Page 81 of A Lucky Shot

Josh clenched his jaw. Fuck that guy. If he’d have been there with her, he’d have rearranged that asshole’s teeth.

If he’d have been there with her, she wouldn’t be meeting up with the asshole and getting her self-esteem dunked on in the first place. Fuck. He thumbed the car’s start button. “Time to get you home.”

“Why am I never enough for them?”

The words floated to him, and his heart clenched in his chest. He thought back to what he’d so callously said months ago. Ever think you just make them want more? He’d almost been right.

“Maybe you make them realize they want more, because you show them what more could look like.”

He stroked her arm, her head resting on his shoulder. Everything about her was so feminine. The fleshiness of her body, how it fit so perfectly against his that night they spent together. Even here in the car, her every curve soft against his angles as she sprawled over the console. Her melodic voice, so gentle and kind, even when he was being an asshole to everyone around them. The way she smelled, sweet and flowery and utterly intoxicating.

He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. “You make them realize they want to be better men. They’re just not smart enough to figure that out until you’re gone.”

“That’s a nice thought,” she murmured after a moment, and sniffed.

The more he got to know her, the more he thought he might have found the answer. People realized who they were, what they wanted, but only after the ship had sailed. Leaving Cass waiting on the docks, watching someone embark on a new adventure that she prepared them for.

“You know the worst part? I could have had a good time tonight if I hadn’t tried to meet this guy,” Cass slurred against his shoulder. “I set this date up at the last minute to make an excuse to not go out with Nick.”

Josh jerked on the brakes a little too hard as his insides curdled. “Nick texted again?”

“Right on time. Just when I start to feel like he might have forgotten about me, he texts me this afternoon.” Cass tipped against him. “‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!’” she quoted with a mirthless giggle. “I asked Libby to hide my phone, but she wouldn’t. I panicked and messaged three Tinder guys. Should have just gone with the devil I knew instead of the devil I didn’t.”

So, this fuckknob, that he had swiped for her, was the one who had made her feel like this. Josh didn’t know if he or the other dude was the bigger asshole.

No, he did know. Leo, who was blinder than he was stupid. But I’m right behind in second place.

“You’re not about to cry on me, are you?” he asked, tense.

“Nope. You don’t make me cry. You don’t make me suffer, remember?”

Don’t I, though?

“I wish I could have just gone out with you. I like you, and I think you like me, but you have other more important things going on and well, here we are,” she rambled, hand waving in circles and nearly turning on the windshield wipers.

The words cut. She was right. On both counts. He did like her. A lot more than he was comfortable admitting. This sending her out with a parade of assholes to forget another asshole … it seemed reasonable at the time. Now it just flamed a possessive streak he didn’t know he had.

But she was also right that he couldn’t be with her. He didn’t commit to one person for a lot of reasons, and his attention needing to be focused on this film was only one of them. For the first time he could remember in years, he wanted to rearrange those priorities, but he was miles away from being able to do that.

Instead, he snatched her hand out of the air and tucked it back into his. “But you didn’t call Nick. That’s progress.”

“If I would have called Nick, tomorrow still would have sucked, but at least tonight would have been fun. Someone would have told me I was beautiful.” Cass turned an imploring look at him with unfocussed eyes. “Can you please tell me I’m beautiful? I really need that right now.”

Cass was beyond beautiful. She was charming, sweet, and did impossible things to his brain. She lit up the room whenever she entered and brought the best out in everyone around her. Even him. She was soft and gorgeous and had a laugh that cleansed his soul. She was brilliant and beautiful and …

“You are a vision,” he whispered into her hair, pulling her out of his car and onto the snowy sidewalk. “Come on. We’re home.”

Cass dropped her keys twice up the steps to her apartment and leaned on him all the way up the short elevator ride, then forgotten her keys were already in her hand by the time they were down the hall. Josh unlocked the door, left her keys on the only bare spot on the kitchen counter, and maneuvered her into a chair half-buried under clothes. Even this sauced, she moved with a fluid grace that made her descent into the chair look choreographed to a silent song instead of a drunken stumble.

He zipped her out of her jacket, then knelt at her feet, tugging off her boots one at a time. He circled his thumb over the curve of her ankle. “You are going to be in a world of hurt tomorrow.”

Cass giggled, head lolling to the side. “Maybe you can kiss it better.”

Oh, shit. Worse than weepy drunk was horny drunk.

In this light, this close, her hazel eyes looked like the golden hour, flecked with green jewels across a stormy sea. Cass transfixed him with her stare, reaching out with light fingertips to caress the angle of his jaw. “I liked kissing you. Did you like kissing me?”

Josh’s insides melted. Yeah, he did. Her lips had felt so good on his that night. The feel of her body yielding under the pressure of his mouth, how she’d responded to his every claim, wherever he deigned to taste.

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