Page 17 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

He smiled, and I loved the way his eyes lit up when he did. I completely forgot that I wasn’t supposed to be spending time here with him here or anywhere else. The more time I spent next to him, the more my body found the strength to respond to his nearness.

I felt the familiar tingles deep within me, but it didn’t push the urge for me to run this time. Instead, I relaxed and leaned against my car.

“I’d love to stop by your store,” I told him.

“If you’re free tomorrow evening then you should come around,” he said almost immediately. “It would to be a private tour for you since the gallery isn’t open to the public on Saturdays.”

“I’m flattered,” I replied, then laughed when he rolled his eyes. “I want to see how you depict love with your paintings,” I continued.

“Why?” Josh asked. “Why love? There are other paintings you’d enjoy seeing, so what interests you about love?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I just think it’s a beautiful and fascinating thing you know. I mean, you’ve been in love before, you can’t tell me that it wasn’t an amazing experience regardless of how it ended.”

Josh's smile slowly faded as I turned to look at him again. He averted his gaze from mine and took his hands out of his pocket.

“You remember what it was like, don’t you? When you were in love?”

His lips formed a thin line, and a muscle in the side of his jaw ticked before he shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. Love isn’t always as beautiful as you think it’ll be, and even though the paintings suggest otherwise, the former is usually the case.”

“But …”

“I should go,” he said and moved from where he stood. “I have a lot of things to attend to.”

“I …” Josh walked away before I got the chance to say anything to him. He got in his truck and drove off without a backward glance. I scoffed as my body heat rose, and my mind reeled with shock at what just happened.

Did I say or do something wrong?

We were enjoying a perfect conversation one second and he snapped and walked away the next. I shook my head and got in my car. Josh Sanders was one confusing man. I already suspected he was the brooding kind. That day in his kitchen he had enjoyed drinking in silence, and I had loved sitting by his side.

It was easy to feel comfortable with Josh even though he also made me feel nervous.

I thought he was passionate and full of smiles, but today only proved that perhaps he was also rough around the edges. His sudden snap and change of demeanor proved that I had touched a sore spot and possibly brought up some bad memories he hasn't dealt with.

One more reason to get him out of my head,I concluded.

The rest of the morning at the bakery, I helped Allison with the cake for Samuel’s birthday party. The party started by mid-day when Samuel’s friends and their parents arrived at our beach house to celebrate. Samuel was a typical 4-year-old, running through the party with his friends in tow, while my dad and Allison entertained their friends.

Josh crossed my mind frequently throughout the rest of the day and each time, I wondered why he snapped the way he did.

I didn’t know the kind of man he really was yet, and I was curious. What really happened in his first marriage? How badly had he been hurt before?

Was Josh Sanders the kind of man who no longer believed in happily ever afters? Those questions plundered my mind because I did believe in happily ever afters and I wanted him to believe in them too.

Not that I was thinking of having one with Josh or anything, I was just curious. He seemed like the kind of man who knew how to navigate life and knew he could have anything he wanted. I was fascinated by him in a way that didn’t have anything to do with the arousal he stirred in me.

Briefly, I remembered touching myself the other night because I needed to get rid of some of the heat I felt for him. The memory came with a flush of heat that warmed every part of me and probably created a crimson color shade on my cheeks.

That’s it,I told myself and banished thoughts of him away in the next second. I couldn’t let it linger because it would only make me crave him more.

In order to clear my head, I decided to think of a great idea for my blog. For three years I had planned and worked towards running one, but I had only ever had the chance to publish a few posts here and there.

This was the perfect chance to bring that dream to reality.

8

JOSH

Adrive downtown helped clear my head the next evening. I kept thinking about the scene with Bree at the market and how I stormed away from her after she mentioned her idea of love.

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