“Says the woman who ignored her boyfriend’s texts once upon a time,” she muttered.
“For the record, I never fully ignored them. I always responded–even if it was just to say thank you. You’re being childish and you need to stop.” Pausing, she narrowed her gaze and that made Josie a little nervous. “What’s going on with Tyler?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“You haven’t seen him or heard from him?”
She shook her head.
“Okay, here’s what needs to happen–you’re going to respond to one of Daniel’s texts and you’re going to try to get together and talk to him. Preferably tonight. Then…you’re going to get Tyler on the phone or go and see him and put an end to that whole thing or Skye is going to get Elliott involved.”
“What?! Why? Why would she do that?”
“Because we’ve talked about it and considering how crappy Tyler’s been, we thought the only thing to snap him out of it was for his best friend to confront him. And believe me, Elliott’s cranky from sleep deprivation and lack of sex so it won’t take much for him to snap. Personally, I’m voting for seeing that go down.”
Groaning, she put her head down on her desk. “Please don’t get my brother involved…”
“Then stop dragging this nonsense out. Talk to Daniel and then talk to Tyler. Don’t make me be firm with you like this. I hate it.”
Glancing over, she saw the stern expression on her friend’s face and for some reason it made her smile. “Fine. I’ll text Daniel when I get home.”
“Text him now.”
“Lea…” she whined.
“Do not make me raise my voice again!”
Straightening in her seat, Josie pulled out her phone and immediately texted Daniel to see if he was free tonight.
He was.
“There, happy? I’m seeing him tonight.”
“Good. Now…let’s go over the McNeal-Jordan wedding and get you out of here by four.”
There was no way she was going to argue with that.
But all her inner pep talks and the one Lea had given her did nothing to prepare her for seeing Daniel. When he knocked on her door at six o’clock sharp, her heart raced and her hands shook as she greeted him.
“Hey,” she softly greeted.
“Hey, yourself,” he said, looking better than she’d ever seen him. He was still dressed from work in black trousers and a slate-colored button-down shirt. And on top of looking good, he smelled even better.
It was wrong to say to hell with conversation and just drag him up to her bedroom, but that was seriously what she wanted to do.
“Come on in.” Stepping aside, she shut the door and led them to the living room. Once she was seated, she gave him a small smile. “How’ve you been?”
“Miserable.” And yeah, his voice was low and gruff and she was seriously struggling not to reach out and touch him.
“Oh.” Swallowing hard, she ignored her body’s reaction to him. “I was going to order us some dinner, but…”
“Actually, I ordered for us. Just pizza, nothing exciting, but it should be here in thirty to forty minutes.”
“Um…okay. I wasn’t sure how this was all going to go.”
His expression was hard and he looked like he was he was holding on to his temper–although she had no idea what he had to be so pissy about. This all happened because of his behavior.
“How do you want this to go?” he asked.
“I’d like for us to talk and figure out what it is we’re doing,” she explained carefully. “You know my feelings, Daniel, and I think it would be best if we weren’t wasting each other’s time.”
“Is that how you see me? A waste of time?” If possible, his expression hardened even more.
“I…” Looking up at him, Josie knew her answer. “No. That’s not how I see you.” It bothered her that she was clearly more invested in this relationship, but…it was pointless to lie. “What we have has meant everything to me–even with all the craziness with Tyler–and…”
“Speaking of my brother, my mother said he’ll be home this weekend. You know…so maybe we can talk with him. That is, if you still want to.”
“Of course I do!” she cried with frustration. “Seriously, I wish that whole thing wasn’t even a factor for us. Ever! I hate myself for getting involved in it!”
“Yeah, well…you had your reasons.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What about you? How do you see this relationship?” And then she held her breath because she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear his answer.
“I told you, Josie; I never expected this…you. I’ve been waiting to come home and have my freedom.”
She nodded and figured she had her answer. “So I’m not a waste of time but I’m a way of passing the time.”
“That’s not what I’m saying! Jeez, that’s not even what I’m implying! Just because you weren’t what I was expecting doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you! Don’t you get it?”
“Daniel, don’t you get it? Didn’t you understand what I said to you that day in the tasting room? I’m in love with you! You! Maybe it’s not what you want to hear or maybe it doesn’t mean anything to you, but…”
She never got to finish. Daniel hauled her into his lap and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. They broke apart long enough for her to maneuver herself to straddle him before they reached for each other again. It was complete madness. Daniel anchored one hand in her hair and gently tugged and it was way more of a turn-on than it should have been.
It was practically like hitting the launch button.
There was no finesse–it was clumsy and awkward and yet they both laughed between kisses as clothes were either stripped or shifted.
“You make me crazy, Josie,” he ground out against her throat.
“I hear that a lot,” she panted, grinding against him.
“All day, every day…” He gently bit the slope of her breast. “I think about you. I can’t concentrate on business because all I can think about is you.”
It was totally wrong how much that pleased her, but it did.
“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve gotten hard in the middle of a meeting?” he murmured before moving her bra aside to get better access to her.
