Page 35 of Her Fantasy Husband

Chapter Seven

Half an hour later, Lexi let herself into her office and collapsed onto the chair behind her still very tidy desk. The orderliness made her twitch, and she pulled some stuff out of the drawer and scattered it over the surface. From the midst of the rubble, the photo of Josh stared back at her.

He hadn’t had sex in over five years. She still couldn’t get over that little piece of information.

Presumably that was the only reason he’d done it last night. He’d been desperate. Probably under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t even look at a woman like her.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

He didn’t cheat.

But he didn’t want sex with her. Because he wanted no-strings-sex. And he reckoned she came with strings.

Ha! How wrong could he be?

Bastard.

In that case, he was going to have to keep it in his pants for the next six months. After they got rid of her grandmother, she would explain what was at stake. She didn’t know him well, but she knew him enough—he wasn’t a bad person. She didn’t believe he would jeopardize all she had worked for, just for a no-strings-shag.

At least, she hoped he wouldn’t.

He’d dropped her off in front of the office and then gone to find somewhere to park—not an easy thing in this part of the city. In the meantime, she’d make him a sort of mini-presentation to show him what the organization did. She was proud of what she’d achieved in a few short years.

After she’d married Josh, she’d sort of known what she wanted to do with the money; she just hadn’t been entirely sure how to go about it. She’d lived a very sheltered life until then. Boarding school most of the time. Holidays at the family’s estate in Northumberland, usually alone, as her grandmother preferred the city. So she’d just taken off. Bought a round-the-world ticket and gone around the world. In the end, she’d been away for two years.

She’d met some interesting people, worked on projects in different countries, on different continents, in Africa and Asia. Taught English in schools, helped build wells. Finally, she’d come home with a better understanding of what she needed to move forward, and the contacts to help her find the people to do it. She’d set up the organization and named it after her father, whose money made it possible.

The outer door banged, and she glanced up from her laptop. Her heart jumped, skipping a beat, which was weird and unwelcome. Then she heard her grandmother’s clipped tones through the door, and her heart sank.

She’d only been five when her mother and father had been killed in a car crash. She could still vaguely remember them—hazy memories filled with the warmth of their love. Which was just as well. Without those memories, she might have grown up believing that love was a myth, at least for her. Or maybe that she was unlovable.

She’d certainly never felt even the slightest smidgen of warmth from her grandmother. But over the years, she’d come to recognize that her grandmother was not a good woman. She was selfish and manipulative…and all the family Lexi had.

She let out a sigh as the door opened, and straightened her shoulders as Sadie ushered them in, her grandmother at the front, Daniel close behind. Usually, they waited for her annual visit to New York to make their fiscal requests. Money must be short.

Fixing a smile on her face, she waved a hand at the seats in front of her desk, and then she rose to her feet as they sat down. She wandered over to the window and peered out through the blinds. Her office was on the first floor of a converted house in what had once been a posh residential area but had now been taken over by a number of small businesses. The rent was expensive, but the position was good. There was a crescent of garden below, a lawn with a bench, bordered by a shrubbery. She caught sight of Josh heading across the road toward her. He’d gotten changed and wore dark pants and a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

He looked good, but he’d looked better half naked. It was a real shame to cover up a body like that.

He moved with an easy grace, though as she watched him, she could tell he was favoring his right leg. Should he have been sparring if he’d recently broken it? He needed someone to look after him. Clearly, he wasn’t capable of it himself.

Sadly, it wouldn’t be her. Because whatever he believed, she was a no-strings sort of girl. All she wanted from him was sex. Really. Even if he did make her feel all warm and fuzzy.

Without that phone call, she was convinced Josh would have kissed her. He’d been so close. Even now, the memory of his touch lingered on her skin. And it was scary how much she’d craved that kiss.

She exhaled long and loud. The interruption was probably for the best. A kiss would only blur the lines between fantasy and reality even further. She wanted a real husband as little as Josh wanted a wife.

Especially a husband like Josh.

In her dreams, he’d known his place—in her bed andnotin her business. In real life she guessed he wouldn’t be quite so amenable. She’d had one person controlling her life; she wasn’t about to let anyone else have a say.

And she had an inkling Josh would have a lot to say. He was clearly bossy as well as gorgeous. She sighed as he disappeared into the building below her.

“Have you heard a word I’ve said, Alexia?”

She sighed again and turned around. “No.”

Shock flashed across her grandmother’s face. Lexi had always taken great care to treat their meetings with scrupulous politeness. It was ingrained in her. Her grandmother had always had an uncanny ability to hit where it hurt, and no scruples about using that talent, so Lexi had learned at an early age not to antagonize her.

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