Goody Two Shoes (Invertary Book 2) (9 page)

He glanced up to see what Caroline thought, and caught her staring at his stomach. Her cheeks were pink and her little tongue darted out to lick her lips. Josh smiled wickedly. He ran his fingers over his abs. “Maybe I could work out a bit more.” He grinned wider as Caroline’s eyes ate up his movement. Nope. There was nothing wrong with him. He reluctantly dropped his shirt, and Caroline snapped out of her daze. Pity.

“Right. Okay.” She seemed flustered. “Let’s pick up some food and get this homework done.”

“Great. This night never ends.”

Her back snapped straight. “No one is keeping you. You can go home any time you like. As I recall, you forced your way into coming with me.”

Josh took her hand and dragged her towards the door. “Feed me, Caroline. There’s a limit to what I can suffer, and all I’ve had since lunch was whatever was in the domino boys’ cookie tin.”

“You ate their biscuits?”

The community centre door slammed behind them, and Caroline turned to lock it.

“It was either that or eat the guy who wouldn’t shut up. I thought I made the right choice.”

Caroline stifled a giggle. “Fine. We’ll pick up some food at the pub and eat it at my place while we work.”

Josh didn’t hear anything past the word
food
. He grabbed Caroline’s hand and practically ran to the pub.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“What’s your favourite food?” Josh looked up from the workbook the vicar had given him, and grimaced at Caroline. She tried not to smile at the sight of him sitting at her tiny table. He was far too big for the furniture she’d inherited. In fact, he was too big for her whole house. It made her feel like they were in a Wendy house, playing at being adults. “Seriously? He wants to know what my favourite food is? What does this have to do with the wedding?”

Caroline resisted the urge to smack him upside his head. “He doesn’t care what your favourite food is. He’s trying to fast-track the ‘getting to know you’ part of our courtship. He’s helping us.”

“Yeah. Right.” Josh ate another fry. He’d already polished off two massive burgers. “I know a better way to fast-track getting to know each other.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and gave her a fake leer.

“Do you only think about sex?” She was pleased that she didn’t blush when she said the word.

Josh shrugged. “I think about food too.” He gave her a sexy smile that made her toes curl. “Come on, Caroline, let’s do something that’s way more fun.”

Caroline ignored him and stepped over to flick on the kettle.

He sighed dramatically. “So what’s your favourite food, then?”

“Bacon and eggs.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Not chocolate? I thought every woman loved chocolate.”

“Do you actually need me here to answer the questions? Or will you just use your extensive knowledge of women to come up with an average?”

“Snippy, Caroline. Very snippy.” He seemed proud of her.

She tried not to smile. “What’s your favourite food, then?”

“Steak. No. Pizza.” He grinned. “Steak pizza.” His triumphant smile made her laugh.

“Maybe we should have that at our wedding?”

“Now that’s a great idea.” Josh shook the pen in his hand before looking at it with disgust. “This isn’t working.”

“There are some more on the desk next door.”

Grumbling about the fact he was never going to have any fun, Josh squeezed his frame through her kitchen door and into the hallway.

“Holy crap, Caroline, you got enough books?”

She grinned in spite of herself. She was very proud of her fiction collection. Even though she was running out of space to put bookcases.

“They’re in alphabetical order.” He sounded shocked. “And topic. Historical romance. Paranormal romance. Contemporary romance.” He paused. “I’m picking up on a theme here. Where are the really kinky ones?”

Trust Josh’s mind to go straight back to sex.

“Are you coming back?” Caroline made a cup of tea. “Or are you going to entertain yourself in there forever?”

She wondered what Josh thought of her minuscule terraced house. It was nothing compared to the castle, but Caroline had been overjoyed when her grandfather had left the former miner’s cottage to her in his will. With two small bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and just the kitchen and living room downstairs, you could have fit the whole house into the grand room at the castle.

Josh sauntered back into the kitchen, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the doorjamb.

“I don’t get it. When do you have time to read?” He pointed to the wall planner pinned above the kitchen table. “You’ve got meetings coming out of your ears. I don’t see how you can read that many books as well.”

“I’m a fast reader.” Plus she lived alone and didn’t have a social life. Sometimes she wished she
didn’t
have so much time to read.

Josh’s face fell when his attention turned back to the workbook. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Caroline placed her mug of tea on the table beside him and turned to get the cookies she’d been hiding in the back of the cupboard. She didn’t question the logic of trying to hide cookies from herself. After all, she clearly knew the hiding place.

As she stepped past Josh, an arm snaked out and wrapped around her waist. Caroline yelped as Josh pulled her against him.

“What are you doing?” Her voice quavered.

“Exactly what the minister intended. Getting to know you.”

She thought he sniffed her hair. Was that normal? “We need to fill in the book.”

“Later, baby. I’ve been around you for hours and I’ve been well behaved. Now my belly is full and my other needs are rearing their head.”

Caroline pushed at his arm, but she may as well have been trying to unhinge an anaconda. “Other needs?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“The need to be close to you,” he murmured against her hair. “The need to hold you. The need to breathe you in.”

“Let go of me.” She pushed to get away from him, but he held her fast.

“No way.”

She snarled at him. Wanting him to release her and hold her tighter all at the same time.

“You’re holding me against my will.”

“No, baby, I’m holding you against my body.”

He leaned over and gently nipped the curve where her neck met her shoulder. A shiver ran up her spine.

“You feel good. You smell good too,” he whispered against her skin. “What is that fragrance? I love it. It’s going to drive me crazy if you don’t tell me.” Josh ran his lips up to her ear.