Josie’s head gently fell back as she let out a moan of pure pleasure at the feel of his lips on her. Her hands raked up into his hair as she held him close.
He might not love her, but he wanted her and for right now, she was more than okay with it.
Her need for him was too strong and if he wasn’t inside her soon, she swore she would die.
Tugging on his hair, she forced him to look at her. “Make love to me,” she begged breathlessly.
A sexy grin crossed his face before he shifted them both and gave her exactly what she wanted.
Breathless and more than a little sweaty, Daniel placed a soft kiss on Josie’s shoulder, not ready to let her go just yet.
In the back of his mind, he knew they should have waited to do this. Her admission was huge–life-changing–and rather than dealing directly with it, he distracted them with sex.
Spectacular sex, but still…
She loved him–was in love with him, and it affected him more than he thought possible. No woman had ever said those words to him before–except for his mother–and he needed a few minutes to let them sink in.
Of course, making love with Josie meant he wasn’t exactly focused on anything other than how incredible she felt, looked, and sounded. But now as he was sitting with her naked in his arms, he knew he needed to get his thoughts straight.
Love.
He meant what he said earlier–it wasn’t something he ever really thought about. His whole life, he fought against everything his family represented, and even though he swore it was only where education and career choices were concerned, he couldn’t deny that he also went out of his way to avoid close relationships. His parents had a happy, normal marriage. To him it seemed borin
g, but maybe it was a comfortable companionship that he just never bothered to look deeper at.
Knox and Xander mocked him for leading a boring life since he’d started dating Josie, but…if anything…it was exciting on a level he never knew existed. He’d been a SEAL for so many years and dealt with extremely exciting and dangerous situations, so yeah, compared to that sort of thing, his life was boring. But on every other level, it was…it was everything.
Josie slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and gave him a very satisfied grin. “Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey, yourself.” Kissing her softly on the lips, he reached up to comb her hair away from her face. “Hungry?”
Her laughter was infectious. “After that? Um…definitely!” When she went to move off him, Daniel banded his arm around her waist to hold her there a little longer. Resting her forehead against his, she let out a small sigh. “Kind of hard to get up and get dressed like this.”
“Maybe I’m not ready to let you get up yet. This right here is pretty much perfect.” And then he kissed her simply because he had to. It was soft and lazy and he was regretting calling in their dinner order. This would have been the perfect time to carry her upstairs to her bedroom and finish having their talk from the comfort of her bed.
“Daniel…”
He cupped her face in his hands. “I know we need to get dressed because the pizza will be here any minute, but I want you to know that…what you said…it did mean something to me. It means everything.” He was about to say more when the doorbell rang. Josie immediately jumped off his lap and began scrambling for her clothes. “Relax–I got it. I just need to slip my pants on.”
Laughing, she tossed them to him. “Where are my panties?”
“Go run up the stairs and just throw on your robe. I’ll deal with the delivery guy.”
She gave him a quick kiss before sprinting naked from the room. With a smile on his face, Daniel walked to the door and quickly glanced up the stairs to make sure she was out of sight before opening it.
“Sorry for the delay,” he said and then froze.
His brother was standing there and he was fairly sure their shocked expressions mirrored each other. There was no way anyone could mistake what had been going on and he had no idea what he was supposed to do or say.
“You son of a bitch!” Tyler shouted before punching him right in the face.
Daniel stumbled back a few feet and took it in stride. He had a feeling the punch was coming and it was no more than he deserved.
“I don’t even know why I’m surprised,” Tyler said with a sneer. “You ruin everything! My whole life you’ve done nothing but ruin everything!”
What the hell?
“Hey, you want to eat in bed or…?” Josie said as she began walking down the stairs in her pink satin robe. When she spotted Tyler, she stopped. “Ty? What are you doing here?”
“Obviously interrupting the two of you stabbing me in the back!”
“For crying out loud, Tyler,” Daniel said with annoyance. “Don’t be so damn dramatic.”
Wrong. Thing. To. Say.
This time when his brother lunged for him, Daniel blocked him before fighting back. They were locked together and slammed into the slender console table Josie had in the entryway, knocking several decorative items to the floor with a loud crash. He heard Josie scream, but Tyler’s hand was pushing on his windpipe, so he figured he’d need to deal with that first.
That’s when all his SEAL training kicked in and as much as he hated to hurt his brother…in the blink of an eye Tyler’s arm was twisted behind his back right before Daniel flipped him over his shoulder and threw him to the ground.
“Daniel!” Josie cried, running down the rest of the stairs. “Oh, my God!” She knelt beside Tyler. “Are you alright?”
“What do you even care?” Tyler snapped, pushing her aside as he got to his feet. Josie fell back on her bottom with a small cry which made Daniel grab him and shove him against the wall.
“Do not talk to her like that and don’t you ever lay a hand on her! Do you understand me?” Rage filled him like never before, and as much as he wanted to pound on Tyler, he walked over and helped Josie stand up first.
