Josh’s dark eyes sparked with amusement, and he smirked. “Ah, princess, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you do know what a happy ending is, right? You see the double meaning that could maybe leave the wrong impression?”
She tensed. “Only in dirty minds like yours.”
“In everyone’s mind.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m reclaiming it to be a happy thing.”
He lifted one corner of his mouth in his smirkiest of smirks. “Sure, it can be real happy.”
She huffed. “The joy kind of happy.” Rose started growling again.
Josh growled back, and Rose barked ferociously. She shifted away from Josh and soothed Rose, rubbing her cheek against Rose’s muzzle. Rose gave her a doggie kiss and settled into her purse for a nap. Hailey took a seat at the bar and carefully tucked Rose by her feet, out of sight of Josh to keep the growling and barking to a minimum. She rarely did that in a crowd at the bar, in case someone accidentally kicked Rose, but the bar area was empty at this time on a Monday.
Josh set her phone on the bar. “I’ll ask the editor to run a correction. You can be Queen of the Happy Ending if you want.”
She tucked her phone away. “No, it’s fine. Just wanted to point that out. Your way is okay too.”
“Thanks, that’s big of you.”
“I actually thought the double entendre of happy ending was more clear than happy ever after.”
Josh smiled widely, a genuine smile that lit up his handsome face. No. You are immune. He respects you, but he does not reciprocate. Boundaries. “So you saw the double meaning this whole time?”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Of course. But isn’t it what everyone wants? The great sex and the forever love?”
He inclined his head. “Some people do.”
“Everyone.”
He crossed his arms, his black T-shirt pulling tight across wide shoulders and muscular biceps. “Nope.”
“Definitely.” She tore her gaze away from his bicep, forced her mind from his hot edginess. Would he be aggressive in the bedroom like her favorite erotic romance series, the Fierce trilogy? She’d yet to experience that. Listen to what he’s saying, an extremely unromantic thing. Stop fooling yourself. She was a warm-and-fuzzy romantic (usually), and he was a cold realist. They weren’t compatible, just like she’d thought before.
He lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug that indicated he didn’t agree that everyone wanted great sex and the forever love, which was a completely guy way of saying he only wanted the sex.
She tensed, irritated beyond reason with his careless shrug. Romance was important. It was the basis of her career, her lifestyle, and all of her friends’ happy endings. Maybe he should take note that all of his brothers, his sister, and even his dad had found their loves! Maybe if he wasn’t so down on romance, he would find love too. Of course, there was Clarissa. He must’ve done something right for the woman to stick around for two months.
Take a breath. Josh always seemed to push her buttons. She never even knew she had buttons until he started poking at her.
He placed his palms on the bar and leaned into her personal space, his voice dropping to a husky whisper, “Some people might just want the sex.”
A hot throb between her legs alarmed her. It was exactly what she’d suspected he’d say, but the way he said sex sounded so…well, it sounded like a hard fuck. The kind she fantasized about. She met his dark heated eyes and swallowed hard. Her voice came out in a croak. “Like you.”
He straightened. “Jury’s still out on that one.”
She stared at him, wanting to know what he meant by that, but knowing if she asked, he’d say something teasing that set her off. She’d come here to thank him not engage in another fighting match. She had to stop getting sucked in. “Anyway, thanks for saying such nice things in that article. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be meeting with a prince on Friday to maybe plan a wedding for his sister.”
“A prince?”
She let out a happy laugh. “Yes. A real prince. Phillip is from Villroy Island, and he’s handsome and funny. It’s, like, every woman’s dream to meet him.”
Josh’s lip curled. “Well, have fun with your prince. If he really is one. Maybe it’s a scam. Who ever heard of Villroy Island?”
“It’s real. Look it up. Bye. Thanks again!” She picked up Rose and sailed out, floating once more with dreams of her royal wedding planning future. Not even Josh’s muttered, “Princess meets the prince, fucking perfect,” could ruin her lovely royal fantasy.
