Page 31 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Fourteen
JOSH SPENT THE afternoon dealing with buyers, meeting with his accountant, and taking phone calls. He watched the minutes tick by, the phone pressed to his ear.
“There’s just one more thing I want to say,” Peter Stafford said.
Josh had been on the phone with Peter for the past twenty minutes, and he was anxious to wrap up their conversation.
“Josh, I’m sorry for appearingforward with Riley Banks. I wasn’t myself that evening,” Peter said. “And I’m afraid I embarrassed myself.”
It had been Peter’s interference that had sprung Josh into action. He was glad for the push, but he wasn’t about to let Peter know that.Never let a business associate have the upper hand—another of Treat’s lessons.
“I thought something was a bit…off,” Josh said.
“You have my sincerestapologies, and if I made Riley uncomfortable, I am truly and deeply sorry. I will apologize to her when I see her at the meeting after the New Year.”
Josh waited for Peter to elaborate on why he’d gone down that road with Riley, and when he didn’t, Josh let it drop. He accepted Peter’s apology, and by the time he came up for air, it was six forty-five.
He went to the design studio and was surprisedto find that Riley and most of the staff had already left for the evening. With fifteen unspoken-for minutes before his conference call, he headed back to his office and called Riley’s cell.
“How’s my secret girlfriend?”Girlfriend.He liked that.
“Tired and cranky,” she said.
“Too tired to see me?”
“No way. You can take my crankiness away,” she said.
He loved her honesty. “Does your crankinesshave something to do with Claudia’s pawing me this afternoon?”
“I must sound like a whiny, jealous girlfriend, don’t I? I’m really not. I swear. But there’s something about her that I just don’t trust,” she said.
“That makes two of us,” Josh said. “Do you trust me?”
Riley waited a beat too long to answer.
“Ri?” Josh had been so young when his mother died, and he’d watched his father remaintrue to her year after year, both of which had driven him to be more careful with his emotions. He’d craved the same powerful love as he’d watched his father harbor, believing that if he did all the right things, then one day he’d have that same amount of love for a woman. Even as a teenager, he’d been able to control those urges, to analyze his feelings, and if he hadn’t felt something bigger thanlust for a girl, he hadn’t taken her to bed. Josh knew he was different in that way, but he always imagined that when the right girl came around, she’d respect that about him and appreciate it. It was time for Riley to get to know him better and understand the man he’d always been.
“I do trust you, Josh. But I don’t know much about your life in New York, so I have no idea what things were likebefore me.”
Josh took a deep breath and sat on the leather couch facing a wall of windows behind his desk. He stretched his long legs out and leaned back, glancing at his watch. They had only minutes; it was not nearly enough time to say the things he wanted to say. Instead, he simply replied, “Don’t believe everything you think, Ri, okay?” He wished she were beside him, snuggled in beneath hisarm so he could kiss the top of her head and explain his past.
“How do you know what I think?” she asked.
“I know what people think. Trust me, Ri. Tonight we’ll talk.” A knock on his door caught his attention. “I gotta run. I’ve got a call at seven, but I’ll be there at eight, okay?” The door opened slowly and Claudia came in.
“Have a sec?” Claudia asked.
Josh held up one finger. “Eight?”he said into the phone, feeling a bit like a bug caught in a spider’s web. He really wanted to tell Claudia about him and Riley, just to remove the secrecy and tension. The knots in his shoulders were nothing compared to the wrath Claudia could unleash once she found out about them.Maybe I should have terminated her ages ago.His loyalty to Peter was like a noose around his neck that he’d neverminded until Riley came back into his life.
“Sure.” Riley’s voice was almost a whisper. Then the line went dead.
Josh stood and ran his hand through his hair. Running on little sleep had left him fatigued, and he needed a hot shower—and time with Riley.
“I’ve got a call in two minutes. Is it quick?” he asked.
Claudia flashed an unusually warm smile, sending a chill of worry up his back.
“I’ll come back. I have some work to do anyway.” She closed the door on her way out, and Josh breathed a sigh of relief—for the moment.
