chapter Eleven
Around five hours into the trip, Shelly was getting antsy. She started to understand why people took planes or, more importantly, why she took planes.
This trip was just too damn long. If you included the fact that there was a ninety-pound hairball sitting behind her and giving her the evil eye, then you not only had a long trip, you had a long trip from hell.
On the plus side, she had plenty of time to sit and study Delicious Daniels.
He’d put on a pair of black aviator glasses when the sun had made an appearance this morning. He had his arm resting by the window as they drove along the highway while his other hand lightly gripped the top of the steering wheel, giving her a lovely view of those strong, thick biceps of his.
He’d removed his jacket once they had gotten in the truck, and the black shirt he was wearing molded like a second skin to all of his bulging muscles. As she ran her eyes down to the jeans he seemed to live in, she had to catch herself from licking her lips. They cupped him like a lover’s hand, and then wrapped tightly around his thighs.
Unconsciously letting out a small grown, Shelly was mortified when he turned and caught her staring. She quickly brought her gaze up to his. Deciding what the heck, she gave him a flirty smile and a raised eyebrow.
“Keep your eyes on the road, Josh.”
He gave her a smug grin, and then turned back, facing the long stretch of road ahead of them.
The whole way out of Chicago Shelly had bitched at him about the hairy dog being in the truck until he had told her if she mentioned the dog once more he’d move him into the front seat. That had shut her up real quick.
They’d stopped for coffee with a quick breakfast at one of the fast food joints and had been driving straight through with no breaks since.
They had discussed everything from how he’d met Mason, which was in grade school during year seven to be exact, to when she had met Lena, which, of course, had been when they had started working at University Hospital.
She now knew he had one brother, Jeremy, who lived in Chicago, and their parents had retired to Florida. He now knew that she’d grown up in Savannah, Georgia and was an only child.
When they had exhausted all the small getting-to-know-each-other talk, he’d told her to relax and maybe try to sleep, but she had known that would be impossible with the dog staring at her. Instead, she had rested against the window, watching the scenery pass by, but she was getting antsy and needed a pick-me-up.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her iPod and the car jack and moved to plug it in.
Josh looked over at her. “And what do you think you’re doing, Georgia?”
“We need some music,” Shelly told him, finally getting it hooked up.
“We had music,” he pointed out as his huge dog decided to take that opportunity to move forward and rest his head against Josh’s seat.
He’s eyeing me, Shelly thought with a shudder. He definitely wanted to eat her, and she knew it.
“What?” she asked the dog as though he would actually answer her.
“He just wants to know what you’re about to force us to listen to.”
Rolling her eyes, Shelly smiled at him with a mischievous grin, and he shook his head.
“I don’t like that look.”
“What look?” she asked innocently.
“That one. The one that says you’re about to subject me to something I’m not going to like.”
Shelly laughed, making sure she had the volume up good and loud, and then hit play. As the music blared through the speakers, she took great delight in Josh’s pained expression as he whipped his head around to face her.
“No.”
“Yes!” Shelly told him over the loud beat of the music.
“No way, Georgia!” he told her, trying to grab the iPod.
She pulled it out of reach and hit pause. The music stopped.
“You need to concentrate on the road,” she told him seriously.
Rolling his eyes, he asked, “How am I supposed to concentrate with that noise playing?”
Shelly laughed again. “I told you no about that,” she reminded him, pointing to the beast, who took that moment to cock his head to the side and raise an eyebrow.
“Oh, don’t act sweet and innocent with me,” she said to the hairball.
“Are you talking to my dog? You do know he can’t understand you, right?”
Shelly harrumphed. “Well, it was worth a shot.” She paused, grinning. “Now, shhh. I’m enjoying—”
“I’m not listening to Shania Twain, Georgia.”
Shelly leaned her head back against the seat, singing to him with a sexy smile. “But, Josh, I feel like a woman!”
***
Josh shook his head at the woman beside him, singing the ode to all females very loudly. He couldn’t believe that he was actually sitting here, listening to this song, and smiling.
Shelly had rolled up her jeans to mid-calf and slipped off her shoes, resting her sock-covered feet on the dashboard. She was tapping her foot and smiling as she sung about wearing men’s shirts and short skirts.
Looking over at her, he thought, this is honestly the first time those lyrics have ever been appealing.