Chapter Four
As soon as Hailey left, Josh pulled out his phone and looked up the prince online. A ton of results popped up, mostly calling Prince Phillip the Royal Hottie. He scrolled through the pictures. Great. The guy looked like a movie star, all tousled dark hair, gleaming white teeth, probably had a personal trainer for that build. In half the pictures he was shirtless on a beach with a supermodel. Yup. Total playboy. And it seemed he exclusively dated models. Unfortunately, Hailey could hold her own with any model, which made her a prime target. Hadn’t he seen that up close and personal at his place seven long weeks ago? She haunted his erotic dreams. He’d even started daydreaming about her. Fuck me. Why her?
He and Hailey were wrong for each other for reasons he frequently reminded himself of—they fought constantly, their parents, his aversion to beauty queens. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t look out for her. As a friend.
He kept searching the internet, looking for damning evidence against the playboy prince. Oh, great, he was wealthy and heavily involved in charity work providing clean water to impoverished countries. He is the worst. Josh’s gut did a slow roll, which he ignored as he looked up Villroy Island. Sickeningly gorgeous. An island surrounded by deep blue sea with quaint cottages and a fishing port. The royal palace with towers and turrets perched on a hill in the center of it all looked like something out of a damn fairy tale.
The prince would turn Hailey’s head, showing off his glamorous lifestyle straight out of one of those romance novels Hailey loved. Hadn’t she started a book club based on that kind of fairy-tale life? The woman lived for romantic fantasies, but this one could end very badly for her. It would be so easy for the prince to take advantage and then just throw her away when he was done with her. Hailey deserved better than that.
He closed his eyes, his gut tight, and blew out a breath. Was he actually jealous of a man he’d never met? Or was he doing his usual protective big-brother thing?
He jammed a hand in his hair. What the hell was wrong with him? Ever since that night, that fucking night he could not stop thinking about, he’d been on edge. He was losing his mind, all for a woman he didn’t want to want.
Off-limits. Forget it! He shoved his phone in his pocket and went back to work.
~ ~ ~
Josh prowled behind the bar on Thursday night, waiting impatiently for Hailey and her friends to arrive. The Happy Endings Book Club met across the street at Something’s Brewing Café every other Thursday and always stopped by Garner’s afterwards for drinks. He could count on it. Tonight he was really counting on it. He needed to warn Hailey about this prince she was meeting with tomorrow.
He’d spent way too much time this week figuring out the best way to warn her off the playboy prince without risking her ire and decided after drinks with her friends would be the best time. She’d be in a good mood and mellow. Maybe he’d work on getting her to forgive him for his rejection too. They should be friends. He’d invite her to his place and offer her a drink or something, they’d talk things out, and he’d send her home with the shoebox of money that had brought him nothing but trouble. That was the only way they’d ever get a clean slate and end the bad blood between them.
He stilled as she walked in, her hand on Mad’s arm, confiding something to his little sister. His chest warmed at the sight. Mad was the youngest and only girl in their family, with five older brothers and a single cop dad. She’d never had women frie
nds before Hailey took her under her wing. Now Mad had a whole posse of women friends and seemed to have come into her own as the confident woman he always knew she could be.
Four years ago, he’d seen the rut Mad was in, working at a bar in a seedy section of the city, living in a crap apartment that was frequently broken into. His sister was smart but lost. He’d helped her move back home, got her a part-time job at Garner’s, and helped her get the paperwork and funds together for community college. Later she’d transferred to the University of Connecticut. She’d paid what she could in tuition and he’d paid the rest. He’d paid her last tuition bill in January and had been saving to buy Garner’s ever since. He’d tried once before to buy Garner’s, but his offer hadn’t been high enough to entice the owner Clive Garner to retire. He was hoping to make another offer soon and really hoping Clive was ready to hand over the reins. It wasn’t like Clive and his wife, Heather, were involved in the day to day. They trusted him to handle things.
