Page 35 of Unraveling the Truth About Love
Chapter Sixteen
IT WAS ONE thing for a man Josh’s size to run through Central Park alone at night, but walking through Central Park at night with Riley was a whole different story. He eyed every man who walked by, sizing them up before they got too close. Josh had never had a lick of trouble in the park, but like any New Yorker, he’d heard plenty of stories.
Josh didn’t have a plan for the eveningbeyond dressing in a way that would hopefully render them unrecognizable. He didn’t have a plan for any part of what was happening between him and Riley, but he had faith that they’d have a wonderful night.
“This is so pretty,” Riley said as they strolled along the path that ran through the park.
“This is my favorite bridge. I love how it’s tucked into the park, like a hidden jewel.” They walkedup the gentle arch of the bridge and stopped to admire the water below. Moonlight illuminated the nearly bare trees and danced off the water below Gapstow Bridge.
Riley leaned over the edge and said, “It’s so peaceful compared to the streets. If I close my eyes, I can pretend to be out in the country somewhere.”
“You’d have to work hard to ignore the city noises.” Josh came up behind her, pressedhis body against her back, placing one arm on either side of her. He kissed her neck. “CK One?”
“It’s scary how well you know perfumes.” She turned to face him. “This is so romantic.”
“Lenny’s really pulls it all together,” he teased.
She pressed her hands flat against his chest. “Believe it or not, it does. I just love being with you. I don’t care what we eat or where we go. I like your company.”
He lowered his mouth to hers again, kissing the cold from her lips. Feeling gluttonous for kissing her so often, he pulled away.
“I’m sorry. I could do that all day,” he admitted. “Let’s sit down.”
They walked over the bridge to the edge of the water and sat on the cold grass. Riley leaned against his side, and Josh wrestled with how—or if—he should tell her about Claudia and what had happenedearlier in the evening.
“Do you do this a lot? Come here, I mean?” Riley asked.
“Not anymore. When I first moved to the city, I came about once a week to walk through the park and just enjoy it, but then life got too busy.” He shrugged. “Now I run through it, but I almost never come to just enjoy it.” He squeezed her against him. “That’s why I wanted to bring you here, so we could enjoy it together.”
“I love it. Thank you.”
Josh opened their sandwiches and they began to eat. He was ravenous after running and working all day on nothing more than a few energy bars. He ate half of his sub in a few bites, then leaned back and watched Riley. He hadn’t noticed it the night before, but when she chewed, a dimple appeared just above the right side of her mouth.
She looked away and covered her mouth.
“You’re cute when you eat,” Josh said. The surety of his feelings for her were solidifying with every moment they spent together—and every second they spent apart. He couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Listen, Riley, I really like spending time with you, and I know we haven’t shared our deepest secrets yet, or had any history together to speak of, but I want you to know how I feel.”
She placedher hand on his knee. He covered it with his own and wished she’d never be farther away than she was right then.
“Me too,” she said.
“I want you to know who I am, not who everyone else thinks I am. I’m a really private person.” He saw her eyes grow wide and read the disbelief in her eyes that he’d been expecting. “I know I have a public life, but I’m a private person by nature. You’ve seen thepictures of me with a different girl on my arm at every event, smiling for the camera, often even looking at them like they were special, like they were everything, but that was all a farce. That’s the persona that’s expected of me. I can count on one hand the women I’ve had any sort of real relationship with.”
She dropped her eyes then and bit her lower lip. “Was Claudia one of those women?”
“I told you she wasn’t, and she’ll never be.” He touched her cheek and held her gaze. “Not once, not ever.”
She nodded. “Okay. I believe you.”
“I’ve dated three women for five or six months, and while they were relationships of sorts, they were never anything real. They were time fillers, and I think that’s what I was for them, too. They were all between my last year of college and the two yearsafter. I live a really busy life, and making time for a woman wasn’t ever a priority. Once I opened JBD, I was handed dates, and when you have everything at your fingertips, none of it means very much. The people you’re connected with are there for your status, or what you can do for them. I knew I wouldn’t find a meaningful relationship in the mix, and I wasn’t looking.”
“I guess I know whatyou mean,” she said. “I’d never date you for your status. I hope you know that.”
He laced his fingers with hers. “Yeah, I do. Ri, I’m not telling you this because I worry about your reasons for being with me. I’m telling you because I want you to know that I’m not a player. I’m not what I appear to be in the magazines, and I don’t want to be that person. You know about my mom dying when I wasyoung.”
“Yeah, that must have been awful.”
