Page 73 of The Catch

“No. I can make it.”

She’d never heard Josh complain about anything physical before, but if he said he was okay, she would believe him. She’d never hear the end of it if they didn’t show up to dinner with everyone after she’d promised. They had bailed on more than a few of these get-togethers in the good old days when there was no tension between them, and they’d ditch any plans to spend time alone.

After stepping into her jeans, she pulled a shirt from her bag, tugging the elastic from her hair and letting it fall around her shoulders. Socks and knee-high boots, and she was done. This time when she looked back at him, Josh was gathering her coat from the chair where she’d tossed it, looking slightly more alive.

She closed the door to her office behind her and hooked her arm through his, heading down the hall. As they passed the last office before they got to the lobby, Kasey poked her head of the door and waved.

“Hey, Cat. You leaving?”

Cat’s heart did a little skip. She peeked at Josh to see him staring at Kasey, and not the way most men stared at Kasey. He squinted at her, his brow knitted in ayou look very familiarway.

Cat tugged him ahead and called over her shoulder. “Yup. Headed out. I’ll see you Monday. Bye!” Luckily, Kasey retreated back into the office, and Josh seemed to have moved on without giving it any more thought.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked, squeezing her arm as they stepped onto the sidewalk outside of her building.

“I need to pick out a Christmas gift for my father, and I need your help.”

“My help?”

“Yes. I wanted to get him something nice for his bar—you know he thinks he is a mixologist now—and I had my eye on this really nice crystal highball set by Martha Stewart, but now I’m thinking I should find something more masculine.”

“Martha Stewart, huh? You do need my help.” A smile crossed his face, the kind where one side of his mouth pushed upward, and his nose crinkled. It was his you’re adorable, Catsmile, and she ate it up as usual.

“Rachel Ray?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes innocently. Josh shook his head and smiled at the ground.

They spent an hour browsing the shopping center a few blocks from her office. When she’d selected a set of copper mugs and an old-timey looking bartender’s encyclopedia, Josh helped her pick out a bottle of whiskey to go with it. With everything checked off the list, they headed to Bruno’s.

“You’re going to be there to see him open this, right?” Cat asked. “So you can tell him what the liquor guy said about the whiskey?”

“If you want me there, I’ll be there.”

“Of course I do.”

“If it’s anything like Thanksgiving with your family, I’d better start dieting now. I had to use a different notch on my belt.”

“I don’t think it’s done you any harm,” she flirted.

Josh laughed, kissing her on her forehead, and the last bubble of tension in her chest popped.

He was fine. Everything was fine. The whole world was fine.

Twenty-nine

Josh sucked the warm airfrom the bar into his lungs as they wove through the crowd. He’d woken up that morning feeling like he was swallowing glass, his head pounding. By noon, he’d thought he all but willed it away, but after spending the day outside on a job site, his throat had started to sting again, and the wet snow accumulating on the collar of his jacket had his teeth chattering.

“We have time for a drink at the bar before dinner,” Cat said, glancing at her phone. “The rest of them aren’t here yet.”

He held out his hand to help her climb up onto a barstool before taking a seat beside her. Her pretty face glowed as she studied the drink menu adorably like she wasn’t just going to order a gin and tonic.

Sometimes when he looked at her, adoration squeezed his chest so tight that he found it hard to breathe. There was an opposition mounting in his head now, though, warning him not to let himself look at her like that after that day in her condo. He’d been playing way too dangerously with the way he loved her. It was compulsive, all-encompassing, but Cat was right, letting his gut lead had only ever caused him pain. He’d felt it in the way his stomach bottomed out when she’d pulled him back to reality. It was a warning. If he didn’t listen, he only had himself to blame. Still—her hand on his knee, her brow furrowed in concentration over the cocktail options like it was Sophie’s Choice—it was impossible not to look at her like that.

“I’m going to get a gin and tonic.” Cat sighed, tossing the menu on the bar and blowing a little breath out of her pink lips that made her hair flutter upward.

He pushed her hair off her shoulder, holding in a laugh. “Good choice, babe.”

Dani arrived a few moments later, floating in on a rush of cold air that wove its way inside his jacket and made him shiver. “Josh!” she squealed, throwing her arms around his shoulders. “I haven’t seen you in ages. Just your spirit in that afterglow Cat wears on Monday mornings.”

Cat leveled a look at her friend that made him smile, but he couldn’t help thinking Dani sounded just a little too surprised to see him. He wondered what Cat had said to her about their fight. He hugged her hello, trying not to share any of his germs, then hopped down and offered her his stool.

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