Once Garner’s was all his, he planned on building an addition to the back of it with a dance floor, an old-fashioned jukebox, pool tables, and darts. He wanted it to be a nighttime destination, not just a place you got a beer and split. He figured it was easier to renovate this place than to build new. He’d seen enough of the world in the army and after—good and bad—and was happy to set down roots in the sleepy town of Clover Park. Everything he needed was right here.
Mad reached the bar first and took a seat. He was so damn proud of his baby sister graduating college soon. He’d dropped out of college, bored and restless, and had joined the army. Her hair looked ridiculous, nearly to her shoulders, dark brown to the tops of her ears, dyed red the rest of the way down. She was growing it out, back to her natural brunette for her wedding in June. He’d offered to chop off the red with some handy kitchen scissors, but she’d declined.
Mad lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey, Josh. Can I get a beer?”
“Shouldn’t you be studying for finals?”
She rolled her eyes. “They’re four weeks away. I’m still learning new stuff.”
He poured her favorite beer on tap and set it in front of her. “Don’t be slacking at the end. I need a good marketing plan out of you.” She was a marketing major and that was their deal. She’d help him out with his dream bar with great marketing ideas.
Mad grinned. “You’ll get it.”
Hailey appeared at Mad’s side, her pink dog purse over one shoulder. Thankfully Rose was asleep in there; otherwise she’d be barking at him. “I’ll hire you for a marketing plan too,” she told Mad. “Maybe you could be a marketing consultant for local businesses.”
Hailey didn’t look at him. Normally that wouldn’t faze him. Hailey had a lot going on at all times, but tonight it bugged him. Probably because he had urgent matters to discuss with her. He waited impatiently for them to finish their conversation.
Mad took a sip of beer. “Maybe. I might just do that on the side. I want to get some experience first at a larger shop.” She turned to him. “Did ya hear about Hailey’s prince?”
Mouthy smartass. Hailey’s prince. He grunted at Mad and turned to the rest of their friends. “What can I get you, ladies?” He took everyone’s orders, committing them to memory, and even agreed to Hailey’s favored mojito, which used to be a battle between them. As in, she ordered a mojito and he claimed to be missing a key ingredient to make it. See how he’d grown? He really was trying to make amends.
He served up the drinks in his usual quiet way, listening to the women talk. This time the talk was all about Prince Phillip. The women were in a heated debate over the proper protocol for proposing a fling with a prince, which he did not need to hear. Obviously Hailey was the only one available for a fling, and he’d be damned if he’d let her be taken in by a player looking for his next lay. What Hailey said next alarmed him.
“He’s so-o-o handsome. You ladies know he’s been my go-to fantasy forever. I always picture him when I read a swoony romance.”
Mad elbowed her. “Perfect fantasy for other vibratingly good moments too.”
The women roared with laughter, Hailey too and she blushed like it was true. Fuck, this was worse than he’d thought. She was meeting her fantasy lover in real life.
He made her mojito, his brain cranking for how to best broach the subject in light of this new information.
Hailey fanned herself with one hand. “It’s going to be so hard to keep my cool when I finally meet him. And he’s done so much great charity work too, very involved in clean water for countries that desperately need it. He’s the total package.”
“And you want his package,” Mad quipped and then she looked right at him, practically taunting him with this prince.
The women tittered.
“I wouldn’t kick him out of bed,” Hailey said.
The women laughed and teased her good-naturedly.
Enough!
“Hailey, drink’s up.” He set her mojito in front of her, keeping his hand on the glass when she tried to take it.
Her pale blue eyes flashed at him. His pulse quickened; something about the fiery fighting spirit in her excited him. He was much more aware of the effect she had on him now that he’d seen her near naked. Before he would’ve just moved right to battle engagement. Now he suffered for the good of their family. Why was he torturing himself by staying away from her? All of the important reasons to stay away wavered when he saw her up close again. He was done fighting it—
He wanted her.
