Page 33 of Cupcake of the Month
But I’m not going to compete with them.
Josh’s pulse echoed though his body as he stared at the sentence on his phone. It didn’t disappear. It didn’t change. She didn’t text a j/k.
You’d win.
I better. ;)
He lay down again, Dumas forgotten on the floor. He could imagine Jordan next to him, her soothing presence, her sharp mind, her fingers trailing along his stomach, and lower, like they did That Night. He used to know how to make a woman feel special, how to caress her with words. Now it was a foreign concept.
He took a deep breath and continued typing.
***
The soft rumbling of a car coming up the drive roused Jordan from her slumber. It was still dark outside, which meant Josh was once again at Fountenoy Hall. Her belly wriggled at the thought of him. Her internal debate about Mrs. McGraw and what to tell Brandi and Wendy had kept her up most of the night. At least, that was the reason she kept telling herself. It was even partially true.
She took her glasses from her nightstand and blinked when the room came into focus. She could go into the kitchen. To see if Josh needed an extra hand. The University of Georgia t-shirt she used as a nighty would work to give off the casual, breezy feeling she wanted to portray, especially after her furtive text last night about not competing.
They’d spent an entire hour passing flirty messages back and forth, each one lessening the distance between them. But late-night texts were one thing. Being in person was another.
Jordan pulled on a pair of shorts and twisted her hair into a clip, then left the stables and crossed the brick patio to the reardoor of the Hall. It was unlocked when she entered the kitchen. Josh’s back was to her, and she drank her fill of his thighs and great ass encased in a pair of jeans. The muscles of his lean body flexed and relaxed under a simple t-shirt as he dug around the contents of the fridge. He turned so suddenly that he almost caught her gawking.
“What are you doing here?” His arms were laden with eggs and vegetables, a block of cheese and cream.
Steady, she warned herself. It was easy to get lost in the banked desire in Josh’s eyes. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Hungry?” A corner of his mouth crinkled into a half-smile.
Very, but not for food.
“Let’s see what’s for breakfast.” Josh crossed over to the paper Wendy had hung next to the doors to the dining room and trailed his finger down the page.
Jordan suppressed a shiver as she imagined it trailing over her back. “Let me guess. Eggs?”
“How well you know Ms. Eulalee.”
Her belly fluttered at the easy-going camaraderie. “Need help?”
“I’m flying solo today, so using you would be cheating.”
She nodded and perched on one of the stools that sat tucked under the island. Her fingers drummed on the flat surface.
Josh measured the water and sugar and poured it in the saucepan. “Something on your mind, Jay?”
Her stomach squiggled at the nickname. “No.”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything else, just stirred the mixture he had going on the stove.
“I got a job offer.” She hadn’t meant to say anything, but the words left her mouth before she realized what she had done. The tension she’d been holding since talking to Mrs. McGraw seeped away.
Duarte came in the back door, whistling a peppy tune ashe placed the open cardboard box of vegetables on the counter. “Some good peppers today. Green beans, too.”
Josh inspected the offering. The interruption was a sign. Jordan needed to take a step back and put her head back on, not let the warm feelings from texting last night take over her reality. “Where’s Mac?”
“I expect you’ll see him in about half an hour to check up on me. He told me I was on my own today.” Duarte inspected the kitchen. “Ms. Eulalee, too?”
“Yup.” Josh hefted a pepper, then placed it next to his already-selected green beans and beets.
“Those crazy kids.” Duarte picked up the box. “Good luck,” he said before leaving.
