“No thanks.” My response is instant.
“Why not? It’s the role of a prince. I think you’d be perfect,” her voice drawls. If I didn’t know better I’d think she was flirting.
“A prince? You can change my answer to - hell no.”
“I think you’d be great.”
“I’m not interested. But thanks for the offer.”
“Hmm.” I can hear her thinking right over the phone.
“Thanks for the call. Night.” I disconnect, unable to make any sense of her calling me up, offering me a job as a God damn prince, of all things. Aren’t they supposed to be handsome? I open up my drawer and pull out a fresh shirt, tugging it over my head. Hanging up on her so abruptly was rude. I’m not good with girls. I might have been at one time, but not anymore. Just Becca.
I jog down to the end of the block and swipe my card, entering the empty gym. It’s a small place, privately owned, not much to it but it has enough to give me a good workout. The lights flick on automatically and the door sounds, triggering the security system. There’s video surveillance for when the staff isn’t there. Off hours like this, no one’s ever there.
My routine starts off the same way each time, on the treadmill. There’s only two and I always pick the one on the left. No music. I like to stay focused. Tonight it’s a little hard. First my conversation with Becca and then the call from Jordyn. I still can’t wrap my head around that one.
Twenty minutes into my run, the security sounds, signaling someone’s entered the gym. I can’t turn around and look; I’m running at top speed and I’ll fall flat on my ass. The left treadmill is up against the wall. It makes it so no one can go on my left side and freak out when they catch a glimpse of my marred face. As an extra precaution I keep my head down, pulling up my hood to hide my face. Tonight’s workout will be ending sooner than I thought.
Someone steps onto the other treadmill. Dammit. I slow my machine down, ready to make a quick exit.
“Looks like I’m a total stalker.”
The sound of Jordyn’s voice makes me pull the emergency stop key on the treadmill and grasp onto the sides as the machine comes to an immediate halt. “What are you doing here?”
“Working out. How do you start this?” She pushes a button and the belt takes off under her feet and she stumbles a few steps. “Okay, wait, how do you stop this?”
I reach over and slow her machine down. “Well, enjoy your workout. You have the whole place to yourself. I was just finishing up.”
“No you weren’t,” she says, playing with the buttons on the treadmill. “You were just getting started.”
I wipe my face with a towel. My heart’s racing and I can feel sweat running down the back of my neck. What do I say to that? I bring the towel up to my neck and rub.
Jordyn stops her machine and steps off, coming right up onto my treadmill. Hanging onto the side rails, she corners me in. “I’m really here to see if there’s anything I can do to convince you to change your mind about being my prince this weekend.”
Blood rushes through me. She’s in a black tank top and shorts that leave little to the imagination, and all that gorgeous brown hair is pulled back in a long ponytail. Her face is like porcelain, unflawed and beautiful. Ragged breaths escape me at being so close to someone this perfect. “You can’t be serious,” I manage to say. “I don’t have the right look to be playing a prince.”
“Why’s that? Because of this?” Her hand grasps my chin firmly and turns my head. She presses her thumb hard into my skin, running it down the length of the scar. I feel my body reacting in a way it never has before. “I think scars are sexy.” She leans forward, and the smile she gives me makes my hands drop down to cover the front of my pants. “But if you’re worried about it, you don’t need to be. You’d be wearing a mask.”
I need this girl away from me before I lose control. I want to grab her and do things to her so wrong they’d have to close this place down after watching the surveillance videos.
Her hands drop down safely at her sides. “Did I mention it’s for charity? For children.”
No, she hadn’t mentioned that. “I don’t have much of a choice in this, do I?”
“No, you don’t.” She shakes her head and backs away, stepping down from the machine. “I’ll text you the details.”
I give her a nod, my eyes never leaving the curves of her perfect body. A guilty wave settles in. “Can you do me a favor, don’t mention this to Becca.” Saying that just admits I know doing this is not right.
