Stacey Joy Netzel Boxed Set (10 page)

“Hot chocolate sounds good, but I’d like to
change into something more comfortable first.”

“Sure.”

He carried my bag across the living room and
I followed him into the darkened hallway he’d disappeared down
earlier. Once through a doorway to the left, he flipped on the
light switch to reveal a bedroom decorated in hunter green and
burgundy. Damn, the man looked good as he set my stuff on the
roomy, queen-sized bed. I swallowed hard as I joined him next to
the bed, but he retreated back to the hall and started to pull the
door closed.

“Bathroom’s across the hall here—holler if
you need anything.”

“Thanks.”

I sank onto the bed as the door clicked
shut. What the heck was I doing? I mean, for a split second, I’d
actually considered pushing him down to have my way with him.
Geesh! Where was the old Summer Clark when I needed her? I pressed
my hands to my heated face and took a couple deep breaths to make
my heart rate return to normal.

After zipping open my bag, I ignored my
silky pajama set and changed into a pair of black cotton exercise
Capri’s and my old dark gray sweatshirt. Then I scooped up my
cosmetics bag and dashed into the bathroom. A firm admonishment to
my mirror self to heed Jenna’s warning made it easier to resist the
urge to touch up my makeup and add lip gloss.

Instead, I washed my face and stared into
the mirror at my shiny, make-up free complexion. That should help.
And he’d definitely know I wasn’t in any way trying to impress him.
I pulled my long, layered locks off my face into a messy ponytail,
brushed my teeth (just in case), and returned to the living
room.

Josh stood at the stove, stirring a wooden
spoon round and round a pot. On the counter sat a couple of ceramic
mugs, a half-empty gallon of milk, and bottle of Hershey’s
Chocolate.
Mmm
. He was making the good stuff. Having grown
up with the powdered kind in water, I licked my lips in
anticipation of the creamy smoothness of milk and real
chocolate.

My heart leapt into my throat when he
turned, but after no more than a quick sweep of his gaze down and
up, he returned his attention to the stove. Mission accomplished.
So why the disappointment as my heart dropped back into place? And
the wish that I’d left my make-up on. Shrugging it off, I started
over to join him, but the cold tile on my bare feet made me
quick-step to the stools by the island counter.

“Who’d have thought I’d need wool socks for
this trip,” I quipped with a self-conscious grin.

He leaned one hip against the stove and kept
stirring. “Want a pair of mine?”

I brushed my fingers over my frozen toes and
a shiver shimmied up my spine. “Would you mind?”

“Of course not. I’ll get them as soon as
this is done.”

I bit the bullet and crossed the floor to
take the spoon from his hand.

He laughed. “Or I could get them now.”

Glancing to the side for the mugs, I noticed
a couple of crayon drawings on his refrigerator. One was stick
figures of what I’d guess to be a dad and son, and the other a
stick figure of a kid jumping into a lake. Again, my best guess.
Curiosity had me making a mental note to figure out a casual way to
ask about them while we drank our hot chocolate. I knew he wasn’t
married, but hadn’t heard him say a thing about kids all night.

I’d filled the mugs and was halfway across
the kitchen when Josh emerged from his room at the end of the hall.
We met in the living room, but he tossed a pair of black wool socks
onto the couch and continued past. I set the hot chocolate on the
coffee table and was pulling on the second soft, warm cocoon when
Josh plopped down on the couch opposite me with a bag of
mini-marshmallows.

“Can’t forget these.”

“Ooh, definitely not,” I agreed. Then I
noticed him smiling at my feet engulfed in his socks. I wiggled my
already warming toes.

“Sexy, hey?”

His gaze lifted, his brown eyes dark and
serious. “Looks good to me.”

“They’re big, but they’re doing the job,” I
said, ignoring my pounding pulse as I kept focus on the socks.
“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

He leaned forward to drop a handful of
marshmallows into his mug and passed me the bag. Once I’d covered
the surface of my hot chocolate with the mini puffs of fluff, I
cradled the mug in my hand and curled my feet under me to sit
facing him. The heated look in his eyes contradicted his seeming
disinterest at the stove and I asked the first thing that came to
my mind.

