Page 29 of So That Happened
‘I won’t point and laugh.’
‘Are you sure? You haven’t set up a camera out here, hoping to record my shame, have you?’
‘No. Stop being so paranoid and get on with it.’
Her face was already pink with anticipated embarrassment, but there was a glimmer of mirth in her eyes again.
Was she going to do it? Or would she wimp out? He had no idea which way this would go.
He was about to find out.
Screwing her eyes up tightly, she took a deep breath, pushed back her shoulders and let rip, bellowing a long and truly comprehensive list of dirty words into the sky.
Birds rose into the air in a distant field, startled by the noise.
She turned back to him and he gave her an awestruck nod. ‘Impressive.’
Her face was bright red and her chest heaved as she gasped breath back into her body, but she beamed with pleasure, her eyes alive and clear, and at that moment he thought she looked like the most beautiful woman on earth. His heart hammered in his chest and his hands twitched at his sides. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss those soft-looking lips, draw out the remaining poison of her humiliation and set her free.
* * *
Josie couldn’t quite believe she’d just yelled a string of profanities into the tranquillity of the French landscape. What was happening to her? She felt strangely light and floaty, as if she’d broken free of something. She felt good. Better than she had in a very long time.
‘Pretty rushy, huh? That’s the serotonin kicking in,’ Connor said, his voice strangely rough and deep.
‘Whatever it is, I want more,’ she said, giving him a grin, no longer worried about embarrassing herself. She figured she’d stepped waaay over that line already.
‘Me first, then you again,’ he said, holding up a hand before tipping his face to the sky and yelling his own wide-ranging string of racy expletives into the air, fists clenched at his sides.
He looked back at her, his eyes alive with laughter and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
‘Your turn.’
‘Okay.’ She took a step back, taking a run-up. ‘These are for you, Connor.’ She took a deep breath, braced her hands against the fence, and belted out all the words she’d called him in her head since he’d gatecrashed her holiday.
When she finally looked back at him, he was clearly trying not to laugh.
‘Feel better?’ he asked.
‘Actually, I do.’ She was shocked to find she was actually having fun.
‘It’s good to let go of that tension, right?’
‘Yes, Dr Preston.’
He chuckled at that, the intensity in his bright blue eyes making her insides jump.
‘Well, you need to get rid of that anger somehow. I’m guessing that’s what gives you all that nervous energy.’
He took a step closer to her, triggering an immediate explosion of excitement deep inside her body. ‘You need an outlet, but working hard obviously isn’t doing it for you.’
She took a step away from him, uncomfortable with both her physical reaction and his sudden change of conversational direction. ‘Go on, then, give me your conclusion, Herr Freud,’ she said, bracing herself for some more home truths. He seemed to think he knew her better than she knew herself, but there was so much she hadn’t told him. Maybe if everything were out in the open, she’d be able to stop dodging his probing comments.
He dipped his head thoughtfully. ‘What’s it like, living under your sister’s shadow?’
His question rattled her, but she knew there was no backing away from it. ‘You think you’ve got me pegged, don’t you?’
He ignored her.
