Page 59 of Knot Your Sunshine
Chapter twenty-three
Noa
"You're really gonna end up wearing a groove in the floor, bro," Keanu says from the office leather couch, tossing a stress ball up and catching it repeatedly. "Relax. Josh knows what he's doing."
"Actually, that's what worries me." I drag a hand through my hair. "He knows coffee and all things nerd, like code. But Mia isn't a computer."
"Thank God for that." Keanu catches the ball and grins. "Computers don't smell nearly as good."
The slider whispers open, and we both freeze like deer caught in headlights.
Josh floats in. Actually floats. Like gravity has given him a hall pass. The perpetual crease between his eyebrows has completely vanished. His shoulders sit loose and easy instead of hunched over an invisible laptop. He's not quite smiling, but his whole face radiates something I've never seen on him before. Peace? Satisfaction?
Joy.
And even through the half-dose of scent blockers we're all taking, I catch it. His scent tangled with something sweeter,warmer. Mia. Enough of her to know they were close…. Skin-to-skin close.
My body responds immediately and inappropriately. Blood rushes south and my cock hardens. I shift position, trying to be discreet about it.
Josh drifts to the bar like he's operating on a two-second delay. Pours water. Drinks with his head tipped back, slowly. There's something glossy at the corner of his mouth. Is that... lip gloss?
Keanu catches my eye. His expression screams 'are you seeing this?'
"Okay." Keanu sits up. "You can't float in here looking like you've achieved enlightenment and not share. How was the date?"
Josh turns slowly, eyes soft and unfocused like he's still partially somewhere else. "Good." The word comes out on a sigh that belongs in a meditation app.
"Good?" My voice cracks like I'm going through puberty again. "That's all you're giving us?"
His smile spreads slow as honey. "Perfect. It was... perfect."
"And?" Keanu leans so far forward he's practically horizontal. "Details, man. What did you do? Where did you go? Did you show her the coffee plantation?"
"Everything went incredibly well." Josh sets his glass down with the reverent care of someone handling the Holy Grail. "And now I need to... process some data."
He drifts out the way he came, leaving behind the distinct impression that 'processing data' is code for 'replaying every second.'
Keanu stares at the empty doorway and takes several theatrical sniffs of the air. "Oh, something definitely happened. Something... sexual."
"You really think so?" I move to where Josh was standing, catching the lingering mixture of scents.
"Brother, that's the walk of a man who has been thoroughly—"
"Keanu."
"What? I was going to say 'rewarded for his charming personality.'" His grin turns wicked. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Noa."
His eyes light up with mischief and determination as he bounces to his feet with the energy of a Jack Russell terrier who's spotted a tennis ball. "Anyway, looks like Josh set the bar high. Good thing I've got plans that'll blow her mind."
"And good thing it's not a competition," I shake my head, more fond than annoyed.
"Of course not, but still." His grin sharpens. "See you later."
He practically skips out, and the office settles into quiet.
I lean against the bar and let myself fully exhale. That last kernel of fear, the one that's been sitting in my chest since Mia walked away from our kiss, finally dissolves.
Josh doesn't glow like that over good coffee. Hell, Josh doesn't glow like that over anything. I once saw him win a Fields Medal-qualifying mathematics competition and his reaction was a small nod. So if Mia can make our perpetually anxious genius look like he's discovered the meaning of life, then my doubts were probably baseless.
