by Holly Jacobs
“Oh, hell is right,” he muttered as they came up for air.
“Now that we’ve got that out of our system, let’s eat some leftovers.” She turned back to the leftovers and started loading them onto the table.
“Dinner. You’ve got it.” Josh opened the silverware drawer and took out three sets.
“And, Josh?” Libby said quietly as she took a plate out of the cupboard to replace the one she’d broken.
“Hmm?”
“You hurt Meg—”
“You don’t need any threats, Libby. I don’t plan on hurting Meg.” Or hurting you, he silently added.
He’d give her space, and allow her to adjust to the idea of—He mentally paused, not sure how to describe the relationship they’d just agreed to, but whatever it was, he would take his time exploring it.
He watched her bustle about the kitchen, and suppressed a grin. Libby McGuiness might be prickly on the outside, but she was soft and pliant in his arms. And though he hadn’t lied—he wasn’t looking for some lifetime commitment—Josh knew he did plan to find Libby back in his arms as soon as possible.
Chapter Seven
Libby managed to avoid Josh the rest of the weekend. Actually, avoiding him wasn’t hard since he never called and didn’t stop back over. She was relieved, she assured herself Sunday night as she went to bed.
And she was relieved, she assured herself Monday as she went to work. Relieved that she had gone two whole days without Joshua Gardner kissing her or messing with her life. But she faced up to the fact that it was Monday, and she was back to work, so she probably would have to see him. Not that she wanted to.
Nope. The fact she was going to have to see Joshua Gardner wasn’t why she felt a hundred pounds lighter when she opened the shop Monday morning, bright and early. And she assured herself on Tuesday and Wednesday she was relieved he wasn’t pursuing her anymore. It was obvious that Joshua Gardner had got kissing her out of his system, and Libby was relieved.
Very relieved.
The weight that seemed to bear down upon her chest every now and again was just the stress of the holidays, nothing more.
When Thursday dawned bright and sunny with still no word from Josh, Libby was even more relieved. Of course, the two of them still had to finalize the party plans, but the worst was over and they still had plenty of time. No reason to bother him, she thought as her hand hovered near the telephone receiver. She snatched the offending appendage back from the phone and didn’t dial the number she’d long since memorized.
Feeling disgusted, and momentarily in between customers, Libby bagged the garbage, twisting the tie on the bag with maybe a bit more force than required. She didn’t give a hoot that Josh kissed her Friday and then ignored her for five days—five very long days.
She banged out the back door of the shop and stomped to the garbage bin. She pushed at the heavy door on top of the garbage bin, shivering in the bitter Erie wind.
“Here, let me help.”
She turned and practically ran into Josh. “I’ve got it,” she gritted out between her clenched teeth.
“What’s the matter with you?” He crowded close, sandwiching Libby between his body and the garbage bin.
She pushed at him, needing some space. Touching Josh didn’t appeal to her at all, which is why those five long days of respite were so welcomed.
“What’s the matter with me? What could be the matter with me? Nothing. That’s what’s wrong. I’m just throwing out the garbage and getting back to work.”
He grinned. “You’re mad I haven’t called.” He reached past her and opened the garbage bin.
“You’re nuts,” she scoffed, tossing the bag into the garbage bin. She turned, but Josh was still right behind her and she had nowhere to go but into his arms, and in Joshua Gardner’s arms was the last place she wanted to be.
“Tomorrow night,” he said softly, his voice a caress.
“Tomorrow night, what?” Libby asked, hating herself for the way her heart raced just because Josh was near.
“You and me on a date. No parties to plan, no little girls, no old ladies. Just you and me, and a movie.” He reached out and pushed a stray strand of hair out of Libby’s face.
She smacked at his hand. “A date? You don’t call for five days—”
“You were counting?” Josh sounded pleased at the thought.
“It doesn’t take much math to count to five, Gardner.” She shoved against his chest, but Josh didn’t budge.
“But if you were counting, it does mean you’ve been thinking about me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
Josh chuckled. “I doubt you’d let me.”
When Libby started to protest, his finger against her lips was enough to silence her. Actually, his finger against her lips was enough to send her already-rapid heart rate skyrocketing.
“Now, about tomorrow,” he said.
“I don’t think a date would be wise.” No, wise would be turning around and running from this man who had the ability to make her feel like an awkward teenager.
“I thought we agreed we could be adults, we could kiss and I think we could even manage dating without running to the altar. It’s just a date, Libby.” He crowded closer. “And I haven’t called because I told you I’d give you space. Five days was all the space I could manage.”
“And now you want a date?”
“I wanted a date five days ago, but waited until today to ask.”
His hand toyed with her hair, weaving his fingers through it in a very distracting way. She pushed at his hand, but there was little force in the action. What on earth was wrong with her?
“Just a date—not a marriage,” he said soothingly. “So don’t start your running. Just two friendly people going out together.”
“And kissing?” she asked, unsure if she wanted kissing as part of the agenda or not. Okay, she knew she wanted kissing, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to want kissing.
“Oh, yeah, and kissing.” His fingers left her hair and returned to her lips. He slowly, softly traced their outline.
