Chapter Nine
Lexi was pushing the gate open when a car pulled up behind her and the engine switched off. She turned, recognized Josh’s car, and her heart rate instantly picked up. What was it with that?
He climbed out, caught sight of her, and cast her a wary glance, like he wasn’t expecting her and it wasn’t a pleasant surprise.
Hey, I do live here.
She got the distinct impression that if he could have gotten away with it, he’d have climbed right back in and driven away. But that would have made him a coward, and he was a big, bad war hero. Running away was clearly not an option.
And what had she done to make him want to run? She’d been perfectly well behaved, hadn’t touched him—though that would have been a little difficult as she’d hardly seen him—hadn’t demanded her marital rights.
Ha. She was almost tempted, just to see the expression on his face.
Grrr.
Why had she thought his moving in was a good idea?
She hadn’t slept in two nights. She felt on edge all the time, her nerves jangling. She couldn’t even use her vibrator while she was sharing a room with Josh, which might have calmed her down. He slept on the floor. She’d promised to keep her hands off him if he shared her huge bed. And it was a big bed; there was plenty of room. But he said the floor was good.
He was sooo tough.
That first night, he’d stuck around until Harry showed up, given a stellar performance of solidarity and marital bliss, and then taken himself off for the evening, saying he had work to do. And that had pretty much set the pattern for the next two days—creeping in after she’d gone to bed. The first night, she’d tried to engage him in perfectly innocent conversation. He’d just grunted that he was tired, rolled over, and gone to sleep.
Now, she forced a smile to her face as he approached, and, not for the first time, wished he wasn’t quite so—she heaved a huge sigh—panty-melting gorgeous.
Get a grip.
But he was so tall and long and lean and muscly. And it didn’t help that she’d been using him to masturbate to for the last five years.
He was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with Slater Security on the pocket. He wore the same thing every day—he had a whole pile of them in the drawer. Not that she’d been snooping through his things. Well, maybe, but only a little bit.
Harry’s car was parked in front of the house, so she kept her smile in place as Josh approached. Harry could be doing his spy thing, peering from behind the upstairs curtains. For good measure, she stood up on tiptoe and kissed Josh on the cheek, then stepped back, waggling her eyebrows, in case he really thought she was pleased to see him and not merely acting.
“Evening, darling,” she murmured. “Did you have a good day at the office?”
His lips twitched, which was nice; he didn’t smile enough. “Very good, thank you. We got a new account, which is always nice. And you?”
“Excellent. I finally got some school equipment out of customs in Uganda. It might actually get into the schools now.”
“Good.”
She shut the gate behind them. Josh took her hand and they strolled along the drive, hopefully looking like a happily married couple.
“Far window, second floor,” Josh muttered in an aside. She glanced up, hopefully casually, and saw the curtain twitch.
The hallway was empty, but a door slammed somewhere upstairs.
“Come on,” Josh said, and tugged her up the stairs. They met Harry heading down from the second floor. Josh stepped to the side and pulled her back against him to give Harry room to pass, wrapping one big arm around her waist so it splayed against her belly, making her sex tingle and her nipples harden. To make matters worse, his lips nuzzled the really sensitive skin of her neck, obviously to emphasize the fact that they were in love and couldn’t keep their hands off each other, when in fact this was the first time he’d been in touching distance in days. His lips were soft, and he traced his tongue across her skin, something she was sure Harry wasn’t in a position to see. The caress, fake or not, sent shivers skittering down her nerves and made her squirm against him.
Harry paused, sending them a disgusted look. “Get a room,” he muttered.
“We have one, thank you,” Josh said. “And we’re on our way there right now.”
Harry took another step, and then he stopped. “Hey, sis”—when had he ever called her sis before?—“I thought we might have dinner tonight. Talk about old times?”
What old times?
Josh beat her to an answer. “Sorry, bro, we’re going out.”
He headed up the stairs, tugging her after him, but as soon as the door to her room slammed behind them, he dropped her hand like he might catch something.
“We’re going out?” she asked.