Page 41 of Shape Of My Heart
“This.” He pulled out the rest of her t-shirt, gathered the ends together and tied it into a knot that rested just above her belly button. “Because this isn’t the eighties where people walk around with t-shirtstuckedin.”
He had a point. She had to laugh because she was supposed to be the fashion designer here, yet he just made her look a whole lotcooler.
She watched him as he hooked his finger into the loop on her shorts and pulled her a littlecloser.
“What are youdoingnow?”
“Beingcreepy.”
She batted his hand away and moved back. “You are sosilly.”
He smiled and she found herselfsmilingtoo.
“What’s this?” He took hold of her upper arm and felt the underside, rubbing his thumb over the extremely tiny rod she’d had inserted last year. Her cheeks warmed as he focusedonher.
“Medicine.” It was birth control. She got it because it was easy to have and she didn’t have to think about it like she would withapill.
“What kind of medicine?” His smile turned up anotch.
She got the feeling he knew what it was but was teasing her. “It’s birth control. Now unhand me.” She shrugged out of his grasp as he laughed, revealing his gorgeous dimples. The sight of which made her stomach tingle. It would be so much easier if she didn’t find him soattractive.
“Good to know,princess.”
She cut him a sharp glare and continued walking. He fell in step with her and they proceeded to the area that had been cornered off for the competition. They found a good spot near a fan palm tree and sat next to each other within itsshade.
It didn’t take long for the area to get packed and she was glad they’d left at the time they did. As the crowd rolled in the area became saturated, and while Josh might have classed himself as practically average, a ton of people recognized him. A lot asked for his autograph and took pictureswithhim.
It was a casual event that turned into a publicappearance.
They stayed out all day, which was good because he didn’t drink. Every time they were somewhere where he could easily grab a beer, she made sure he had fruit juice in hishands.
At nine they sat on the beach near his house watching the sunset. They were together for longer than yesterday. She wasn’t sure, but wondered if this might have been the longest that he’d gone without adrink.
She tried to remember what her father was like when he wasn’t drunk. It was difficult to remember because he was rarely at home. At the time she’d thought he was away working hard to take care of their family, but later found out he’d spent the time with one woman or another. He mostly used their house to crash and revivehimself.
It was Tristan who told her all that. He’d found out the hard way and hated their father just as much as Amy did. Their mother, however, was still in love with him until this day. Amy blamed her illness. Clearly her defective heart gave her a distorted vision of the man. He’d put her through so much, all of them, and she just still hoped for the best in him. They hadn’t seen him in more than twenty years but she kept looking outforhim.
That was Amy’s biggest fear. To fall for a man like that, someone who she knew would never be able to love her the same way as she loved him. At least she’d been lucky to stay clear of anyonelikethat.
She glanced over at Josh. He seemed to bedoingwell.
“How long have you been playing football?” sheasked.
A peaceful silence had filled the space between them and she didn’t want him to leave just yet, get back in, and be tempted to drink. She thought she could fill him with happy thoughts of his love for football and maybe thatwouldhelp.
“All my life.” He smiled. The soft, fading daylight caressed his tanned skin. He rolled up the sleeves of his t-shirt revealing solid muscle, which she couldn’t take her eyes off. “I can’t remember not playing. My earliest memory was when I was about four. My dad got me my first football, which I wasattachedto.”
“You remember stuff from when youwerefour?”
“Yep. It all checks out too. My mom would get so mad at me when I played in the house and terrorized my sister. So my dad had to take me out to play in the park. We lived in SanFranciscothen.”
She liked this, him talking about hisfamily.
“I love SanFrancisco.”
“It’s cool. My family still lives there, they just…” His voice trailed off and a faraway look filled his eyes. “I mean they used to, all of them. It’s just mydadnow.”
Pain etched over his finefeatures.
