scared her away. Why else would she push him out of the door like that? There’d also been a phone ringing. He’d been too sleepy to tell if it’d been a call or just an alarm, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that another man was in the picture. They’d slept together, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t already committed.
Even if that were the case, she was his mate ... he couldn't let her go without a fight. Not when he still thought there was a chance. It didn’t matter if there was another man, if she thought it was a mistake. Josh could show her that it wasn’t if only she gave him a chance. He might have to create that chance for himself, but right now, he was too distressed to think.
Since his worries wouldn’t leave him alone, and Angie wasn’t picking up, he needed to do something. For several hours, he’d been pacing in the kitchen area of his new home, picking up his phone to check for messages, calling Angie, and then starting all over again.
Josh started working on his house again. It was easy comfort once he fell into the rhythm, and it was work that he needed to get done. Not just for him, but for his mate, Angie, if she ever came around. Though it was a good distraction, it didn’t get Angie out of his mind for long, and he only went short periods without thinking about her. Over the last two days, he’d set up the entire frame of the house, set in the outer walls, and finished the roof. The inside still needed a lot of work, though.
Stacks of drywall sheets sat in the corner of the kitchen, and Josh cast one more longing glance at his phone before finally sighing and getting to work. He hefted the sheets into place one by one, using the Bear in him to hold them with one arm while bolting them in place with the other. One side of a single wall was up, and already the place was starting to look a little cozier. If only Angie were there to watch him build this place with his own two hands.
Josh resisted the urge to check his phone again, but he was listening carefully in case she decided to call him back. So far, nothing. He went around stuffing walls with insulation and placing drywall, using his Bear’s strength when it suited him. His Bear was just as much him as he was his
Bear. If his Bear was taken out of him, who would he even be?
He wanted Angie to accept him as he was, to love him. But what if it really was his Bear that was holding her back? The way she’d looked at him once they’d finally broken down all their barriers and went into her house two days ago, that couldn’t have been faked. Dozens of women had looked at him similarly in the past, and he could tell which were fake, which were just infatuations. There was something different about Angie.
The last screw in the drywall in the kitchen turned into place when a buzzing sounded from somewhere behind him. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what it was, as he’d been stuck in his head, the whirring of the drill consuming everything.
But then he realized: his phone.
Josh rushed to the kitchen table, seeing a text message from Angie. His heart squeezed as he picked it up and immediately opened the message, but his joy turned to confusion when he read the words: I'm sorry, Josh. It'd be better if we didn't see each other again.
Some of the Bear inside Josh manifested. His hand twitched, and his grip on the phone tightened. He put it down before he crushed the device, and his fingers extended into claws as his confusion morphed into agitation. Warmth oozed through his body, a wave of growing anger that manifested into a roar. His chest rumbled, the very foundation of the house seeming to shake with the weight of his anger.
The piece of drywall he’d been holding beneath his arm was crushed between claws, torn apart in a fit of rage. Dust and debris scattered across the wooden floor.
His chest heaved until he steadied his thoughts, returned to normal, and allowed himself to focus. But even after exploding like that, burning off his excess emotions, he couldn’t understand Angie’s motivations. Just like their first time together, everything had felt natural and perfect. She was different than other women; of course, that was part of why he was so attracted to her. What about her difference made it so difficult for her to feel the same way about him as he felt about her?