Page 22 of Sheltered By the Surly Forester

"Yes."

"I'm not quite sure. I would imagine she was passing through and you got to talking, and she decided to stay a while." He chuckles deeply. "Our town is just so darned wonderful that everyone wants to live here once they get a good look at it, right? I assume your lovely lady friend felt the same."

"Thanks, James. Talk soon."

"Have a good one."

Josh sets the phone aside, then begins rubbing my back gently. "Stay, Emie. Of course there are going to be a few little hiccups at the beginning of any relationship. But I really want you to stay."

Why do his beautiful green eyes have to be so magical? I want to say yes. I want to get our hopes up. Yet that is irresponsible and wrong – not to mention, I'm not sure if I could live with the pressure of everyone's judgment. What would all the local women think if an outsider strolled in and snapped up one of the precious Wolfe boys?

It's a lot of baggage for a relationship that's only a few days old.

"Give me forty-eight hours." Josh nods as if that will make me agree with him. "I won't do anything different or special that I wouldn't do every day of our lives together. Let's just explore what things could be like if you stayed with me."

Two days of pretending this relationship doesn't have a ticking time bomb attached to it? From the way his thigh moves under me, his strong fingers gently kneading my shoulder, I have to give in. "Okay. Test drive. Let's see what happens."

He grins, then grabs the remote. "Movie?"

We watch an action superhero flick, but I can't pay attention to the plot, since I keep dozing off, snuggled into his warm shoulder.

When I wake up with a start, the clock says three in the morning. Looking around, I'm in the guestroom, my arm around a pillow, and an extra blanket over my legs.

Wow. He's giving me space.

Josh already seems to understand what I need.

Which makes me want to keep my mindwideopen for the next two days.

13

JOSH

On the surface, everything is normal. Well, normal compared to two days ago.

Two weeks ago, normal for me would be eating something plain while lost in a book, not even aware of how lonely I was. Normal for Emie and me up till now would be teasing about who should be resting or working harder. Constantly getting to know little details about each others’ childhoods.

Now everything feels…brittle. Too careful. As if we're thinking before we speak.

Tiptoeing around each other is not a great relationship. Emie deserves nothing less than great.

After lunch, we load the dishwasher and tidy up the kitchen. I can't stay away from her any longer. Grabbing a dishcloth, I stand right behind her as if she wasn't there, wiping the counter all around her.

Emie dissolves into fits of giggles, then spins to look up at me. "How do you think both of us doing the same job at once is efficient?"

"I'm not going for efficiency. I'm here for my own amusement."

I toss the cloth into the sink, then grab her hips, giving her a bit of a shake. "What do you think about going over the town council presentation together?"

"Sure…" She sounds hesitant. I watch as her eyes flick to her phone, then the rain that's just starting outside. "I was thinking about getting a little fresh air. Taking a short walk."

I don't want her to feel tense around me. Holding her against my chest, I murmur across the top of her hair, "Baby, if you need to make a call to your Colorado friends, I’m happy to get out of your way."

Her chin tips up. "How do you always know the exact perfect thing to say?"

I smile, hoping that I'm keeping the stress out of my eyes. "I don't want you to think of this as a competition. You should do whatever feels right for you, baby. Go with your heart."

Her quizzical look is indecipherable. She takes my hand and leads me to the dining room, where we proceed to go over every detail of the presentation. Emie still seems to think that we're asking for the town council’s permission and need their approval.

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