Page 23 of The Catch

Stop.She didn’t have time, and it didn’t matter how Josh drank his coffee. She felt her eyes turning into little hearts, and she knew it was time to retreat. Mission Vacation Hookup was a failure. Regardless of what did or didn’t happen last night, this was the part where she never saw Josh Rideout again. Right?

A bubble of disappointment pushed against her ribs, but she did her best to pop it. She needed to go before she did something stupid. “I can’t,” she said. “I’m already going to be in big trouble for not coming back last night. They all know I would kick their ass if any of them did that.”

Josh let go of her, giving her room to drink the water she was still holding. “I texted Sonya last night when you fell asleep. I hope you don’t mind. I just didn’t want them to worry.”

“You did?” Her voice turned girlish against her will, and she cleared her throat. “I guess I should have known since there doesn’t seem to be an APB out for me right now.”

“She asked for a picture,” he confessed. “I guess she wanted to make sure I wasn’t lying about you being safe. Sorry. It’s a nice one. You looked good.”

Cat groaned, finding her phone and pulling up the picture in her text log. “She is a piece of work,” she said as she read through their exchange. “But she’s right, thanks for letting me stay and, you know, not being a murderer.”

“You’re welcome.” He laughed, unoffended.

She turned her phone over in her hand, absently gazing around the living room where they’d slept. She was suddenly acutely aware of the feel of the empty air between them. She wanted to go back to where Josh was standing, feel his body heat against her skin again, but she couldn’t think of a nonchalant way to pull it off. Nothing about the way she was procrastinating was nonchalant.

“I guess I really do have to go.” She tossed her phone in her bag, sitting on the breakfast bar where she’d dropped it the night before. “I wish I didn’t, but we have a full schedule before we leave this afternoon. Sonya didn’t want to waste a minute of this trip relaxing.”

He nodded, giving her a tight smile. She got the impression he thought she was blowing him off, and even though that was sort of classic Cat Modus Operandi, she actually hated for him to think it.

“Give me a minute to try to get my shoes without waking these guys up,” he said. “I’ll walk you back.”

Josh crept through the door to the bedroom where his friends were asleep, and she poked around the room, looking for her flip flops. When he came back, he was wearing a pair of sneakers, and one of those mesh-backed ball caps with the brim pointed backward. He looked entirely more adorable than she’d anticipated, and a montage of abs and biceps and dimples flickered before her eyes. She could feel herself staring and had half a mind to check her chin for drool. Did he have to be so freaking cute on top of sexy and sweet and great at kissing and—

“Ready?”

That bubble from before inflated another puff, and her shoulders fell. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

The street was deserted, leaving a peaceful quiet where all the revelry had happened a few hours before. The air outside had a chill to it from the pressure change that the rain had carried in, and Cat was glad for Josh’s warmth when he linked their fingers.

“Where are you headed this morning?” he asked, eyeing the horizon through the breaks between the buildings. The sunrise was a ball of fire with magenta streaks slashing across a grey sky, and the familiar scent of the approaching tide hung on the droplets of moisture still lingering in the air. “Looks like it may not be a great day.”

Smiling at his second weather prediction based on the sky, Cat looked out to the water to see the warning clouds gathering around the pink and red. “We’re taking a harbor cruise. Seafood, drinks, sightseeing.”

Josh slowed to a stop as they reached the glass lobby of her hotel. He tugged her hand until they were standing chest to chest. “I don’t want to be greedy with your time,” he said. “I know you said you have a full morning, and I know you’re here to celebrate with Emma, but if there’s any chance of seeing you before you leave this afternoon, just tell me, and I’ll be there.”

Cat glanced over her shoulder at the door, then back at his face—blue eyes flashing, crooked grin. God, she wanted to keep looking at him, even though her brain was telling her to turn around, book it up to her room, and hide under her duvet until it was time to leave.

“Um…” She started to sputter, and Josh dropped his eyes to the ground, running his thumb over that jagged little scar on his lip. For the span of one breath, he was a wounded little canary, and she was the proverbial cat. The scenario shocked her into an unlikely response.

“I still have your pajamas.” The thought occurred to her like a shove to her shoulders, and she glanced down her front. Josh’s eyes followed. “I’ll text you when we get back from the cruise. You can come by and get them.”

Just like that, he was back, all square shoulders and panty-dropping smiles.

“I’ll be there,” he said, stepping closer to rest his palm on her pulse point. He tipped her chin and pressed his lips against hers, whisper-soft. It was the kind of kiss that made you want to chase it and damn it if she wasn’t falling for it. She pushed to her toes, taking just a little bit more before he finally let her go with one last peck on her forehead.

“I’ll see you later,” she said with a silly little wave.

Her brain whisperedyou’re an idiot, Cat,as she pulled Josh’s sweatshirt tighter around her body.But inside her chest, her heart was sighing.

She waited just until her back was turned to roll her eyes at herself.

Eight

Josh thought he felt araindrop or two as he hurried down the strip of beachfront hotels. The fog hadn’t budged all day, the grey clouds still lingering close enough to touch.

When Cat had texted him to say she was back from the cruise, he’d jumped off the stool at the sports bar where he and Dylan and Shawn had been wasting the dreary day, and booked it through the rain to the Tidal Inn. He’d been looking forward to seeing her again all day, but now he was fighting off the creeping concern that this could be the last time. She was headed home now, and even though he wasn’t far behind her, she was right: Vacation and the real world were two different things. He still had to convince her they could have both.

He chose the stairs to get his blood circulating, and by the time he got to Cat’s floor, his heavy breaths were helping him get some oxygen back to his brain where it had been lacking. He leaned an arm casually on the wall and rapped his knuckles on the door to Cat’s suite.

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