She had a grin on her face that was lit with pure joy, and every time she hit that ridiculous chorus, she sung the lyrics at the top of her lungs.
The woman is insane, and he liked her—a lot.
All she needed now was a cowgirl hat, a pair of boots, and some Daisy Dukes, and she would have been one of his sexiest fantasies come to life.
She continued singing about the best things of being a woman.
Josh found himself smiling and—holy shit—tapping his hand on the steering wheel.
When she got to the main line of the song, he saw her look him over and lick her lips.
“Damn, Josh—you make me feel like a woman,” she sang to him with lowered lids.
Oh shit!
He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to grab her, pull her over his lap, and kiss that sassy smile right of her smirking lips—but he was on a damn highway and needed to concentrate.
“When we stop, I want you to play that song again.”
The song ended, and he was relieved when it changed to The Who singing the anthem to Woodstock and stoned teenagers. “Babba O’Riley”—classic.
“I thought you didn’t like that song,” Shelly pointed out.
He looked her over, letting out a deep breath. “Suddenly, I’ve had a change of heart.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah, it is. I want it to be playing while I have my hands all over you.”
Shelly laughed and asked, “So you can make me feel like a woman?”
“Hmm,” he answered, watching the road.
He didn’t even hear what she had said, and before he knew it, she was right up beside him, sliding her hand smoothly along his thigh. He whipped his head around, and their eyes met.
“Careful, I need to concentrate.”
“So concentrate. I just need to touch you for a minute,” she told him while continuing to stroke his thigh.
Josh let out a ragged groan, moving his arm away from the window to grip the steering wheel tight with both hands.
“You don’t even need to touch me to make me feel like a woman. I’m finding if I just sit and think about you—or even better, if I sit here and look at you—I have absolutely no problem feeling like a woman.” She paused in her verbal torture and slid that hot little hand over his leg toward the inseam of his jeans, stopping mid-thigh. He sucked in a deep breath.
“I can’t wait to get you naked, Josh. Hot, naked, and mine. Hmm, I can’t wait,” she whispered.
Josh took a chance and looked sideways at her. She was so close that he could see her pupils had dilated, and he knew she was as aroused as he was. His cock was so hard that he was surprised it hadn’t busted through his jeans. She hadn’t even touched him there, and he was ready to go off like a rocket.
“Move your hand, Shelly,” he managed, trying to keep his attention on the road despite her torture.
He watched her eyes spark with mischief, and then she started to move her hand up his leg toward his throbbing hardness.
“Not there,” he told her through clenched teeth. “Move your hand away from me, or we’re going to have an accident.”
He watched her grin and felt her squeeze his thigh while she leaned up to put her mouth next to his ear.
“Find a motel.”
Josh felt every muscle in his body clench, but he looked down at her and shook his head.
She pouted, squeezing his thigh again. “Why not?”
Josh licked his lips and explained, “If we stop, we won’t ever leave.” He paused. “Have mercy, Georgia. Take your hand off of me before I explode and move back to your side of the truck before I go insane.”
Josh groaned as she kissed his cheek and quickly brushed her palm against his erection. Then, she moved back to her side of the truck.
He looked over to where she was sitting, staring at him with hot eyes and a strained smile.
“I hate that you’re right,” she told him.
He looked at her and replied softly, “Believe me, so do I.”
***
Shelly was so frustrated!
She was so hot and bothered that she was almost tempted to undo her jeans and stick her hands inside to take care of her own ache. But, as she looked at the beautifully tense and stiff man navigating the truck’s steering wheel, she knew that waiting would be its own reward.
She couldn’t believe how turned on he had gotten her, yet he hadn’t done anything but drive and say a few words.
The man was potent and so hot that he set her on fire by just looking at her. Forget that. He set me on fire by just breathing.
His dog was now lying down across the back seat, and Shelly took a chance, looking over at him. He raised his head, and his mouth fell open. She could have sworn he was smiling at her. She felt her heart squeeze a little, and she couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Stop flirting with my dog.”
Shelly’s eyes moved to Josh, who had glanced at her for a moment.
“I’m not flirting with your dog. I don’t even like him.”
She could have sworn the dog understood because he whined, and she immediately felt guilty.
Josh took that moment to look in his rearview mirror. “Don’t worry. She said that about me, too.”
