“Come on, honey, I doubt your brother would stoop so low,” Vivian interjected.
“Are you kidding? This is exactly his style!” Ellie noticed her friend’s cheeks had turned a rosy pink. She narrowed her eyes. “Are you getting heatstroke or something?” She didn’t let Vivian answer, just changed the subject back to her slimy brother. “He thinks if he screws around with my bank account I’ll come crawling home to him. Ha! Does he think I’m so dependent on him that I can’t pick up the phone and call my own bank to undo what he did?”
“Ellie—”
She tightened her lips in a line of fury. “Well, he can think again.”
“Ellie—”
“Vivian, I need to borrow one hundred and twenty dollars. Then I would like a ride home so I can call the bank. And once I finish doing that, I’m going to call Joshua Dawson and give him a piece of my mind.”
“You froze her account?” Vivian slammed the front door behind her and stormed into the living room, where she found Josh wearing nothing but bright red swim trunks that sat low on his lean hips. Droplets from his dark hair fell onto his bare chest, sliding down his wiry chest hairs in rivulets. He’d obviously just come in from a swim and he looked good enough to eat.
Good thing Vivian wasn’t hungry. She was furious.
“I didn’t freeze her account.” Josh shrugged, then reached for the fluffy blue towel sitting on the armchair and began dabbing his torso with it. “I merely called the bank and requested a daily limit of ten dollars be implemented.”
He looked so smug Vivian wanted to strangle him. “What gave you the right?” she demanded.
“Ellie and I opened the account together. She apparently forgot to remove my name from it, which gives me the right to do anything I please.”
“You’re an asshole.” The vicious words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them and the verbal attack left her feeling stunned.
What was she actually angry about? Did her rage come from her defense of Ellie or was she really just pissed off at herself for letting Josh get to her last night?
Still want me to stop? His low taunting voice floated into her head as a reminder that she’d had every opportunity not to let things get as far as they had. Stop. All she’d had to say was one little word and nothing would have happened. But had she done that? No, of course not. And now she was forced to deal with the consequences of her own stupidity.
God, she didn’t want him here anymore. Though he was staying in the guest room at the end of the hall from her bedroom, it still wasn’t far enough. Last night she’d lain awake, wanting so desperately to go to him, to slide into bed next to him and let him finish what he’d started in the living room. She hadn’t given in to temptation, though. Instead she’d spent the night tossing and turning, unsettled by the thought of Josh in her home, frightened of the way he made her feel and upset with herself for letting herself feel it.
What had come over her? She’d had no control yesterday, no willpower. Instead of pushing Josh away, she’d allowed him to get closer. She was forty-four years old, for Pete’s sake. She knew the difference between love and lust. Knew the price of getting involved with the wrong man. The last time she’d done it, she wound up pregnant and alone. This time, however, she wasn’t worried about herself. It was Josh she was concerned about.
He didn’t get it. He deserved to be with a nice young woman who could give him a minivan full of children. Not her, not a woman who was pushing fifty, a woman whose body was past its prime, a woman with a grown daughter who was practically his age. A woman he’d no doubt grow tired of.
She wasn’t beating up on herself. She knew she had a lot to offer—to an older man. A man who would be satisfied with a casual affair.
Josh Dawson wasn’t that man.
“I’m an asshole?” he echoed. His lips twisted in a bitter grimace. “I thought I was just the pool boy.”
She fought back a rush of guilt. “You expected me to tell my daughter I was with her best friend’s brother?”
“Yes.” Josh’s nostrils flared. “But I didn’t realize what a coward you were.”
“A coward?” She shook her head, suddenly wanting to laugh out loud. “See, Josh, this is exactly why we can’t be together. You’re a kid. Impulsive, immature, throwing out insults when you don’t get your way. A child.”
Vivian instantly regretted her words as Josh’s face turned red with anger and disbelief. Not to mention the flash of pain that was getting oh-too-familiar. She’d hurt him by saying that, but maybe that’s what it would take for him to get the picture. To understand that the two of them were colossally wrong for each other.