“I need to think.” Her voice was breathy and unfamiliar, just like the feelings Josh inspired were unfamiliar.
“I’ll be at your place tomorrow at six. I’m betting Pearly, Josie or Mabel will agree to watch Meg.”
“But—”
“I’ve been patient, Libby. Five days exhausted all of it though. Tomorrow at six.” He turned and headed toward his office’s back door. Gotta go,” he called.
And he was gone.
Libby wandered back into the shop, wondering at the lightness that seemed to envelop her at the thought of seeing Josh tomorrow on a date. A real date.
Then the terror set in. A date? How long had it been since she’d gone on a real date?
“What’s wrong with you, girl?” Pearly asked, pulling Libby from her reverie.
“He doesn’t call me for five days, and then blithely announces, when he corners me against the garbage bin, that he wants to date me.”
“I assume he is Josh. And I thought you were already dating.” Pearly was loading towels into the small washer in the back room of the store.
“No, we’ve planned a party, done some shopping, had dinner at my place, been thrown together by friends and—”
“And kissing. You’ve done some kissing.” Pearly scooped the detergent into the washer and slammed the lid before turning to Libby.
“Well, yes, there’s that. But we weren’t dating. Dating is something I say yes to. It’s something I do on purpose without any conniving friends setting me up.”
“So what’s the problem?” Pearly lounged against the washer.
“I don’t know what to do. I mean, I know I should say no. Josh and I…well, we’ve both agreed to keep it casual, but I’m still nervous.”
“I’ve watched you for years, Liberty Rae McGuiness. You hardly date, and when you do, you break it off before anything serious can develop. You run. Now here’s a man who’s wo
rking next door. He’s hard to run from, and from the looks of it, if you do run he just might chase you. So, don’t you go making up your mind that the two of you dating won’t work before you give it a chance.”
Before Libby could find a retort to Pearly’s armchair psychiatry, Pearly asked, “Did I ever tell you about my uncle Pernius?”
Libby could feel a smile touch her lips despite the tumultuous thoughts Josh inspired. “No, I don’t believe you have.”
“Well, Uncle Pern used to make decisions on the spot. You want this or that? Well he never stopped to think, he just up and said which one he was wantin’.” As Pearly told her story, her Southern accent became decidedly thicker. “Well, one day the Widow Stella Horny—honest to goodness, that was her name—well, she up and said to Uncle Pern, ‘You either marry me or do without.’
“Well, Uncle Pern wasn’t overly fond of doing without—you remember I told you about my pa’s insatiable appetites. Well they run in the family. So he says, ‘Guess I’ll be a marryin’ you, then.’
“They did and his life was living hell for the next twenty-eight years, three months and four days—I know the number because he counted and used to tell everyone he met how long he suffered. Aunt Stella, it seems, didn’t feel that she needed to satisfy his hungers once his ring was on her finger and his name attached to hers. So poor Uncle Pern suffered and, by the time Aunt Stella had gone to her final release, Uncle Pern found he couldn’t…well, couldn’t raise the flag anymore, much to his everlasting disappointment.”
She paused, staring at Libby a moment, then asked, “Now, do you know what I’m trying to tell you?”
Libby laughed. “Never marry a woman named Horny because she might not be anymore when her name’s been changed?”
“No,” Pearly said, suddenly all seriousness. “You run from relationships, and it looks to me as if you’re working up for a good fast sprint. I’m saying, don’t make any decisions without really thinking them through, or you might find yourself regretting them for the next twenty-eight years, three months and four days.”
“Twenty-eight years, three months and four days,” Libby muttered as she sat in the passenger seat of Joshua’s truck the following night.
He glanced at her. “Pardon?”
“To answer your question, I’m only out on this date so I don’t regret not being here twenty-eight years, three months and four days from now.”
Josh glanced her way. “Twenty-eight years, three months and three—”
“Four days.”
“Four days,” he amended. “So you think you would have regretted it if you’d said no to our date?”
“I don’t know,” Libby said with a sigh. She sank farther back in the seat and then admitted, “I guess it hasn’t been going all that bad.”
“You liked the movie?”
“More than you say you did.” She chuckled, despite her nervousness. At the movie she’d forgotten she was on a date and simply enjoyed Josh’s reactions.
He’d seemed more than slightly uncomfortable with the tears that flowed openly on and off the screen for a large percentage of the two hours and ten minutes they’d spent at the movie.
“It wasn’t that bad. And I should get some credit with you for being a gentleman and letting you pick that chick-flick.”
“Chick-flick?” She laughed. “I noticed you were a little teary-eyed when the credits rolled.”
“Real men don’t cry at chick-flicks.” He paused and grinned. “Do you know why real men agree to go to those movies with their dates?”
“Why?” she asked, though she was sure he would have told her even if she hadn’t asked.
“In the hopes that the girl will cry…all over his shoulder.”
For a moment some of Libby’s ease disappeared as an image of Mitch standing, listening to the doctor tell them that Meg was deaf, came into focus. She’d stood by his side, tears running down her face, more alone at that moment than she’d ever been.
