Entice - By Ella Frank Page 0,36
favorite dinner, chicken-fried steak, as long as you’re sweet to your father. You know I don’t like y’all fightin’. Give me a call, and we can set it up. Love you, dear.”
Shelly sighed, leaning a shoulder against the wall, and closed her eyes. She really didn’t want to go home right now. Whenever she got there, she ended up fighting with her dad, and then she came back from her “vacation” more stressed than when she’d left.
“Everything okay?”
She spun around to see Josh standing just inside the frosted doors to the kitchen. Nodding, she slipped her phone back into her purse.
“Yes. Did you need something?”
He didn’t move. He just stood there, watching her with a serious expression. “I need a lot of things. But, let’s start with, why guys like Dr. Douche Bag?”
“Dr. Douche Bag?” Shelly questioned.
Tilting his head, he spoke so softly she had to strain to hear him. “Try not to be a smart ass for once and just answer. Why guys like him? It’s obvious you don’t want him. So, why date him?”
Shelly put her bag on a counter and took three steps forward. She raised her hand, palm flat against his chest. She kept walking, pushing him out of view from the doors, until his back hit the wall. She knew he let her push him, and when he came to a standstill, she placed herself directly in front of him.
“Who should I go out with? Guys like you?” she asked.
He seemed to contemplate that, and then shrugged. “Sure. Why not? You seem to like doing other things with me. Would eating a meal really be that big a step up?”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “That’s the problem. I’d like it too much and would want it all the time. And you know what? That clouds judgment.” She paused, and then stressed, “I don’t want to want a guy like you.”
***
Josh leaned down until they were an inch apart. He was not fazed at all as he whispered across her lips, “Yes you do.”
Her eyes were clouding over, and as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, he raised his head and shook it. Her blue eyes blinked open and focused on him.
“No. Not until you tell me something about you.”
She licked her lips. “Didn’t I just do that?”
Josh shook his head, feeling his heart pound and his erection throb, as he looked at the most kissable lips he’d ever seen. “No. I want to know something about you that has nothing to do with this.”
She dropped her hand and took a deep breath, and Josh had to admit that he thought she was about to back away. However, her response shocked him.
Looking over her shoulder, and then turning back to face him, she asked, “What do I get if I do?”
Josh felt his grin appear, and he replied in a low voice, “Satisfaction.”
Looking him over, she ran her eyes down his jeans and back up to his face. Then, she shook her head like she was fighting with herself.
“Okay. I’m originally from Georgia, and while I love a lot of things about that place, I took speech lessons during school to disguise my accent. A lot of people these days will—how should I say this? Judge you just because of a slight inflection in your voice.”
Josh couldn’t have been more stunned if she’d admitted she had a third eye.
“Be serious.”
She grinned, and then she completely floored him in her Southern lilt, “Why, I am being serious, sugar. It ain’t my fault I do such a good job of hidin’ my accent.”
His eyes widened, and he felt a genuinely happy smile spread over his face. She was adorable, and with that accent, she was absolutely lethal.
“Wow,” was all he could manage.
She spun on her heel about to move away, but he reached out and snagged her arm, pulling her back against him. Josh pressed his chest and body against her back and breathed against her ear.
“I didn’t think you could get any sexier. God, was I wrong,” he whispered.
Josh felt her take a deep breath, and he let go of her arm. But she remained right where she was, leaning against him.
“So do you always cover it?”
Turning to look at him over her shoulder, she whispered, “That’s two questions. You said only one.”
Josh conceded, knowing this was a bigger step than what she had wanted.
Then, he found himself nibbling her ear. “Come on. Give us a chance, Shelly?”
He was pretty sure he wouldn’t get an