Rolling her eyes, she slumped down in the seat. “Do you want me to drive for a little bit?”
“My truck?”
“No, your Lamborghini. Of course the truck.”
Josh shook his head. “Ahh, no, it’s fine. I’m going to pull over for lunch in a few minutes, and then we’ll go the rest of the way.”
Shelly nodded and watched out the window, noticing a twenty-four hour motel. She glanced at Josh longingly.
He shook his head. “No.”
Sighing, Shelly capitulated. “Fine. Food it is.”
She was no less frustrated when he laughed and pulled off the highway to get them some food.
***
Six long hours later, Josh was navigating his way through downtown Savannah, admiring how beautiful it was.
It was just going on 6:30 p.m., and there was a light breeze in the air. They’d made good time even with several pit stops along the way. As they rolled down the main street, Josh couldn’t help the smile that was stretching across his face.
Shelly had told him that she wanted to take him down through the Savannah Squares. At first, he didn’t have any idea what she had been talking about, but as they turned onto Charlton Street, it became very obvious.
Every couple of streets, he noticed a park was located in the center of them. The first one they passed was Pulaski Square, and then they drove by Madison Square. As they were approaching the third park, Lafayette Square, Shelly pointed and told him to pull over.
He parked the truck and watched her get out, stretching her hands above her head. She looked around with a soft smile as the wind whipped through her blonde hair. He found himself mesmerized, not by her sexiness that usually took aim at him like a fully loaded weapon, but by the simple beauty of her as she stood on the outskirts of the park with the wind blowing around her.
Josh opened the truck door and stepped down, letting Mutley out. He grabbed a leash, hooking it to his dog’s collar, and came around to stand beside this woman, who seemed to have morphed into a stranger.
She had transformed into a different version of herself, and he had to admit that he liked this version.
“These parks are amazing,” Josh commented, stopping beside her.
Shelly turned and smiled up at him. The sudden tightening in his chest from her radiant look shocked him.
“I know. This is one part of my hometown that I absolutely adore.”
She looked down at Mutley, who had taken a seat beside him on his haunches, and raised a brow. “The mutt has to come?”
Josh chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, yeah, he’s been cooped up as well, and this is a park. Kind of his thing.” He ended with a wink.
“Fine,” she sighed. Then, she shocked him by holding out her hand.
Josh reached over and took it, feeling her warm palm slip into his.
She squeezed his fingers, and they made their way down the path leading into the lush green park.
***
Shelly felt relaxed as she walked with Josh and the beast through her favorite Square.
As of 2012 twenty-two squares were littered throughout Savannah.
As a young girl, her father had often taken her to Lafayette Square where they had walked around for hours, sometimes taking a break to eat ice cream. On each occasion, he had brought her right here to this fountain where they had thrown pennies in, making wishes together.
Shelly stopped by the large water feature and looked over to Josh, who was looking around the park as the sun started to set.
The lights in the fountain and on the path where they were now standing started to blink on, and suddenly, the moment turned extremely romantic. This was not something Shelly had anticipated.
She turned to see Josh looking at her with a gentle and warm expression. She’d never seen that look on him before.
“Who are you?” he asked as he stepped closer, letting the leash go slack as his dog lay down on the ground.
Shelly immediately started to fidget with her hands, feeling nervous, which was very unlike her.
“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
He stopped when he was just a breath away from her, reaching out to run a finger down her cheek.
“Back in Chicago, you’re this sex goddess, who is so incredibly hot, but intimidating as hell—”
“I didn’t intimidate you,” she pointed out.
“Oh, yes, you did. Remember my nickname for you? Man-Eater Monroe—the kind of woman who would eat you up in one bite. I wasn’t going to touch you because I knew you’d burn me or rip me apart.”
Shelly licked her lips, becoming hypnotized by this man and his words.
All of a sudden, Shelly didn’t give two hoots what he did or did not do for a living. She wanted Joshua Daniels. The biggest shock, however, was that she wanted to keep him. For how long, she wasn’t sure, but she knew she wasn’t ready to let him go.
“And here in Savannah?” Shelly asked, wanting to know what he was getting at.
“Here,” he said, taking that final step to close the distance. “Here, you’re different. You’re relaxed and casual, still incredibly sexy, but in a much more approachable way. This Shelly—Georgia Shelly—she’s the girl next door wrapped up in subtle sex. Man-Eater Monroe’s the ball-busting doctor, who oozes blatant, sizzling, hot sex.” He paused, leaning down to whisper across her lips. “So, who are you, Shelly?”