Caroline was overwhelmed by sensations. His breath on her skin. His arms holding her tight. His body, so solid against hers.

“Caroline?”

She cleared her throat. “It’s soap. Dove soap.”

“Seriously?” He nuzzled in her hair behind her ear. “It can’t be soap, it must be you.”

He inhaled her deeply. “Yeah. It’s you. You smell like Christmas.” He buried his nose into her hair. Caroline wrapped her fingers around his arm, holding tight. “Do you taste like Christmas too?”

His voice sent vibrations racing through her body. And then his tongue trailed down from her ear to her shoulder. He playfully bit the muscle in the curve of her neck, and a little moan escaped her.

“I’m not sure we should be doing this. Maybe we should wait until after the wedding to…you know?”

His arms wrapped tight around her, and he pulled back from her to look her in the eyes. The twinkle in his eye was back. She was amusing him. Again.

“No, I don’t know. Explain it to me.”

His full lips curled into a slow, sexy smile. Caroline half expected a flash of sparkling light to twinkle off his teeth.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be, ah, physical until after the wedding?” Her voice was embarrassingly breathless.

“Are we talking all physical contact or just the good kind?”

She wasn’t sure. She wanted to ask what he meant by the good kind, but she was too scared of the answer. “Why don’t we keep all touching to a minimum until after the wedding? That way we can get to know each other a little before we…”

“Get physical?”

“Yes.” She sagged with relief. “What do you say?”

“Well, we can’t
not
touch. That would be unnatural. Maybe we should set a limit instead. Tell me when I step over the line.”

He was laughing at her. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but instead he deftly turned her to face him, and his lips met hers. She forgot her complaint. His tongue traced a lazy trail around her lips, tasting, teasing, before dipping into her mouth. Tiny little lights flashed inside Caroline’s eyelids as Josh seduced her with his kiss. One minute it was soft and slow, the next intense and demanding. She clutched his shoulders and held on tight as her mind soared.

“Was that too much touching?” he purred against her lips. His voice was a soft seduction. Caroline found it hard to think.

He trailed his lips over to her ear before tugging her earlobe between his teeth. His breath made her heartbeat race.

“Tell me when it’s too much,” he whispered.

In the back of her mind Caroline got the feeling they were talking about two different things. He peppered tiny kisses along her jaw to her mouth, before biting her bottom lip. Caroline panted. She wrapped her arms tight around his shoulders as his left hand splayed across her waist. His thumb traced lazy circles on her stomach.

“Remember,” he said against her mouth, “cry uncle.”

His words may as well have been German. She was way past thought. She was lost in a place where only sensation mattered. Her breasts pushed against his chest. They felt uncomfortably heavy, and ached to be soothed. As though he were reading her mind, his hand skimmed the underside of her breast. Caroline pressed against him as his tongue teased her upper lip. Suddenly she was in his hand. She felt his touch graze her nipple. She whimpered. More. She needed more.

She felt him tug at the clasp of her bra; there was a ping and she was free. A momentary panic dulled her desire. The hand on her breast disappeared, only to return under her shirt. Skin on skin. Moving achingly slowly towards her breast. She felt him push the lace of her cup out of the way. Her spine went stiff as anxiety rimmed the edge of her passion. A warm hand engulfed her, and something snapped in her mind. She wasn’t even aware she’d moved. The next thing she knew, she was standing on the other side of the room with her arms folded over her chest.

Josh’s blue eyes were dark. He stared at her for a moment before running a hand through his hair.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

Caroline’s eyes flicked to the door. Part of her wanted to run. The other part wanted to drag him upstairs to her bedroom. She needed to get things under control. She looked at his worried blue eyes. She needed to tell Josh the truth. She needed to explain to him exactly how minuscule her experience really was. Her shoulders slumped. This was going to be a fun experience.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Caroline fled for the bathroom. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with her boobs hanging out.

As she passed her bedroom door, another idea popped into her head—if Josh was called away, she wouldn’t need to have the conversation at all. Looking down the stairs, she checked to make sure Josh couldn’t see her. He was still in the kitchen. She turned the tap on in the bathroom, then tiptoed into her bedroom and picked up the phone. She felt sick at what she was about to do. It went against her nature to lie. Before she could stop herself, she dialled the local police station.

“Caroline, is that you?” Agnes barked into her ear.

Blast. Caroline had planned to do this anonymously. She forgot the police station would have caller ID.

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “Yes it is. You need to send a police car to the castle. I thought I saw someone breaking in. You had better call Josh McInnes too. I know he has problems with troublesome fans.”

She had lied to the police. She never lied. And she’d lied to the police. She was going straight to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. And never, ever get a chance to roll the dice and break free.

“We’ll get right on it.” There was a pause. “Why did you wait until you got home to call?”

“You know I don’t have a mobile phone, Agnes.” At least that wasn’t a lie.

“Right. I forgot. Thanks for calling.”

A moment later, she heard Josh’s phone ring downstairs and dashed back into the bathroom. As feet pounded up the stairs, she refastened her bra and tucked her shirt back into her skirt. She was patting her cheeks with a towel as Josh appeared in the doorway.

“Sorry, baby, I have to go. There’s been a break-in at the castle. It’s probably nothing, but I should be there.”

“Of course. You go on. We can talk another time.”

Josh wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and kissed her hard on the lips. “We’re okay, yeah?”

“Of course. Now go.” She dazzled him with her best fake smile. He didn’t seem to notice it wasn’t real. He turned and ran down the stairs. The best sound Caroline had heard all day was the slam of her front door behind him.