Page 42 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

“You’ve been home these past few days and Iris is in town planning a wedding. I suspected there was something going on, but I didn’t know it was this huge. Oh my goodness, Bree.”

“You can’t tell dad,” I quickly interrupted. “Iris is livid. She’s not speaking to me, and I spoke to Josh yesterday, she’s still sulking with him too. I need to figure out a way to tell dad on my own.”

“Bree honey,” Allison said in a softer tone. We arrived at the house, and after she parked the car, she turned to me and put a hand on mine. “How do you feel about all of this? It must be a lot on you, fighting with your best friend over her dad.”

“I just feel crazy,” I told her and swallowed hard. Suddenly I remembered when I walked in on her kissing my dad some years back, and the reaction I had then brought a slow sad smile to my lips. “Is it a comic relief that I was in Iris’s shoes only some years ago?” I asked.

Allison tilted her head to one side and released a short laugh.

“I know it is right?”

“It depends on what you feel, Bree,” she said to me. “It depends on what you feel for Josh. What do you feel for Josh?” she asked.

Her question rocked my insides and my heart tremble a bit.What did I feel for Josh?

I knew he made me lose all sense of reasoning, and I also loved the soft sides of him he had shown me.He’s a caring man.The fluttering in the pit of my stomach increased just from thinking about him and my lips curved into a smile as I said. “He’s different from any guy I’ve ever been with. There’s just something gentle about how he is with me. It’s easy to forget all the reasons why it’s so wrong when he looks at me, and it’s like my world just stops then there’s nothing else but the two of us at that moment. It’s a feeling I never want to lose.”

“It sounds like you’re in love with him,” Allison said as she stared at me. “It’s in the way you talk about him.”

“It’s useless…. Josh Sanders no longer believes in love.”

* * *

That Saturday,my father and Allison went out on date while I babysat Samuel for the evening, and Josh visited me after he called to make sure I was home.

“I brought you something,” he said, then handed me the box of pizza. “I thought you might not have had dinner, and I didn’t want to come empty-handed.”

I let him into the living room, knowing he couldn’t stay for a long time because my dad could get back any minute. “Samuel is asleep, I tucked him in a few minutes ago, so we can sit here for a while.”

“Iris is still sulking,” he told me as he lowered himself to one couch. “Is she still not speaking to you?”

“She won’t respond to my texts or take my calls,” I told him. “I’m thinking of stopping by the house though. We can’t keep up with the silence forever. Besides, her wedding is coming up and even though she asked me not to be there, there’s no way I won’t attend that wedding.”

“You just need to talk to her,” he said to me. “I’ll talk to her too.”

“It’s my dad I’m worried about,” I said while massaging my neck. “He’ll go nuts once he finds out that we—” I didn’t finish that sentence before another thought entered my mind and I blurted that one out to. “The baby’s another problem. No one knows about it yet and I have to figure out a way to tell them without shocking them all to death.”

“I can be with you if you want,” he offered while he regarded me closely. “I don’t want you to feel like you ever have to do anything alone.”

He nodded and fell silent for a little while before I got up, walked over to the couch he sat on, then took the spot beside him. I only sat there a second before he put his arm around my neck and drew me in for a side hug.

I didn’t realize how desperately I needed his embrace until my head touched his shoulder. Warmth from his body seeped into me, and I let myself enjoy it for a little while before I pulled back.

“You’ll need to leave soon. My dad will be back any minute.”

He got up but pulled me into his arms for a hug again before I walked him to the door and stood on the porch. “Meet me at the beach tomorrow evening, seven o clock,” he said to me after he stepped over the threshold. “I miss being around you, and it’s increasingly difficult to keep pretending like we don’t have a thing when we clearly do.”

His words brought a smile to my lips, and I took his hand, linked our fingers, and gently lifted it to my chest. “When you talk like that, it makes me wonder why you don’t believe in love and happily ever afters,” I said to him. “You’re such a romantic.”

“I’m not,” he denied, then rolled his eyes, and we both laughed. “Okay, maybe I am,” he added with a light chuckle. “I’m expressive like that.”

He came close to me and was about to touch my cheek when I heard the blare of a car’s horn from a distance. “That might be my dad,” I said, and he quickly stepped back.

“Right.”

A flush crept up my cheeks and I giggled before waving at him. Josh took a few steps back, then stuck one hand in the pocket of his jeans and waved at me with the other. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night? I can find someplace cozy where we can be alone and have some privacy.”

I liked the suggestiveness in his tone, and I eased into the flirting while tilting my head to one side. “Yes, cozy sounds nice,” I affirmed. “Too bad I can’t have alcohol at the moment.”

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