Page 49 of You Rock My World
The lingering scrutiny must give away my thoughts seeing how she’s blushing when I finally meet her gaze.
“Hi,” Josie says, eyes sparkling.
I step forward and wrap her in a hug. She leans into me without hesitation, her arms sliding around my waist, and I allow myself to inhale the salty, floral scent of her shampoo.
“I’m glad you’re here.” My lips graze the shell of her ear. “I missed you.”
“Me too,” she whispers, looking up at me. “I couldn’t wait to see you.”
“I might need to give you more work,” I tease, dropping my hand to the small of her back as I guide her across the house. “I can’t go another day without an excuse to see you.”
Josie beams up at me, her smile radiant. “Are you canceling the last part of the tour and haven’t told me?”
“No. But it’s the least excited I’ve been to be on the road in a long time. I hate that I’m leaving right after the VMAs, so soon after reconnecting with you.”
A small, shy nod is her only response. As we step on the patio, Josie’s eyes light up even more as she takes in the romantic setting.
“Dorian, this is…” She trails off, seemingly at a loss for words. I pull out her chair, and she sits, smiling as she surveys the spread of appetizers. “This is amazing,” she finally manages.
“I have to turn on the oven for the main course.” I step back. “Don’t steal the good stuff while I’m gone.”
Josie’s answering laugh follows me into the house. When I return a few minutes later with a pitcher of iced water, I stop mid-step. Josie freezes, wide-eyed, caught red-handed with a half-eaten stuffed mushroom in her hand.
“I couldn’t help it,” she mumbles around the bite, her cheeks adorably puffed with food. “I’m starving.”
I set the pitcher down, shaking my head in mock-disapproval. “Did you eat something sensible for lunch, or was it snacks out of your bag again?”
Josie swallows her bite, her expression shifting to sheepishness. “Guilty,” she admits. “I wanted to catch up with my tech clients and didn’t take a lunch break.”
“One day,” I say, sitting by her side at the round table so we both have a view, “I’m confiscating the purse food. Consider it an intervention.”
She laughs. “Good luck prying it away from me. I might bite.”
“I might like it.” I wink at her, then pour her a glass of water she looks like she could use, seeing how she’s coughing after my teasing comment.
Once she’s recovered, I move the appetizers closer to her. “Let’s make sure you don’t starve tonight, at least.”
Josie pops another canapé in her mouth whole, moaning as she bites down on it. That sound does weird things to my chest, and I grab the table so hard my knuckles turn white.
It’s good to wait, I remind myself. Not to throw the entire spread of food on the floor, sit Josie on the table, and feast on her instead.
I shake the mental image away, not what tonight is about. Tonight is about getting to know each other better.
“Tell me about your art.” I take a sip of water to cool the heat spreading through my body. “Have you always had a passion for drawing? What were you illustrating the other night when I called?”
The question earns me a big smile and a dance of freckles. “After telling Penny a bedtime story, I went home and felt this urge to bring it to life. The characters were begging me to give them form.”
“For me, it’s the same with songs. What was the story about?”
She glances down at her plate with a nonchalant shrug. “Merpeople.”
“Ah. Was a tattooed merman included, by any chance?”
Josie groans, covering her face with her hands. “Ugh, Penny and her big mouth. I swear, that girl…”
“I should spend more time with your niece.” I wipe my mouth on the cloth napkin before taking another sip of water. “Get all the dirt on her favorite aunt.”
“Do you really mean that? My family wasn’t too much the other night?”