Shelly blinked at him and locked her eyes with his. “Both.”
She felt his lips move against her own into a smile before he nipped her bottom lip.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he answered.
Then, he gave her the sweetest, hottest kiss she had ever received.
***
Josh wasn’t sure when or how it had happened, but as he stood in front of possibly the most romantic place he’d ever been in his life, he felt his heart start to beat faster as he gave himself permission to care.
This complex woman, now standing glued to his front with her lips molded to his, was creeping inside of him.
Nowhere in sight was the Shelly he’d first met back at Exquisite. The woman he’d exploded with in the parking lot—not to mention, the hot-as-hell doctor who had given him a thorough once over in her office—was nowhere to be found. Instead, in her place was this sweet, wholesome woman, who was kissing him like they were on a high school date.
Josh changed the angle of his head and used his free hand to wrap around her waist, pulling her in just a little bit closer. He felt her soft moan and slid his tongue gently inside her mouth to rub sinuously against her own.
Her hands came up, grasping behind his neck, and he could feel her fingers spread out, pushing up into his hair. She gripped it and tugged gently until he raised his head, his eyes locking with her beautiful blue ones.
“I like your hair like this,” she told him as she lightly dragged her fingers through it again.
“Long? I forget to get it cut, so it just keeps growing.”
She smiled at him, still running her fingers through it. “I like it. Very bad boyish.”
Josh couldn’t help but snort and chuckle at that. “Bad boy? Is that how you see me?”
He watched as she moved her eyes to his mouth, and then back up to meet his gaze, pulling again at the end of his hair.
“I was kind of hoping.”
“Oh yeah?”
She let out a breath across his mouth, and he could smell that intoxicating apple scent on her. Leaning in, he put his nose to her hair. Ahh, it’s her shampoo.
“Apples,” he whispered.
“Huh?” she asked in a daze.
“You smell like apples.”
She grinned up at him. “It’s my shampoo.”
Josh nodded, and then backtracked their conversation. “Why do you think I’m bad?”
Her fingers traced down his neck, bringing them around so her palms were flat on his chest. She squeezed a little, and then raised an eyebrow at him.
“You gave me an orgasm in a parking lot. You think a good boy would do that?”
He felt a smirk tug at the corner of his mouth as he reached up to trace her arched brow with his fingertip.
“Well, you gave me a spectacular orgasm in your office. Do you think a good girl would do that?”
That familiar sexy smile appeared on her lips. Her eyelids lowered, so she was looking up at him from beneath her lashes. “I never said I was good.”
“Neither did I,” he replied, now tracing her lips with the same finger that had just been against her brow. “I just asked you why you think I’m bad.”
She let out a deep breath across his finger, and then whispered, “Because no one who is good could make me want to be so very bad.”
Josh felt his whole body stiffen, and he removed his finger from her face. Taking a step back, he reminded himself that he needed to watch it. Man-Eater Monroe was still there, just lurking beneath the surface. He needed to keep his wits about him and not get fooled by Georgia.
She was a lethal combination.
“Touché, Georgia. Now, we better hurry if we want to make it to your parents’ house by seven, like we told them.”
He watched her blink and then nod, seemingly shaking herself out of the daze she was in, as she turned to walk away.
Before she got too far, he called out her name. She stopped and turned around.
“Why this park and not the others?” he asked.
She looked at the huge church behind them, and then she turned back to him.
“My father used to bring me down here when I was a little girl. We’d always end up at the fountain. He chose this park because I was baptized in that church over there, St. John the Baptist. We would always come here and make a wish before tossing in a penny.” She paused, taking in a deep breath. “I just wanted to remind myself of that before I see him tonight. When you meet him, you’ll understand why.” Then, she turned, walking back through the park.
Mutley stood and looked up at him while Josh pulled a penny out of his pocket.
Staring at the huge cathedral that was lit up and peeking out above the trees, Josh was pretty sure he’d never seen anything so spectacular.
He thought about what Shelly had just told him and wondered what he was going to witness this weekend. Before he turned away, he brought the penny up to his mouth, closed his eyes, and made a wish. Then, he kissed the penny and tossed it into the fountain.