Josh had no idea if Roger would accept that, or if his pride would cause him to storm off the porch. So, Josh just stood there, waiting.
Hope didn’t wait, though. She filled in the time with conversation—with Josh. “What we have isn’t about the beeps. In fact, I think your idea about that was wrong.”
“Beeps?” Roger asked.
“Yes, beeps!” Hope verified, but she thankfully didn’t try to explain it. “And quit ogling my breasts,” she added in a much louder voice than she had probably intended. “Do you accept the deal with the ten-percent cut in price?” This time her voice was both loud and mean.
Muscles flickered all over Roger’s face, but he finally nodded. “I’ll have the papers sent over later today.”
“Good.” Hope still sounded plenty riled, but they all shook hands on it. In these parts, that was the sign of a done deal, but Josh would make sure everything got signed as soon as he had the contract.
Roger was looking a little relieved and shell-shocked when he turned and walked away. Thankfully, what he didn’t do was spare a glance at Hope’s breasts. Or even the bra that was still dangling from her shirt. Just in case Roger did get a case of wandering eyeballs, Josh shut the door and locked it. If he’d had a Do Not Disturb sign, he would have put that up, too, because it was obvious that Hope had some personal things to say to him.
And do to him.
She kissed him. It had none of the meanness that’d been in her voice just seconds earlier. This kiss was long and sweet, just the way he liked his kisses from Hope.
“This is not an annoyance,” Hope said when she finally broke for air. She motioned toward him, then her. “It’s a need, one that I have for you, and no matter how many times we’re together, that need isn’t going to go away. I can already tell. I meant it when I said I’ve been falling in love with you for years.”
Yeah, he could see that now. He could see a lot of things, and they were all right there in Hope’s face.
“I want to do pages one through one hundred and eighty-four with you,” he said. He saw the confusion in her eyes until he added the next part. “That’s how many pages are in the book on my nightstand.”
She smiled.
“And when we’re done with those,” he went on, “we can start over from the beginning or get another book with a lot of pages.”
Hope smiled even more and gave him a naughty wink. “That sounds as if it’ll take a long time, considering there’ll be days and nights off for business and such.”
“It’ll take a very long time,” Josh assured her. He pulled her to him and kissed that smile. “Years. Maybe years and years. And during that time, we can keep falling in love with each other.”
The next kiss wasn’t to taste that smile. It was a hungry one that let her know they could start on page one right now. Hope had the same notion because she jumped up into his arms, hooking her hands around his neck and her legs around his waist.
“My dad was right,” she whispered against his mouth. And then she said something that was just plain confusing. Something that he would ask her about later after a post-orgasmic orgasm. “There’d be no snicker without a doodle. Josh Whitlock, you’re definitely my doodle.”
Josh had never been called that before, but he’d take it. And to let her know that he was just fine with it, he kissed Hope all the way to the bedroom.
*