The tension in his shoulders eased. It was a relief to finally admit what had been staring him in the face this whole time. And it was more than just his natural competitiveness with another man encroaching on his territory. She was beautiful and sexy and smart, and she was his to protect.
And that prince, that damn fantasy prince who’d easily lure her to his bed given the opportunity. Hell. He couldn’t let her fall prey to a user guy like that.
“Thank you, Josh,” she said, baring her teeth in a fake smile. That smile popped up when she was agitated, like someone had told her frowning wasn’t pretty or something.
He leaned close and whispered, “I get off at ten. Come over after. We’ll have a drink and talk.”
“Ha!” she exclaimed loud enough to draw all eight of her friends’ attention. “If you think I’m ever going to your place again, you are sorely mistaken.” Rose popped her purple bowed head out of Hailey’s purse, took one look at him, and barked. And barked and barked and barked.
“Quiet,” he commanded Rose.
Bark! Bark! Bark!
He kept his voice low, leaning across the bar. “I want a clean slate between us, and I have something important to talk to you about. Give me a chance to make things right. I’m sorry about last time.”
Hailey spoke above the noise of her stupid barky dog. “Last time I was drunk on vodka. That will never happen again.”
He stiffened, straightening to his full six feet. She had not been drunk. Her eyes were clear that night, and she’d only had one drink, although she had gulped her drink down quick. Maybe she hadn’t eaten before. Shit. He’d actually thought she’d wanted him. He’d even felt a little self-righteous by sticking to the friend plan in light of mutual wanting. Hell, he’d always wanted her. He’d just resisted it because he’d thought they weren’t right for each other for reasons that now seemed insignificant. Fuck me. He retreated to the other side of the bar to regroup, and Rose instantly quieted.
He worked, he stewed, he grumbled at his sister and sisters-in-law, who just wouldn’t shut up about how cool it was that Hailey would be meeting her dream prince tomorrow. It was like they had to rub it in, trying to get a reaction out of him. What was the big deal about being a prince? The guy was born into it. Not like he had any choice in the matter.
Finally, Mad asked Hailey if she could take Rose on a walk before they all left for the night. Now he could speak privately to Hailey without all the barking. He crooked his finger at her to join him at
the far end of the bar away from her friends.
She looked away, pretending not to notice his request.
He stifled a groan of pure aggravation and made his way over to her. Now he had to whisper or her friends would add in their two cents. He didn’t want to put on a show. This was too damn important.
“Enjoy your mojito?” he asked.
She eyed him suspiciously. “Yes. Why? Did you do something to it?”
She always thought the worst. Maybe he deserved it. He had given her a hard time before—teasing her, trying to best her in competitive one-upmanship, rejecting her sexy drunken invitation. She’d even said she’d learned not to trust him after he’d pulled that switcheroo date with Jake. Josh had figured financial security was important to her because she was way into her work and had shown such an interest in his billionaire twin and his company. It had gotten his back up because the one thing Josh didn’t have was financial security, and there was Jake, looking just like him and offering what Josh couldn’t. So he’d taken Jake’s place, tortured himself over her enthusiasm for every braggy luxury thing he could think of, and then pulled the plug on the date, unable to stomach her interest in his twin. Of course, now he knew she thought he’d been a boring braggart as Jake, but at the time it had felt like she preferred Jake. He’d been an idiot, trying to compete with his twin over a woman he wanted but didn’t want to want. His visceral repulsion for the beauty-queen thing in battle with his primal lust made him do really stupid things. It was him, after all, that she’d paraded around as her date at weddings, so he must’ve passed muster right from the beginning. He ground his teeth. All he could do was try to earn back her trust.
“It was just a regular mojito.” He lowered his voice. “Maybe you could stick around after closing. Just to talk.”
“We can talk now,” she said in her normal voice.
An Inconvenient Plan (Happy Endings Book Club, Book 10) Page 4