“Okay, that is enough!” she shouted. “We are all adults here, so everyone needs to calm down so we can talk.” When she turned and walked toward the kitchen, she yelled over her shoulder, “And that’s not a suggestion!”
It was childish, but he waited for his brother to move first and as soon as he did, Daniel followed him. Josie pointed to the kitchen chairs and neither said a word as they sat down. She looked like she was about to say something, but Tyler spoke first.
“I can’t believe you would do this to me, Josie! I thought you were my friend! How am I supposed to explain this to my bosses, huh? They’ve been talking about throwing us an engagement party and wanted Meet Me at the Altar to plan it and…”
Slamming her hand down on the table, effectively shut him up. “I have had enough of you dangling jobs for my business in front of me every time you don’t get your way,” she said, sounding deadly calm and Daniel’s chest swelled with pride. “Every time I’ve tried to tell you how I felt about this stupid arrangement, you dangle a job in front of me to shut me up. Well you know what? I’m done! This is not the way I want to grow my business–by being manipulated by you.”
“I’m not manipulating you…”
“Oh, please!” she snorted. “Don’t insult me, Ty. From the night at the restaurant when your family showed up until right now you’ve been doing it! You knew that night before anyone showed up that I was having second thoughts and you put me on the spot! Then you sent me to deal with your family instead of having to face me!” Letting out a long breath, she began to pace. “And on top of that, you’ve been MIA for the better part of the last two months, so…”
“Hey, I’m not the bad guy here!” he retorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, the two of you have been screwing around behind my back!”
“Watch yourself,” Daniel growled but Tyler wasn’t paying attention to him.
“Do you even hear yourself?” Josie asked with a mirthless laugh. “You act as if you’re the injured party here! You dragged me into your ridiculous scheme, you played on my ambition to grow Meet Me at the Altar as well as my emotions because you knew how lonely and left out I’d been feeling with Skye getting married and Lea getting engaged!” With a huff, she sat down and faced Ty. “I know I’m not blameless in this. I should have put my foot down from the get-go, but things got out of hand.”
Rather than respond, Tyler glanced over at Daniel with pure hatred and it nearly gutted him. When had his brother started to hate him like this?
Daniel didn’t have a chance to say anything because Tyler faced Josie again. “Why him? Of all the people in the damn world, why did you have to go messing around with him?”
“We’re not messing around, Ty,” she said slowly. “And for what it’s worth, I tried to fight what I felt for Daniel, but…I couldn’t.”
“You don’t know him, Josie. Trust me. You’re too good for him!” This time when he turned toward Daniel, he directed his comments to him. “And you. I mean…why? You couldn’t just let me have this, could you?”
It wasn’t really a question.
“Ty, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied wearily.
“Do you have any idea what it was like to grow up in your shadow? How hard I had to work to be the perfect son just to get someone to notice me?”
“What does that even mean?” he demanded. “You’re not making any sense! If anything, it was a pain in the ass being the older brother to the golden child who was everything Mom and Dad ever wanted! They hated the fact that I was more athletic than academic and yet didn’t strive to excel in anything to get a scholarship. And they freaked out when I announced I was going into the Navy because…hell, I still don’t know why! So don’t go blaming any of your issues on me. If anything, I was an underachiev
er and that should have made things extremely easy for you.”
“You don’t get it,” Tyler snapped, fully turning to face him now. “I used to hear you arguing with them or hear them talking about how frustrated they were with you, so I went out of my way to be the total opposite of you because it seemed like the only way to get them to stop obsessing about you and finally see me! Do you have any idea how hard I had to work? How much of my damn life has been spent on freaking college degrees and law school? Hell, do you think I even wanted to be a lawyer?”
“Ty…”
“Well I didn’t!” he yelled, coming to his feet. “And I finally hit a point in my career where I could get ahead, and you come along and ruin it!” He started pacing. “That day at the barbecue, you said how you wanted us to be friends even as you were telling me not to marry Josie! You were making a play for her even back then, knowing I’d end up looking like a loser to everyone! After all, who was going to say anything bad about the military hero?” He snorted with disgust. “You are seriously the worst. I’ve hated you for most of my life and for a brief moment when you got home, I thought finally–finally–I had the upper hand. You were going to have to be the one to scramble for everyone’s approval. But the joke was on me, huh? You swooped in and surprised everyone by coming home and starting up your business and stealing my girl away.” And with that, he turned and began to walk toward the door, but Josie stopped him.
“Ty, stop!” She grabbed his arm and spun him around. “I get that you’re upset, but…I was never your girl, and you know that. There was never anything between us and there was never going to be. Our relationship was on paper only so please be man enough to admit it.”
All he did was stare.
“There was nothing to steal, Tyler. Daniel and I spent time together and I fell in love with him,” she said softly, almost apologetically. “We didn’t plan this and the last thing either of us wanted to do was hurt you. Hell, I was even still going to go through with marrying you to help you because you are my friend!”
“You…you were?”
She nodded. “I was, but…I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Not anymore.”
You May Kiss the Groomsman: A Meet Me at the Altar Novel Page 20