Fiery amber eyes meet mine. “You and Becca, you guys are serious?”
“We are,” I say, as a reminder to put myself in check a little bit. Whatever this strong attraction I’m feeling towards Jordyn is…I can’t let it come between me and Becca. Because an attraction is all it is. Jordyn may be coming on a bit strong but that’s only because she wants something from me. She’s studying to become a lawyer, and the way she just convinced me to agree to dress up as a prince shows me she’s gonna make a great one.
“I hadn’t realized. I thought you guys were just friends. You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”
I watch her cover up, slipping a black wool coat over her figure-hugging workout clothes and wiping some more sweat away from my face. My heart hasn’t let up pounding since she walked in. I’m amped. The belt starts back up under my feet and I prepare myself because I think I’m gonna be running all night.
Chapter Eight
Josh
Becca comes out of Aidan’s room. I heard her come in this morning so I know she didn’t sleep here. Not that it’s any of my business what she does.
“He’s exhausted. He told me he plans on sleeping all day. He had a late night at the gym. It kind of stinks cause I don’t have to work today.”
I look up from the counter where I’m working on a list, and stick the tip of the pen I’m using in my mouth. Becca’s got her hair parted in two braids. Her shirt’s unbuttoned and I get a great view of the tattooed stars that disappear right into the soft flesh of her cleavage. She catches me staring, but I’m not even trying to hide it.
“Excuse me.” She covers her chest up with her hands, but her shiny lips smile.
“You wear a shirt like that, I’m gonna look.” I slant my head to the side, still looking. “Those boobs got me seeing stars all right.”
“Yuck,” she says, shaking her head. “Lines like that don’t work on me.”
Geez, what the hell am I doing? Was I not just warned less than twelve hours ago to keep my distance from this girl? “Sorry.”
“What are you working on over here?” She comes up from behind me and peers over my shoulder. I try folding the paper so she can’t see, but it’s too late. “Is that a grocery list? Oh my God, how cute are you?” She snatches the paper from my hands, holding it up over her head as I try and take it back from her. A few playful swipes are attempted; each time I miss and brush up against her innocently. “That’s not how you spell ketchup.” Her eyes light up, teasing me.
I give up trying to get my list back and sit down at the counter. “If you need anything you can add it to the list. Or…” I don’t finish.
“Or what?” she asks curiously.
“Or you can come with me if you want.” Why am I asking her this? Aidan has officially warned me. I know I need to stay away from her. But for some reason I can’t.
“Are you kidding? I totally want to go with you. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to see you pushing a shopping cart down the aisles.” She leans across from me on the counter and my eyes go directly back down to her chest.
“You can come as long as you change your shirt,” I say and she shoots me an annoyed look. Normally I’d jump at the chance to stare down a hot girl’s shirt all day. With Becca, though, I don’t need any extra temptation.
While I wait for her to change, I bring the last of my laundry bags down to the car tossing them in the trunk. “Is Aidan gonna be pissed we we
nt out together?” I ask her once we take off, pulling away from the building.
“No, he’ll be fine. We’re just grocery shopping.” Becca chews on her nail, a far off look on her face at the mention of Aidan. “I probably won’t even tell him.”
That’s interesting.
“I have one other stop. But don’t worry, it will be quick. I gotta drop my laundry off at my parent’s house. You can wait in the car.”
“No way! I’m not waiting in the car. I’m going in and meeting your parents. I have to.”
“No you don’t have to. I’ll only be there two seconds. My dad won’t even be home, just my mom.”
“Nooooo.” She looks up, smacks her lips together, and laughs. “Um, no, I’m pretty sure I have to meet your mom.”
“Fine. You asked for it.” The overwhelming need to smile takes over. My mom is going to meet Becca.
We pull into the driveway and her eyes go wide looking up at our house. I know it’s big and the fountain in front is a little over the top. That’s Dad’s doing. Flashy. That fountain caused a major fight in our house a few years ago. Dad may have won but me and Mom spent two weeks in Hawaii after that…without him.
