Entice - By Ella Frank Page 0,63
stopped in front of him.
Josh looked her over, and then nodded. “Yep. Mutley and I were just wondering where you were taking us.”
“I suppose he can come, but it’s a surprise.”
Josh moved forward and kissed her on the nose. “I’m starting to find I love surprises.
***
Shelly sat in the front seat of Josh’s truck, pointing left and right, as he followed her directions without complaint. She had to admit that when they had been talking about their feelings she had freaked out.
She was not supposed to be falling for Joshua Daniels. She was supposed to be having fun with the added bonus of no-strings sex.
Scratch that. Great sex!
So, what had she done? She’d had such great sex that she had almost confessed she was falling for him.
What on earth do I think I’m doing? I have no clue. That’s for sure.
Instead of being brave like him, she had freaked out and told him she wanted to take him somewhere. And where was she taking him? To the place she treasured the most. It was a place she had labeled the “dreaming tree.”
As he pulled off the main street and started down a little dirt road, the huge oak tree came into view with its twisted and gnarled branches spreading out in all directions, including several that arced out, reaching across a small river that ran behind an old abandoned property.
Josh brought the truck to a stop, and Shelly jumped out, running over to the edge of the river. She then turned back to see him standing at the front of his truck, leaning his butt up against it.
Shelly shielded her eyes against the morning sun shining brightly, looking from the man to the loyal dog that sat beside his master.
What a pair they were—both silent and both solid in their stillness.
Was there ever a question I would fall for this man? Not really.
It was only a matter of time, and suddenly, it felt like time had run out. In a few short weeks and really only a handful of days, she had fallen hard for Josh Daniels and that scared the hell out of her.
“What is this place, Georgia?” he asked, moving toward her.
Shelly turned back to the river and took a deep breath, trying to decide how she was supposed to function now. She had given her heart permission to be vulnerable, risking the potential of it being broken into a million pieces.
Hang on, this is Josh. He told me he wouldn’t hurt or use me, right?
Surely, she was safe to step forward and give her heart to him.
When he stopped beside her, Shelly turned, seeing his profile as his hair blew in the slight breeze, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m finding it really hard to fight wanting you, Josh,” she whispered, watching as Josh looked down at her.
He turned his big muscular body toward her, reaching out to cup her face in his hands. “Well, that’s nice to hear, Georgia, because I stopped fighting a while ago.”
Shelly blinked, shaking her head the best she could with two strong hands holding her face.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?” he whispered, moving in closer.
“This. Us. How I feel,” she whispered back.
“And how do you feel, Shelly?”
Somewhere down inside her chest, Shelly felt her heart pound while she considered what she wanted to reveal.
“I feel like I’ve fallen so far down the rabbit hole that I can’t get out.”
She held her breath as he leaned in, pressing a soft, gentle kiss to her mouth. Shelly sighed, pulling back from all the emotion.
“This isn’t a dream, I promise you,” he assured.
Shelly blinked at him, confessing, “I’m so scared.”
She watched as he reached out and stroked her cheek with his fingers.
“Of me?”
Shelly shook her head. “Of us.”
***
Josh took a step back, looking over to where Mutley had stretched out beneath the shade of the tree.
“Why did you bring me here, Georgia?”
He watched as Shelly turned back to face the river. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and seemed to let go of the anxiety she was holding onto.
“I would come down here when my parents would argue—or when someone told me they saw my dad kissing some woman on the corner of their street.” She paused and turned to face him. “That actually happened more often than you would think. I called this my dreaming tree. I would come down here and dream of where I wanted to escape to and who I wanted to meet.”
Josh smiled at her, watching her