Entice - By Ella Frank Page 0,39
because she’d get too distracted?
The woman baffled him. She was such a firecracker, yet she wanted to settle down with someone like Paul the Bore or Dr. Douche Bag.
After feeding Mutley, Josh walked over to the sliding door, leading to his back porch. Opening it, he walked outside and looked up at the stars. It was so beautifully clear tonight. It was a perfect evening to take a walk with a hot woman. However, the woman he wanted to walk with had instead walked out the door tonight with another man.
He was such an idiot to still be thinking about her. That’s it, he thought as he pulled out his cell, intending to delete Barbie the Man-Eater from his phone and life. But, when he got to her number, he found himself dialing it instead.
***
Shelly’s phone buzzed right as she climbed into bed. Looking at the cell, she leaned over and saw DD displayed on the front. Picking it up, she shook her head, telling herself she shouldn’t. Like that ever worked.
She answered and put it to her ear. “What do you want, Josh? I told you tonight. The deal is done.”
“Well, hello to you, too, Shel.”
Closing her eyes, Shelly slid down, laying her head on the pillow, and allowed herself a minute to fantasize that the deep sexy voice on the other end of the phone was instead coming from beside her on the bed and not through the earpiece.
“I want to keep the deal,” the voice told her.
Shaking her head and keeping her eyes closed, Shelly relaxed. “You broke it. The deal was sex, no strings, and definitely no Mason. You broke all three rules.”
She heard him sigh, and if she had to guess, she figured he was running his hand through his hair.
“I want a new deal.”
Laughing, Shelly asked, “A new deal? Just like that? What else can there be, Josh? I told you that I don’t want to get involved.”
“With me,” he interrupted.
“Huh?” Shelly asked, confused.
“You don’t want to get involved with me. You’re quite happy to parade around a string of completely wrong choices, yet you won’t even give me a five-minute date.”
He paused, and Shelly knew what would be the next word out of his mouth.
“Why?”
Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. She started to count the little boxes that were painted in checkered black and white across it, which she loved.
“Because you’re not my type.”
“Excuse me if I don’t believe you. You fall apart all over me.”
Letting out a frustrated sound, she replied, “Not sexually. It’s pretty obvious that part works. It’s everything else.”
There was a pause, and then he asked, “Like what? I’m not in the health industry? Because that’s ridiculous.”
“No! Geez, Josh, why do you care? You told Mason you didn’t even want to date me. I believe ‘hell no’ was the answer he said you gave him.” Moving to sit up, Shelly leaned back against her pink headboard. “Look, I just think it would be better to forget all of this. Nothing really happened—”
“I beg to disagree. Something most definitely happened. You’re just being stubborn. Give me a new deal.”
He paused, and Shelly heard a bark in the background.
“Do you have a dog?”
“Huh?”
“A dog? I heard a bark. I asked if you own a dog.”
“Yeah. His name’s Mutley. Stop changing the subject.”
“I’m not a fan of dogs. They’re too slobbery.”
Shelly could almost hear his eyes roll.
“Of course, you’re not. Are you always so perfectly put together?”
Feeling a grin on her mouth, she lowered her voice. “Do you always look like you just got out of a woman’s bed?”
The phone went quiet, and the silence was so thick that it was hard to hear his words as they slid through the phone and into her ear.
“Is that how I look?”
Groaning softly, Shelly let her eyes close, thinking about how sexy Josh Daniels was. Everything about him appealed to her, and right now, she wished he was in her bed on top of her.
A new deal? Do I really want to do this?
“Shelly?” he asked in a voice that was designed to seduce.
“Yes, that’s how you look. You always look like you just rolled out of some woman’s bed—as if her hands tunneled through your long hair, hanging on for dear life.” She paused, and then tacked on the end, “And, to answer your question, no, I’m not always perfectly put together. I’m not right now.”
***
Josh knew there had never been a better opening for phone sex—ever.
That, however, was