We start walking up the paved driveway. “Where’s your laundry? Isn’t that why you’re here, to drop it off?” Becca asks.
I keep walking and point back to my car. “It’s in the trunk. My mom will come out and get it.”
Becca just stares at me. The look she’s giving me is one I know well. I turn back and pop the trunk, reaching in for the two oversized bags of clothes, lugging them up the walkway to my house. The door opens before we reach it and my mom runs out, reaching her hands out for the bags. “Here, sweetie, give those to me.”
“He’s got it,” Becca says for me. My mom pulls her hands back and stares in disbelief at the first girl I’ve ever brought home.
“Mom, this is Becca. She lives across the hall from me. Becca, this is my mom, Helen.” I introduce the two of them.
My mom is speechless for a moment. Her eyes devour every last detail of Becca, from the pink braids all the way down to the black flip flops she’s wearing in the cold weather. She gives a quick glance in my direction before her voice finally returns. “I am so pleased to meet you. Come in, come in. How long are you here for? I’m just about to make some lunch. Please tell me you’ll stay.”
“We’d love to stay and have lunch.” Becca puts a friendly hand on my mom’s arm and follows her into the house. She turns around and when she gives me a wink, it does something funny to the inside of my chest. Did I bring her here on purpose? I could have dropped my laundry off anytime.
My mom heats up the oven to bake a lasagna she had defrosting on the counter. I know that means it will be at least an hour before we’re ready to eat. Becca seems unbothered when I inform her of this. She gabs with my mother, looks at all the pictures my mom insists on showing her, and doesn’t say anything when my mom refills her glass of soda three times.
I sit across the table spending most of my time staring at Becca, listening to the funny conversation taking place between the two women. Becca tells my mom about her big family and my mom shares a few stories about growing up in a big family herself. Some of the things I never even knew.
“I’m surprised you only have Josh,” Becca says to my mom not knowing that having one child was never part of her plan.
“We had hoped for more children but it just wasn’t in the cards for us.” My mom answers her casually, not mentioning the years of fertility treatments I know they went through. I had been the first of what my parents had hoped would be many children. “And I swore I would never spoil him but you know Josh.” She reaches over and pinches my chin.
Becca tilts her head, encouraging my mom to finish her thought.
“My boy’s a charmer. Josh could always sweet talk me into just about anything. Oh gosh, he always knew just the right thing to say to get what he wanted.” My mom tosses her head back and laughs. “He still does.”
Becca shoots a strange look in my direction and the smile briefly leaves her face. I’m not sure why. It was just silly talk about how cute I am. Is it possible my mom is starting to say too much?
“We got to head out soon. Becca, you ready to go?”
Not surprisingly after all the soda, Becca excuses herself to go the bathroom, leaving me alone with my mom.
“Well. I. Just. Love. Her.” My mom starts right off, hands flailing straight out in front of her. “I knew, I just knew, when you finally brought someone home she was going to be special. She’s so sweet and so friendly and oh, God, she’s just gorgeous. That pink hair, so cool and trendy. I love that little diamond in her nose. How long have you been together? Are you going to bring her around again soon so your father can meet her?”
“Mom, calm down, we’re not together. She’s just a friend.” I lower my voice, hoping my mom will follow suit, searching over my shoulder to make sure Becca can’t hear us.
“What?” My mom gasps and dramatically fans herself. Meeting the right girl is high on her list of priorities for me. Every time I’ve gotten in some type of trouble, Mom has always claimed once I meet the right girl everything would fall into place for me. “Why aren’t you together? She’s perfect for you.”
“Because, Mom, we’re just friends and … .” Wow, this is actually hard to say. “She’s with Aidan.”
“Oh, I see.” Her eyes go sad, looking into mine, and I quickly lower my head away from hers. She knows. She gets up quietly from the table and begins clearing the dishes. I hate that my mom knows me as well as she does. Right now she’s wondering why I brought home another guy’s girl to meet her. She knows once again I’m screwing things up in my life. And worst of all, she knows the way I’m feeling towards Becca.
