Page 43 of Abduction
Chapter Twenty-Four
Josh
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IWAS WORKING THE DESKwhen she walked in.
My dad had put me down in the pawn shop that afternoon, a chance for the family to show some public face, he told me, and I knew better than to argue. The shop was the respectable face of my father’s business, and he liked to rotate Tommy and me in as often as he could to make it look like a decent family front. Things had gotten pretty heated the night before at Amber’s place, and Kieran was pissed as he took me home. He snitched me out to my father, but he didn’t seem to pick up on whatever had been happening between Amber and me, thank God.
I had no idea if she was going to dump the guy. I hoped she would, of course, but I couldn’t be sure. Sometimes, people stuck it out with partners who were addicted to something, thinking they could put them on the straight and narrow, but honestly, I doubted a guy like that was ever going to see sense. He had already blown up his entire life, he was clearly willing to put anything that caught his eye above Amber.
Shit, I almost felt sorry for him. When he realized what he had done to her, it would kill him. Well, it would have killed me, if I had ever allowed myself to turn into such an asshole. If I had a woman like Amber...
She was probably scared of me now, after what she’d seen me do. Turning up at her door like that, no warning, storming in and causing trouble. Not exactly the side of me I had wanted her to see, but hey, sometimes you didn’t get to make that call.
Either way, I had made a vow to myself not to get distracted by anything or anyone from here on out. Running into her last night had been a coincidence, nothing more, and I wasn’t going to read anything more into it than I already had. I was glad I could at least expose what an asshole her fiancé really was to her before they got married. I would have hated to think she had hooked herself for life to someone with that many issues.
And he had been cheating. Of course. Probably thought he was fucked with the gambling anyway, and to push it all the way out if he was already this far in. With her best friend, though? That one had to hurt. I knew she must be smarting, and I wished I could be there for her...
Which was the exact moment the door opened, and she walked in.
She was dressed in all black, with her hair sleekly pulled back from her face—she meant business, whatever she was here for. I had no idea why she was in this store right now, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.
“Good morning,” she greeted me, and she placed an envelope with a small bulge inside on the table. “There’s something I want to get rid of. My engagement ring.”
She was wearing the bracelet I’d given her. I looked inside the envelope, and, sure enough, there it was—a sparkling engagement ring. She was serious about this. I looked back up at her.
“You really left him?” I asked, and she shrugged.
“Did you expect me to stay, after what happened last night?”
“Some women would,” I replied.
“Not me,” she shot back, her voice laced with a confidence I’d never heard from her before. “God, do you know what a relief it was to realize I wasn’t crazy? That he was the one who had been screwing up all this time?”
“That’s what I kept telling you,” I pointed out to her, grinning. “You should trust me next time.”
Her eyes flashed with desire. I could hardly keep my gaze off of her. She looked so fucking hot, her sureness coming off her in waves. If she had come here for something, she was sure as hell going to take it.
“I think I will,” she replied. I didn’t even know how she had found the place, but I didn’t care. I was just glad she was here.
“So you’re done with him for good?” I asked. If I was going to get involved with someone, then I had to be sure they weren’t just using me for a rebound from some shitty ex.
She moved around the counter. Slipped her arms around my neck. I could feel the heat emanating from her body, her eyes pinned to mine.
“Yeah, I’m done with him for good,” she replied. “I think I have been from the moment I met you.”
And with that, she kissed me.
It wasn’t like the kiss we had shared out in the rain, when both of us had known it had to end soon. No, this was the kind of wanting, passionate kiss that made everything else just vanish, including the fact that I was supposed to be running this store. I pushed my fingers into her hair and slid my tongue into her mouth, feeling her moan against me. I could already feel my cock starting to get hard knowing how much she wanted me, and I wasn’t willing to wait much longer.
