Page 22 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

“I’ll try the salmon poke bowl with lemon butter pasta.”

“Add French wine to that,” Josh said before he made his own order.

After the waiter left us alone again, I looked around the place. “I’m feeling inadequately dressed,” I said when I saw a couple walk in. The woman was lavishly dressed in a black gown and her heels made her an inch taller than the man walking beside her.

“It’s fine,” he replied. “I’m wearing baggy shorts; we’d do better on our next date.”

The use of the word date made me shiver inside. My pulse jumped but I tried to keep it from skyrocketing by taking in large chunks of air through my nostrils.

He laughed and I placed a hand over my lips to muffle my own chuckle. The thought of going on another date with him was insane. This one alone was high risk.

I could imagine myself in bed with him already, and I knew I wanted that to happen more than anything.

My heart was currently pounding in my chest, and I was trying my best not to let him notice how nervous I was. This was my first time going on a date with anyone else but Michael in three years.

My relationship with Michael had sucked out a lot of who I was as a person without him. At some point, I had forgotten my own wants and needs in the bid to make him happy.

I learned one important lesson from that relationship. You’d never be hundred percent responsible for a person’s happiness except your own.

During the heat of my break-up, I created a blog where I intended to share dating tips and stories, but I hadn’t made any posts since the initial one about happiness I shared over three months back. I was hoping to find the time to continue with that path.

Maybe it would be right for me.

I wasn’t sure of anything yet, but I knew I was happy right now living like nothing else mattered, and just feeling what was genuine and real inside me.

Our meal arrived in a short time, I took the first bite out of my salmon, savored the taste and the texture slowly while Josh watched me, then did a thumbs up and nodded. “It’s perfect,” I said just before he pumped his fist into the air a little.

“I knew it, we are the best,” he said with a smile.

The waiter set our wine glasses on the table when he returned, and then left us again. Josh poured me some of the wine, then we clinked glasses before we continued eating.

The rest of the evening, I enjoyed my time with him. We made plans to go snorkeling together, and he showed me pictures of him and Iris doing it on his phone.

By the time our date ended, I had drunk too much wine, my head was spinning, and I was smiling sheepishly at him while the sides of my cheeks hurt.

Josh drove me home and parked in front of my father’s house. I took off my seatbelt but didn’t get out of his car yet. We stared at each other for a second of silence before he reached out and stroked my right cheek.

“I enjoyed tonight, and I hope we can do it again,” Josh said to me while his finger stayed on my skin. The contact made me flush, and I licked my suddenly dry lips.

“I did too,” I told him. “Much more than I have enjoyed dinner in a long time.”

Josh slowly leaned in and kissed me. There was something gentle about this kiss that stirred my nerves and brought my heart alive. This was unlike anything I had ever felt. His kiss melted me and made my knees weak. I didn’t trust myself to walk into the house without support, and even as all these sensations swarm inside me, he didn’t stop kissing me.

I kissed him back with everything in me. His right hand moved to the back of my neck and slid into my hair. I groaned and used my tongue to stroke his. Josh took off my seat belt and brought me closer to him.

Nothing mattered in those few minutes as our lips remained locked in a passionate embrace. When he released my lips and pulled back, I touched them with a fingertip, then sucked in a deep breath.

“See you around, Bree,” he said in a husky tone that sent a shiver right through me. I was tempted to stay and tell him to drive us to his house, but I couldn’t do that.

Letting myself feel these sensations for Josh was risky, but I knew there was no way to stop myself from indulging in them. I was already barking up the wrong tree, going out on a date with him where people could see us and kissing him at his gallery.

Oh boy …

I forced on a smile and got out of his car before I did something stupid like cling to him and ask him to take me home. Tonight, I was going to need a little release so I could fall asleep without passionate thoughts of his man flooding my mind.

My dad was in the living room when I entered, and he glanced up from the book he was reading briefly to look at me. “You alright?” he asked. “You look dazed.”

I’m fine,” I told him. “Just sleepy. Goodnight dad,” I said and hurried up the stairs before he could ask my any questions, but I was aware of his gaze burning into my back.

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