I pick up my plate and walk over to the sink. “Here, I can rinse them and put them in the dishwasher.”
“Everything will work out, sweetheart.” My mom rubs my back and is up on her toes giving me a kiss on the cheek when Becca walks back into the room.
I back away from my mom’s kiss. “Are you ready to head to the grocery store?” I close up the dishwasher, turning back around.
“Yes. Josh and I are going grocery shopping. Do you need him to pick you up anything?” Becca asks my mom.
“Ehh, uhh…” For the second time today my mom is at a loss for words. She might be in shock. She looks over at me and I hold back the laugh that’s building down deep in my gut. “I don’t need anything from the store,” she stammers out.
Becca thanks my mom and hugs her, and my mom makes her promise she’ll be back again soon. We all walk out to the driveway and my mom continues waving her hand in our direction until we drive away.
“That was so much fun. Your mom has so many pictures of you. The one with the double exposure where you’re happy in the first pose and serious wearing sunglasses in the other…I need a copy of that.” She laughs, trying to imitate my serious face.
Becca didn’t even see half of the embarrassing pictures there are of me. My mother dragged me to the portrait studio twice a year for professional pictures when I was growing up. Christmas and my birthday. I’m thankful my mom didn’t show her the pictures from the brief time I was into magic. The pictures involve playing cards in one hand and a live rabbit in the other.
“No, you can’t have a copy of that picture.” I keep my eyes on the road. I want to kiss Becca. I want to pull the car over, grab her in close, and kiss those shiny lips. Why does she have to be with somebody else?
“Was I the first girl you ever introduced to your mom?” Becca asks, looking out the window. She doesn’t even wait for me to answer. “I guess girls like Mindy don’t get invited over to family dinners?”
“Mindy?”
“Blonde hair, tons of make-up, you did unspeakable things with her in your room and then asked me to ditch her for you. We all had pancakes together. Ring a bell?”
Dammit, even if she wasn’t with Aidan, I’d have no ch
ance with her. I’m that guy. The one girls are warned about. The one girls never take seriously. Especially a girl like Becca.
“No, I’ve never brought anyone home before,” I say to her. No girl ever seemed special enough. Until now.
Chapter Nine
Aidan
Becca’s at work and thankfully so is Josh. Leaving the house in the middle of the day would send up a red flag that I was up to something. Becca was clear about her feelings towards Jordyn. I know it’s best if I keep this excursion to myself. This is a one-time thing I was roped into doing, more like falsely seduced.
Jordyn sends a text that she’s outside waiting for me. Gotta just get this over with. I zip up my hoodie and lock the door behind me.
I open the car door to the white Audi parked outside and I’m struck by a vision. Her cascading hair moves in soft, slow motion, blowing around her flawless skin. Granted the vents are blowing heat in her direction, but my God, this girl is magnificent. The eyes looking back at me are the golden color of a sunflower.
“You okay with the sunglasses today?” I ask, remembering how last time she told me she found them distracting.
“In the sunshine they’re just perfect,” she purrs, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
I’m already in trouble. Every movement she makes, every word she says, turns me on. For the millionth time I wonder what the hell I’m getting myself into today.
“I have to start by apologizing. I didn’t know about you and Becca. She mentioned you a few times and the way she talked, well, I just didn’t realize…I mean, I guess I misunderstood your relationship. If I had known I wouldn’t have come on to you the way I did the other night.”
I swallow hard. So she was definitely coming on to me. I didn’t imagine all that. The images of her pressed up against me on the treadmill have been controlling my mind all week. My breathing becomes unsteady and my heart, well…that’s just a lost cause around her. “You were just being friendly because you needed a favor,” I supply, breathing in deep through my nose.
Flaw (The Flaw Series) Page 6