“How come you’re not married with a couple
kids running around this place?”

Shock registered on his face. Then he gave
an uncomfortable laugh. “Wow, jump right in why don’t you.”

“I just did.” With both feet and no
life-jacket. So much for casual.

He lifted his mug for a sip, clearly
stalling. I took a drink, too, and ignored the heat in my cheeks as
I waited silently. I’m not sure why I’d been so forward, only that
I was very interested to hear his answer. Probably
too
interested, but what the hell.

He watched me lick warm marshmallow goo from
my upper lip before lifting his gaze to mine. “I guess I haven’t
met the right person yet. Sounds like a cop-out, but it’s the
truth.”

The husky tone of his voice melted my
insides like the marshmallows. “Do you want kids?”

I swear, pain flashed in his eyes, but in
one blink it was gone. “Yes. Do you?”

“Yes.”

“So why give the ring back?”

He was talking about my fiancé that Jenna
had mentioned earlier. Sitting there with Josh, it hit me that I
hadn’t broken things off with Brad to keep from getting hurt first.
My relief was so profound, I shared my sudden epiphany without even
realizing I’d spoken out loud. “Wanting a family isn’t a good
enough reason to marry the wrong person.”

“Is there
any
reason good enough if
it’s the wrong person?” Josh asked.

I looked up to see a hint of a smile tugging
at his lips and laughed. “No, none at all.”

After my unexpected ice-breaker, we talked
long after our hot chocolate was nothing but dried residue on the
bottom of our cups. Except for that night in high school, nothing
was off limits. Past relationships, politics, religion, future
dreams, mistakes, successes. Josh was smart and funny, well read
and articulate, and I had the most fun I’d ever had with a guy,
just sitting on his couch.

Until about two a.m. when he teased me about
my preferred genre of reading and movies. I pelted him with one of
the mini-marshmallows I’d been snacking on. “Watch it, buddy.”

He located the marshmallow and popped it in
his mouth with a grin. “I’m just saying, all that hyped-up romance,
and chick flicks in general—”

“There’s nothing hyped about it.” This time
two marshmallows bounced off his forehead. “I would advise you to
stop while you’re ahead.”

He raised his hands in defense as the last
of my ammunition hailed down on his head. I caught a mischievous
glint in his eyes when his gaze darted to the marshmallows on the
edge of the coffee table. My competitive lunge for the bag proved
victorious, but in the process, I fell off the couch onto the floor
and spilled the white treats all over myself. I couldn’t stop
giggling, even after Josh’s failed attempt to secure the bag landed
him on top of me.

“Ahead of what?” he asked through his
laughter.

“My former opinion of you,” I replied
without thinking.

The humor in his eyes died along with the
smile on his lips. We lay there on the floor, body to body, the
night of the Snowball Winter Formal suddenly between us. Like
earlier in the ditch, I read guilt in his expression. Yeah, he knew
what he’d done. Felt bad about it, too. His gaze shifted from mine,
focusing on my hair as he reached to pick out a marshmallow.

And suddenly, I felt bad for making
him
feel bad. How messed up is that?

About as messed up as my reaching up to
grasp the back of his head to pull his mouth down onto mine.

But I’d sensed something else about him
tonight that went beyond him being so darn nice and showing
interest. Maybe it was time I put the past in the past. After all,
it had been so long since that crummy night. I’d forgotten for
awhile, now it was time to forgive.

He was surprised by my actions. I glimpsed
it in his eyes before I closed mine and threw myself into the kiss
I’d waited eleven and a half years for. Seconds later, he got over
his surprise and kissed me back ten times better than I’d ever
imagined. Chocolate and marshmallow tasted even better on his lips
and tongue.

I’m not sure how long we lay on the floor,
kissing like we couldn’t get enough of each other, but I was pretty
hot and bothered by the time he pulled his hand from under my
sweatshirt, pushed up with those spectacular biceps and helped me
off the floor that was only slightly firmer than his body. I’d lost
my ponytail holder at some point, and he brushed my long hair back
to rest his hands on my shoulders.

