The Substitute (27 page)

He had her close within a minute, but she held on, fighting her release, wanting it to last, wanting to come with him. His hand covered her breast, his thumb and finger pinching her nipple, and it was enough to push her over the edge. She cried out, her fingers digging into his back as his movements grew more frantic, and he came too, pushing hard against her as he groaned.

He collapsed on top of her, unhooking her leg and rolling to his side, bringing her with him. He kissed her, his tongue seeking hers out, his hand tangling in her hair.

“This is some honeymoon we’re having,” she grinned against his lips.

“You, Megan Vandemeer, are absolutely perfect.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she said with a laugh.

“This is exactly what I mean,” he said, pulling back to look into her eyes. “We just did…
this
—and now we’re laughing.”

“You can’t say sex, Josh?” she teased. “You really
are
a prude.”

“
This
was not mere sex, Megan, and you know it. This doesn’t even come close to anything I’ve ever experienced before.” Some indeterminable emotion flickered in his eyes before fading. “But maybe it’s not like that for you.”

She shook her head in amazement. “My reaction five minutes ago didn’t make it clear enough? This is not the norm for me—not that I sleep around.”

“Neither do I.”

“I’ve never…” Her words trailed off as she rested her hand lightly on his cheek, her thumb tracing the outline of his bottom lip. This thing between them was special. It was worth saving. “Maybe we should just tell my mom everything and let the chips fall where they may.”

Indecision flickered in his eyes. “You would really do that?”

“Stand up to my mother?”

“And tell her the truth. Can you do that and live with the consequences?”

She pulled back slightly. “What does that mean?”

“If your mother walked in right now and you told her everything, what do you think she would do?”

“First of all, she would flip out to find us sideways like this.
Normal people have sex parallel to the edge of the bed, Megan,
” she mocked. “
Not perpendicular
.”

He placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing along her collarbone as he offered her a tentative smile. “And after that,” he prodded. “What would she say then?”

She shuddered. “It wouldn’t be good.”

“Yes, I guessed as much. But what exactly would she do?”

“She would disown me and ban my father and brother and Gram from ever speaking to me again.”

“She would really do that?”

“She’s done that exact same thing for lesser offenses. She has a sister. When I was in middle school, they had a stupid fight. Mom said it was over which toilet paper was better, of all things, but they haven’t spoken since. Gram doesn’t even mention her around my mother. And whenever I asked Gram about it, she would just say it wasn’t her story to tell. That it was up to my mom if she wanted to tell me about it someday.” She shook her head “Who could disown their own sister over something so ridiculous?”

Josh stared at her in shock.

“I know what you’re thinking.” She propped up on one elbow. “Why would I care what she thinks? But I don’t want to lose my entire family. I love my dad and my brother. And while I know Gram would still call me, I’d never see her now that she’s living with my parents. My father…he loves me but I’m not sure he loves me
enough
.” She sat up, anxiety forming a ball in the pit of her stomach. “To tell her everything would make me an orphan in every sense of the word.”

He sat up next to her, taking her hand between both of his. “And what’s the very
best
-case outcome from all of this?”

“Best-case? That we would get married tomorrow with them still thinking you’re Jay.” She shook her head and pushed out her frustration with a heavy breath. “But since I don’t see you changing your last name in the near future, the far more likely best-case scenario is that you break up with me tonight and my mother spends the rest of her life shaming me. Every Thanksgiving I come home, I’ll still hear that I single-handedly lost them fifty thousand dollars.” She shrugged. “But at least I’ll still have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner.”

No, Megan would have to find another solution to this problem, but as she stared into Josh’s worried face, she wasn’t sure there was one. And she only had herself to blame.

Josh had to admit that the odds were stacked against them. Megan would have to throw her entire family away simply to take a chance on him. They hardly knew each other, but he knew enough to think she might be
the one
.

He thought back to something his father told him back when he was a sophomore in high school. His long-time crush had just broken his heart by refusing his invitation to the homecoming dance, so his father had brought him out for pizza. They’d talked about anything and everything else until they were halfway through their pie, and then all his father had said was, “There are lots of girls out there, Joshy. You’ll probably date a bunch of them. Or maybe you’ll only date a few. But one day, you’ll find
the one
.” He’d given Josh an all-knowing smile and wiped his hands on a napkin. “It will probably knock you over when you least expect it. At least that’s what happened with me. Your mother walked into my Biology 101 lab in college and there was something about her that made me take notice. We were lab partners and I could hardly focus on what we needed to do. I asked her out before we left the room. We were engaged a year later, but I knew right away I’d marry her someday. And every day I spent with her only made me more certain. She’d look at me in this special way…and my heart would melt. I wanted to make all her dreams come true and you know what? I’ve spent my life trying. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love your mother and I never will.” And with that, his father had picked up another slice of pizza. “Someday you’ll find the one. And I can’t wait to meet her once you do.”

Josh had blown off his father’s words, thinking his father couldn’t possibly understand what he was going through. But now he knew…and it saddened him that his father would never meet Megan.

But the memory of his father’s words gave him renewed determination. “So you’re really going to break up with me tonight?”

She shook her head slowly. “No.
You’re
going to break up with
me
.” Tears filled her eyes and she stood. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I want the rest of our time together to be happy.”

He stood and pulled her into his arms. They had so many strikes against them, but he still held on to a slender thread of hope. “Okay.”

She forced a smile. “So for today, let’s pretend like we have forever and avoid thinking about what happens tonight. Happy memories. Agreed?”

He smiled softly at her. “Yes.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged, her smile turning genuine and playful. “Now come take a shower with me.”

“Okay, but I’m warning you now that I like really hot water.”

Her eyes twinkled with wicked delight. “No cold showers for you. I can live with that. But I don’t think you’ll need one today.”

