Page 8 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

The tempo of the rain increased drastically in the split second before Josh opened the front door. The heavy wind lashed and blew against my dress. It also brought the rain in my direction and soaked me.

“Shit, Bree,” Josh called as he opened the door. He pulled me into the house with speed and pushed the door close. The rain thundered outside now and slashed against the roof and walls of his house.

A rolling thunder occurred, the angry sound sent a shiver right through me, I saw flashes of lightning through the window, and heard another grumbling sound of thunder outside.

“It’s a thunderstorm,” Josh said in a thick voice then slowly stepped away from me. It was then I realized we had been standing so close, and I cleared my throat before putting more distance between us.

“A thunderstorm?” I asked, my eyes narrowed, and I thought of my father and Samuel. They had planned a drive to my father’s office in Pearl City, and with this thunderstorm, I didn’t think they could get there in time for his meeting.

Or were they on their way already?

“Thanks for the cookies,” Josh said and peeled the basket out of my tight grip.

I gave him a shaky smile, then said. “I need to make a call.”

I started searching for my phone then, but remembered I left it in the car. “Shit,” I cursed loudly.

“What is it?” he asked.

His eyes were fixated on me when I turned back. My throat suddenly tightened but I forced my words out. “I left my phone in the car outside, and I need to make a call.”

“Use mine,” he said quickly. “The rain is heavy, there’s no way you can go back out there, or drive under it.”

Josh's gaze drifted down my body then, and he frowned. “You’re also wet, you’ll catch a cold if you stay in that.”

“I’m fine,” I told him, but the cold seeped through me then and I sneezed before I could control myself.

“You’re not,” he answered before he turned away from me.

I stood in his living room alone, shivering like a wet leaf for the next minute till he returned with a white towel, a t-shirt, and joggers, and his phone.

My heart warmed at the nice gesture when he pointed to his right. “You know where the guest room is. Change up and come to the kitchen, I’ll make you something warm.”

“Thanks,” I said through the tightness in my throat.

Josh simply nodded. Our fingers brushed as I took the towel and everything from him. The contact made me jump, and gasp, but Josh didn’t act like he felt anything as he turned and walked off.

I went into the guest room to change and call my dad, but the line was busy, and so was Allison’s.

Knots formed in the pit of my stomach, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when another rolling, gruesome thunder trembled in the skies.

This is going to be a bad thunderstorm,I thought and walked to the window to look outside the room. I couldn’t see anything because the skies had darkened into a thick gray. It was only midday, but it seemed like dusk already.

A soft knock on the room door made me turn around. Josh opened the door but remained at the entrance. “There’s chamomile tea waiting for you,” he said without looking into the room.

When I got to the kitchen, Josh was sitting on one end of the table with a plate of cookies in front of him, and I sat in front of the mug he had set on the table for me. The soothing scent of chamomile filled my nostrils, it calmed my nerves in an instant. After a sip from the tea, I licked my lips and stared at him.

“Cookies?” Josh asked as he lifted the plate in my direction. “Try to relax Bree, you might be here for a while. Thunderstorms in Oahu usually last a day and they are always really destructive.”

“Are you trying to scare me?” I asked after a second while staring at him and his offering of cookies. I didn’t move from my chair as I stared, and his eyes pinned mine.

“On the contrary, I’m trying to make you relax. It’s what I would do for Iris if she were here,” he said.

His words doused the heat that had slowly filled my insides. It reminded me of one important fact. He was Iris’s father and feeling anything for him was totally wrong.

I had to kill every thought and feeling before it turned explosive like that night five years ago.

4

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