Loving the Wild Card (18 page)

“Umm, yes they are.”

Chapter
20

“Let me show you around,” Josh suggested once he and Lux entered the
house.

Ignoring her suspicious look, he started walking, doing his best to hide
his excitement that they were finally alone.

That she’d snorted when he suggested, they spend some time by themselves
still rankled. If he were a lesser man, her blunt refusal would have put a
serious dent in his ego. Luckily, he was made of sterner stuff.

When his first reason didn’t work, it had taken him a full thirty
minutes to persuade her to pack a bag. She only did as he asked after he
mentioned that he also didn’t want there to be any possibility of Sam
disrupting his family in their home.

Josh supposed he couldn’t really blame her for her reluctance given the
way he’d behaved the night before. Thinking about it, he was sorry he’d allowed
his anger towards her to manifest in the way it had. While she wasn’t pleased
about spending time with him, he was relishing just that. But he kept his
thoughts to himself.

Reaching a door, Josh pushed it open and stood back for Lux to precede
him. The sound of her gasp immediately caught his attention. The stunned look
on her face, as she looked around the room spoke for itself.

“What a beautiful space!”

Having seen it all before, Josh looked around again with new eyes. She
was right, it was a lovely space. Aviva had created a room that was both
stunning and comfortable at the same time. Although picture perfect, Josh saw
the house for what it was, a home.

The area was large and circular with an enormous bank of windows that
overlooked the land behind the house. In the middle of the room was a sunken
seating area; again circular with huge over-stuffed fabric sofas. There were
two openings on either side of the area where steps were located. Whenever the
women weren’t around, he and his brothers never used them, they just hopped
over the side and landed on the cushions. It was sort of childish but they did
it anyway.

The walls and most of the furniture were in soft shades of cream and
light brown. Thrown in were bold splashes of burgundy, so that
Jason
wouldn’t feel as though he was living in a girl’s house
, Aviva said.

Apart from the sofas there were a few other seats scattered around, but
this was a family room and its design encouraged togetherness. There was a
large
fireplace on one wall with a deep
soft patterned rug before it. Looking at it, this time with new eyes, it opened
a whole new realm of possibilities for Josh.

Having taken everything in, Lux headed for the door. “Show me more, I
want to see the rest of the house!”

With a smile of indulgence, he obliged. Twenty minutes later they were
back where they’d started.

“Is this your house, Josh?”

“No.”

“Well, I think you should buy it. It’s off the chain!”

“I’m pretty sure Jason and Aviva wouldn’t be up for selling it.”

“This is their house,” at his nod, she glanced around again seemingly
with new eyes that carried a look of sadness. “I think this is where they want
to raise their family.”

“Just say the word, Luxie, and I’ll buy you a home where we can raise
our family.” Josh didn’t know where the words came from, but once spoken, he
knew he didn’t want them recalled.

“Please don’t do that. We had our chance and it didn’t work out.”

Josh was sure she was unaware of the sadness that accompanied her words.
He didn’t agree with her, and by the time he was through, she would never think
of leaving him again.

“Come on, I’ll show you to our room.”

Halfway up the stairs, Lux came to an abrupt stop as though just
processing what he’d said. “Our room?”

“Of course our room, how else are we going to get our marriage back on
track?”

“Joshua, didn’t you hear what I just said? Our marriage is over,” Lux
repeated with obvious frustration.

“I heard you, but I choose to ignore your comment as your conclusion is
flawed.”

“Josh..., oh, it doesn’t even matter,” Lux said as she began walking
again. When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned and looked at him.
“Which one is your room?”

Stopping before a door, Josh turned the handle and stepped inside a
little surprised she’d so readily agreed to his suggestion. “This is the room I
use whenever I stay here.”

Turning towards her, Josh was just in time to see her reach forward,
place her hand on the doorknob and slam the door shut. The only problem with
her action was that they were on different sides of the partition. Through the
closed door, he heard her shout, “I’m taking the room furthest away from this
one!”

Unable to help himself, he laughed out loud. He should have known better
than to expect her agreement to his outlandish suggestion. For a moment in his
eagerness, he’d forgotten he was dealing with Lux, who knew him all too well.

****

The bedroom she selected was as lovely as the rest of the house and Lux
immediately felt at ease. What drew her attention was the size of the bed, it
was huge. It was one of the things she’d noticed as Josh showed her around. At
further thought, Lux supposed this wasn’t so odd given the size of the Kingdom
men.

Although she’d told Josh she was taking the room furthest away from his,
there were only two doors on this part of the house, and they were quite a
distance apart. Still exploring, Lux was surprised when a knock came from a
door in the middle of a paneled wall.

Pulling it open, she saw Josh standing on the threshold of a bathroom,
shirtless and smiling. “Here’s your bag, don’t take too long unpacking, I’m as
hungry as hell and you know I can’t cook.”

“What are you doing in my bathroom?”

“That would be
our
bathroom, Luxandria,” he corrected.

“Show me, because I don’t believe there is only one bathroom.”

“By all means, please feel free to take a look. I was just about to get
out of the rest of my clothes. I hope you don’t mind if I continue.” True to his
word, he pulled down the zipper of his pants with deliberate slowness. Placing
his hands inside his underwear, he began to lower both items of clothing.

Lux couldn’t help it, she stared. There was no denying it the man was a
prime specimen. His big body was ripped, and hard in all the right places; and
Lux felt her mouth begin to water. Even with the slight movement of his hands,
his muscles flexed and hardened. Fascinated by every move, her mouth hung open
in silent appreciation, waiting for the first sight of his completely naked
body.