Mitch hadn’t offered her his shoulder, nor was he willing to cry on hers, or even lean on her. They’d stood there, two people whose lives were parallel, but separate. It was that separation that finally brought about the end of their marriage.
“I can’t imagine any man wanting to be cried on,” she said softly.
They drove in silence for a few minutes, before Josh turned onto her street. He pulled into Libby’s driveway.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
There was concern in Josh’s voice, and for a moment Libby wondered if he would have stood at her side and let her cry by herself, or if he would have reached out and held her, supporting her and letting her support him?
Needing to keep things light, she forced a laugh that sounded hollow to her ears. “Watch it, Gardner. First I catch you sniffling at a chick-flick, and now you’re almost being tender. Either of those characteristics could destroy my manly-man image of you.”
Willing to take his cue from her, Josh’s voice lightened. “Libby, it’s not the crying that turns men on, it’s the opportunity to soothe a woman’s fragile feelings.”
“And just how would a real man do that?” she asked softly.
“Like this.” He slid across the truck’s bench seat, and hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around her.
Libby knew she should pull away, but being held by Josh felt good. It felt right. And when his lips met hers, that feeling of rightness intensified, and grew until it was too much to bear. Libby pulled back, thankful that Josh didn’t push. If he had, she didn’t know if she could have pulled away a second time.
“I guess there’s a lot I don’t know about real men,” she said with as much flippancy as she could muster.
“I guess you don’t,” he agreed. “I’d be happy to teach you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Josh paused and studied her a moment. “Nope, that’s not fear I see in your eyes.” At least not this time, he thought.
“What do you see?”
“Eagerness.” He paused again and searched those beautiful blue eyes. Josh had looked into countless eyes in the life of his practice, but he’d never seen any that touched him the way Libby’s did. “Yep, definitely eagerness.”
“Have I ever mentioned you’re arrogant?” There was no heat in her voice.
“Maybe once or twice.” He didn’t try to kiss her again. He was just content to hold her in his arms.
“Well, let me say it again. You’re a very arrogant man, Dr. Gardner.”
“Arrogant and eager, too.”
Libby laughed.
The sound sent Josh’s heart racing. This is what he’d been waiting for. Gone was the fearful watchfulness. Tonight he was experiencing the real Libby McGuiness. Laughing, smart-mouthed and a heck of a kisser.
Giving her five days of breathing room had been a good idea, though it had almost killed him. But it had been worth it. Libby had lost that hunted, wary look.
“Hey, Libby?”
“What now?” she asked with mock exasperation.
“How long has it been since you’ve parked like this?” Deliberately he let his hand drift lower down her back until it was resting on her waist.
“I park in this driveway every day,” she said primly.
“I wasn’t thinking about that kind of parking. I was thinking more along the lines of Parking, with a capital P. You know, sitting out here in this car and sucking face with abandon.”
“I’ve already kissed you good night.” Her arms still entwined around him, she gave a little squeeze.
“No. That was just an appetizer,” Josh assured her.
“Why, Dr. Gardner, are you trying to compromise my virtue?” she said with a horrible attempt to mimic Pearly’s Southern accent.
“I’m doing my darnedest, Ms. McGuiness. I’m doing my darnedest.”
His lips found hers again, and again Josh experienced a sense of rightness, as if this woman had been made for his arms, her lips made for his lips
. Gently he eased those lips apart and deepened the kiss, as his hand drifted lower down her back.
Libby melted into him, her arms clutching him close, closer—meeting his kiss with a hunger that surprised as much as it delighted him.
Slowly she pulled back, and though everything in him demanded he hold on, Josh allowed her to move away.
“I have to go in,” she said breathlessly.
“You have a curfew?” he teased.
“No, I have a daughter.” Breathlessness and laughter were gone from her voice. Flat and final, Libby McGuiness was once again setting boundaries.
“I didn’t forget about Meg, Libby,” Josh said gently. He removed his arms and slid back to his side of the car, giving her distance.
She sighed. “I know. I just—”
“Needed to reestablish some boundaries. I know.”
“You think you know me so well.” Prickly, snippy Libby McGuiness was back, her wall once again firmly in place.
“Here, see if I’ve got this right. When Meg’s father left, you closed off a whole piece of Libby McGuiness and decided to concentrate your energies on your daughter and your business. That’s all well and good, Libby. You’ve done a fantastic job with both, but you’re still an individual with needs of her own—needs that are separate from both the business and Meg.”
“And you’re volunteering to help me with that side of myself—with my needs?” Bristly and snippy.
Josh tamped down a spurt of irritation. How long would he have to spar with this woman? How many times would he have to prove himself to her?
An even bigger question was, why was he bothering? He kept telling himself that he wasn’t looking for a relationship, and yet that was exactly what he was trying to establish with prickly Libby McGuiness.
Forcing himself to put on a calm facade, Josh answered, “I think I already have. I think for the first time in a long time you’re remembering you’re not just a business owner and a mom. I think tonight you remembered that you’re a woman with needs that are totally separate from your business or your daughter.”
“Arrogant as ever, Dr. Gardner. For your information, I’ve never forgotten I’m a woman.” Even in the dim light the street lamp cast in the car, Josh could see Libby sit a bit straighter in the seat.