“I honestly didn’t intend for this to happen
when I offered you a place to stay,” he said softly.

Regret filled his words and expression. My
heart plummeted to my stomach, a sensation I was all too familiar
with from that other long ago night. I stared at the third button
on his shirt and tried to step back, but his fingers tightened. He
shifted one hand to raise my chin with a crooked knuckle.

“I’m not sorry it did.”

“But…?”

He sighed, averted his gaze, and let his
arms fall to his sides. “But…it’s not such a good idea. Asking you
over was selfish on my part—a way to ease my guilt. Jenna was
right, you should stay away.”

So he
had
read that text message. I
made a split second decision, threw caution to the wind and put my
hands on my hips to challenge, “What if I don’t want to?”

His startled gaze flew back to mine.
Clearly, he still thought he was dealing with the old Summer. The
shy girl who’d never held him accountable for deserting her without
a word. While that girl hadn’t been able to work up the courage to
demand an explanation, the woman I’d become was strong enough to go
after what I wanted.

A confused frown had taken over Josh’s
expression. “Why wouldn’t you run the other way? I mean, after what
I did…”

“What’d you do?” I knew what he was talking
about, but after all this time, I wanted to hear him admit it.
Guess it wasn’t quite so easy to forgive and forget.

“I ditched you at the Snowball dance,” he
stated, holding my gaze without flinching. “Never explained. Never
apologized.”

A lump formed in my throat as all the old
hurt resurfaced and threatened to make me cry. But I refused to
shed any more tears over that night. Most especially not in front
of him all these years later. Crossing my arms over my chest, I
jutted out my chin. “Did you have a reason for ditching me beyond
Lyssa’s shoes, or were you really just that much of an ass?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “In addition to
being that much of an ass, I had a reason,” he said softly.

I raised my eyebrows and waited. My heart
began a slow, deep thud as I watched the pain I’d glimpsed earlier
return and sink into the depths of his dark brown eyes...

JOSH NELSEN

I drove down the two lane state highway away
from Silver Falls wishing I’d never replied to my ten year class
reunion invitation. What the hell was I thinking?

It’d been a long, cold day at work unloading
trucks, I was already running late, and now that the day was here,
I really didn’t feel like sitting around with the people I went to
school with reminiscing about the good ol’ days. My last two years
of high school weren’t all that good and there was certainly
nothing worth talking about. In fact, there were definitely a few
subjects I much preferred to avoid.

And by subjects, I meant Summer Clark.

And her cousin, Jenna, who hated me as much
as Summer had a right to.

My cell phone rang on the
seat beside me and I debated answering. Huge, wet snowflakes
slapped onto my truck’s windshield, cutting visibility to less than
a quarter mile. I turned my wipers on high to keep up, and figured
probably not a good idea to mess with the phone. Especially if it
was my mom, who’d only aggravate me with questions like,
“Are you dating anyone
special?”
, or
“When are you going to meet a nice girl and give Zach a
cousin to play with?”

With my sister Meg happily settled into
marriage and parenthood, and since the last of my cousins got
married before this past Christmas, mom had made it her mission to
stick her nose into my love-life every chance she got.

Not that I had a love
life. Hell, I didn’t even have a sex life, but no way in hell I was
telling my mom
that
. And I avoided the subject of myself and kids whenever
possible.

The incessant ring of the phone made me
glance over and I caught Meg’s number. Meg I could deal with.

I tightened my grip on the wheel with my
left hand and grabbed the phone with my right. “Hey, brat, what’s
up?”

“Little brothers are brats, not older
sisters,” she retorted.

I laughed. “I like the older part of
that.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Well, what do you want? I’m on Highway 32,
and in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s snowing.”

“That’s why I called. I mopped today, and
you have a mudroom for a reason. Use it.”

“It’s my house.”

“You have three
options,
brat
.
Clean it yourself. Pay more. Or take off your boots.”

“Mudroom it is.”

“That’s what I thought.”

I ignored her smug tone, especially when she
added, “I left a couple servings of lasagna in your freezer, and
Zach sent over some new pictures—they’re on your fridge.”