“Have you changed your mind, Luxandria,” Josh quipped, her eyes now
glued to his dick. “Just say the word, and I’ll take them off, for no other
reason than you look sexy as hell drooling over all this manliness that is me.”

Coming to her senses, Lux snapped her mouth shut, took a step back and
slammed the door in his face for the second time in mere minutes. The sound of
his laughter reached her and Lux sucked her teeth so loudly she knew he heard
her.

Deliberately taking as much time as she dared, she unpacked, showered
and paced around, all to keep him waiting.

By the time she arrived in the kitchen, he was drinking coffee and
munching his way through a packet of cookies.

“You’re a hard woman, Luxandria. How do you expect me to maintain the
physique you love so much if you refuse to feed me?”

“If it’s the last thing I do on this earth, I will teach you how to
cook,” Lux threatened without any real steam.

“I’m willing to learn if you teach me, but I think you should know, mastering
any culinary skills will probably take me a really long time.”

Rolling her eyes, Lux moved to the fridge to see what she could find to
prepare a meal. Knowing instinctively Jason ate as much as his brother, she
hoped the place was well stocked.

All she found was cheese, beer, and two bottles of champagne. A little
disappointed, she looked over at Josh. “Seems like you’re out of luck unless
you want some cheese with your cookies,” Lux told him with a shrug.

“You have got to be kidding me!”

“Straight up, nothing.” Turning to look at him, she smiled. She wasn’t
really in the mood for cooking. She knew what she really wanted. “I say we go
out.”

Josh looked over at her as he raised an eyebrow and sighed.
“Cheeseburger?”

“You got it! Cheeseburger, fries and a huge whopping great chocolate
milkshake.”

“I’m not sure why you sound so excited because I know you haven’t been
living on Bouvet.”

“Boo what?”

“Not what, where, B-O-U-V-E-T,” Josh spelled it out. “It’s a remote
island in the South Atlantic Ocean–”

“Joshua, I don’t care! Jesus, I forgot what a complete geek you can be.”

A blush rose to his face and Lux had an almost overwhelming urge to hug
him because he looked so adorable. Shaking her head as she realized the
direction of her thoughts, she took a couple of steps backward. He was way too
attractive for her to let her guard down even for a moment.

Even through his embarrassment, something of her feelings must have
registered because he broke out in a big grin.

“Do you want to kiss me, Luxandria because if you do, I’m game?”

This was the Josh she remembered. The man who had so many facets, all of
which she loved. One moment she wanted to kill him and the next, she wanted
nothing more than to feel their arms around each other.

Shaking her head at the disturbing thought, she headed for the door.
“You can just go ahead and kiss my ass!”

“With pleasure, Peaches. You already know how much I love your ass.”

Rolling her eyes, Lux didn’t stop. She wasn’t touching that comment with
a barge-pole or the conversation would spiral out of control.

“You’re right, of course, Peaches. Dinner first, dessert later.”

The fast food was everything she remembered and then some. Of course, he
was right, she’d had her fair share of burgers in Trinidad, but they in no way
compared to the ones in the United States.

Replete, Lux reclined in her seat as Josh drove them back to the house.
At some point, it had started to rain. For some reason, her eyes latched on to
the back and forth movement of the windshield wipers and she soon became lost
in thought.

The first time she realized something was amiss was when Josh pulled the
car to a stop at the side of the road.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think we’ve got a flat,” Josh replied cutting the engine and reaching
over to open the door. Muttering something or other about flats and where he
wanted to shove them. Still speaking to himself he ducked out into the
downpour.

From what she could see, the rain was coming down in torrents that
almost fell diagonally due to the force of the howling wind.

“Can I help?”

“Just stay put, I’ve got this,” he assured, slamming the door closed.

Lux wanted to get out and help but knew she would probably be more of a
hindrance than any real help. She could hardly see him as she peered out the
window. As he went through the motions of changing the tire all she could do
was wait; feeling a little guilty as it was her suggestion they go out to eat.

Soon, the door reopened and Josh folded himself into the driver’s seat.
Hair plastered to his head, rain water literally dripped from the end of his
nose. Pulling her scarf from around her neck, Lux reached over and placed it
across his shoulders. With infinite care, she set about first wiping his face
dry and then rubbing the wool across his hair.

Josh allowed her to administer to him. Lux was so engrossed in her task
she didn’t realize how still he’d become. When she finally looked at him, his
face showed so much passion it stunned her. Licking her suddenly dry lips, she
left the wet scarf where it was and shuffled back into her own seat.

The man was dangerous. How someone of his size managed to be so cute she
had no idea. Yes, he was huge, strong, handsome and so many other adjectives.
But to her, he was one of the cutest men she’d ever come across. It probably
had something to do with the way he looked after her. Or maybe it was just the
way he always appeared to relish her touch. He was like a big cat that loved to
be stroked and petted. Whatever it was, in her book it equated to cute and it
never failed to pull at her heart.

“There, that’s better.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Don’t even give it another thought. I would have done
the same thing for anyone; even a complete stranger that I’d never met before.”
If she had the room, Lux would have put her foot in her mouth to shut herself
up.

Josh didn’t respond to her ramblings. The look in his eyes intensified
and that’s when Lux knew she was in big trouble. It was also at this point, her
mind devoid of rational thought began to analyze the emotion that was slowly
making itself know. It was a feeling of contentment. With awareness of the
direction of her thoughts, she stiffened.