He laughed, but his heart was still aching, reminding him that there were plenty of cold showers in his foreseeable future.

At first he thought it might be impossible to recapture their earlier playfulness, but it slipped on easily when he was with her. They took turns washing each other, laughing about Josh confusing her shower gel for conditioner, then kissed until the water turned cold. Megan shrieked, still in the process of shaving her legs. He teased her, saying pioneer women had shaved in less favorable conditions, and she ordered him to get out.

“You know that you’re actually doing me a favor, right?” he laughed. “I already told you how I feel about cold showers.”

“Well in that case, I insist you stay.”

He laughed and stepped to the back of the tub.

She looked up in surprise, her wet hair hanging in her face. “You’re actually going to stay?”

“I take my fake marriage vows very seriously, Megan Vandemeer. Your wish is my command.” He grinned and crossed his arms, pressing his back against the wall to keep out of the way of the stream of cool water.

She chuckled and returned her attention to shaving. The sight of her nude form bent over her long legs stirred him again. Good God, how many times could he have sex in a twenty-four-hour period?

She giggled. “I wasn’t aware that marriage vows included staying in cold showers.”

“My fake marriage vows contain many unconventional promises.”

Her gaze returned to him, stopping mid-stroke with her razor. “And what would those be?”

He shrugged, grimacing with mock apology. “You’d have to marry me to find out.”

She finished with her leg and stood up, turning toward him with a seductive look in her eyes.

God, he wanted her.

Her eyes dropped down to his growing erection, then shot back up to his face. “Your vows include cold showers?” Her voice was deeper, thick with desire.

“Possibly.”

She placed her hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes, but the teasing glint in her gaze told him it wasn’t foreplay. “Then you won’t mind this.”

Before he realized what she was doing, she grabbed the detachable showerhead off the wall and sprayed him with cold water.

He yelled and tried to jump out of the tub, but she grabbed his arm, laughing. “I thought your vows included taking cold showers with me.”

“Then after we exchange our fake marriage vows, I’ll be happy to comply. I can’t give up the milk before the wedding,” he laughed. “Otherwise you wouldn’t need to buy the cow.”

She broke into giggles. “I bought a water buffalo last Christmas through Heifer International, so technically, I already own one.”

He pulled the shower handle from her with one hand and pulled her to his chest with the other. “Then that would make you a bovine bigamist, Ms. Vandemeer.”

She eyed the shower nozzle, which Josh had pointed toward the tile wall. “What are you going to do with that?”

He waggled his eyebrows. “If I were an eye for an eye type of guy, I’d hold you down and spray you.”

“And if you weren’t…?” A hopeful look crossed her face.

“I guess you’ll never find out.” He turned the water on her for a couple of seconds until she shrieked. Then, still holding her, he turned her sideways and reached for the faucet, turning off the water but leaving the showerhead dangling from the wall.

“You’ll pay for that,” she said between giggles.

He pressed her back against the tile and kissed her, playfulness turning to passion. Releasing the hold on her wrist, he pressed his palm against hers, interlacing their fingers. He pushed her arm against the wall while her free hand slid into his wet hair, holding him close. His erection pressed against her abdomen and she reached for him, stroking his shaft.

“You’re a very resilient man,” she grinned against his lips.

“Only with you,” his voice deepened.

He reached between her legs and she gasped. “You really want to do this again?” she asked, spreading her legs wider for him.

He sucked in breath, telling himself to slow down, but Megan seemed to have other ideas. “I told you that I had a hard time deciding between having you in the shower or on the bed. This is what I call a win/win situation.”

“So you like to have your cake and eat it too?”

He dropped her hand, then cupped her ass and lifted her higher on the wall. “I
definitely
love cake.”

His mouth found hers as she helped guide him into her. She looped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, holding on as he began to move.

“Do you have any idea how much you turn me on?” he asked as he pushed inside her.

She tilted her pelvis to take him deeper. “I have a pretty good idea,” she said, breathlessly.

Neither one of them lasted long. Her soft whimpers nearly pushed him over the edge, but he held on until she came too. When she cried out and tightened around him, he buried his face into her neck and dug his fingers into her ass cheeks as he plunged deep and hard inside her before coming.

He leaned against her and she started to laugh softly in his ear. “If that flight attendant knew how amazing you are, she probably would have fought harder to keep you.”

He nuzzled her neck, making her squirm. “She never had me. You had my full attention on that flight.”

“And now?” she asked.

He arched back to look into her face. “I’m all yours, Megan.”

“Lucky me.” She gave him a sweet smile and he marveled that she was such a chameleon—soft and vulnerable one minute, mischievous then next, then seductive and sexy.

Her eyes, focusing on something behind him, widened in horror, so he looked over his shoulder to see what had startled her. Gram was staring at them through the partially cracked shower curtain, holding up a small camera.

“I knew he’d have a nice patootie,” the older woman said.

Her words jarred Megan from her trance. “Gram! What are you doing in here? Did you take
pictures?
”

“I heard all that banging and moaning. I thought we had a ghost. I wanted to get a picture of it. I figured we had a chance to be on that ghost show
The Dead Files
.”

“We don’t have a ghost! Get out of here, Gram!”

“Can I just get one picture of Josh’s ass?”

“No!”

Josh came to his senses and jerked the shower curtain shut, turning to face Megan. “How much do you think she saw?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see your backside drawn in charcoal and taped to her wall.”

“Oh, God…”

She laughed. “It could be worse. She could have seen the front.”

“If your grandmother is home, does that mean your mother is? Doesn’t she usually take her everywhere?”

Her amusement disappeared. “Oh, no…”

He dropped his hold on her and she slid down the wall. Desperate to comfort her, he said, “I don’t think she’s here, Meggie. From what she said on her voice mail, she had a very full morning.”