Page 85 of Fangirl Down

Josephine could sense him wrestling with the need to argue. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” he drawled. Casual, when his eyes were turbulent enough to put Josephine right on the edge of second-guessing her decision.

She shook her head, holding firm. This was the right thing.

For long moments, he watched from beneath hooded eyelids. “At least let me get you safely to your room.”

Her knees nearly dipped at the very idea of him standing outside her room. The golf course was safe. Ten yards from a bed was not. “You can bring me to my floor. But you stay on the elevator.”

“Why?” He sauntered closer and this time, she didn’t even have the wherewithal to stave him off with a hand, allowing him to press his chest against her, his breath feathering the hair at her temple. “Are you worried you’ll forgive me and let me in?” He touched the tip of his tongue to the pulse pounding at the base of her neck, then lavishing it with a thorough lick. “Are you wondering what make-up sex feels like when it counts this much?”

“Yes,” she breathed, her belly fluttering wildly, along with her heart.

“Thank God,” Wells said on a gruff exhale. “At least that’s something. At least that’s hope. You’re always giving me that.” He cupped her face, alarming Josephine when she couldn’t help but turn into the warmth, like a flower receiving water. “I have no right to ask, but give me a little more hope right now. Tell me I haven’t blown my fucking chance with you.”

“I... don’t know,” she whispered honestly. Not wanting to lead him on until she had a chance to think without his presence muddling her brain waves, crisscrossing them with hormones. “I’ll try and have an answer by California.”

“California,” he repeated against her mouth, very concisely. “You’re a lot more confident in my ability to spend that amount of time away from you than I am, belle. I’ll tell you that.”

Before Josephine could respond, Wells took her hand, cursed beneath his breath, and stormed through the lobby with her in tow. He was silent on the ride up to her room. She could sense him right on the edge, despite his nonchalant lean against the elevator wall. She expected him to try to kiss her again at any second and worried that she wouldn’t be able to resist asking him to spend the night, because God, she needed comfort right now. Badly. More than she could give herself. But somehow, despite staring at each other right up until the elevator door closed and separated them, they stayed apart.

A week and a half isn’t long.

You have more than enough to stay busy.Fires to put out. Pride to repair.

Somehow she knew, however, that he’d be with her every second of those ten days.

Close to her thoughts, waking and dreaming.

Maybe even closer than she realized.

Chapter Twenty-Four

A week later, Josephine stood in the middle of the Golden Tee, surveying the progress she’d made cleaning and drying everything out with industrial-sized fans. Nearly all of the drywall would need to be replaced, as well as the warped hardwood flooring. As soon as her prize money from the tournament had hit her bank account yesterday, she’d given a local contractor the green light to start making measurements and ordering new windows.

The Under Armour sponsorship money was due to arrive in the next few days, but Josephine needed to see the dollars in her account before she believed it was happening. During her meeting with the contractor, he’d drawn a plan for a courtyard in front of the pro shop with putting greens and a covered deck, along with a window facing the fairway where golfers could approach and purchase supplies without even entering the store. The very first pro shop drive-through in Florida.

All he needed was the go-ahead.

Making those improvements would clean her out again financially, but unlike last time, the money wasn’t going into a black hole. She wasn’t plugging one leak, only to watch another one grow worse. One more successful tournament with Wells and she would figure out her health insurance. The fabric of her life was finally knitting itself back together.

And she’d never felt lonelier.

Every time Josephine blinked, a memory of Wells would dance on the backs of her eyelids like a taunt. The way he’d stood outside the bag room, waiting for her with that cantankerous expression, arms crossed. How he twisted his hat backward when hunkering down to check the angle of a putt. When he’d checked her mini fridge for juice boxes. The taste and texture of his mouth, the stubble of his chin and cheeks so abrasive, yet welcoming on her softer skin. Their feet drifting side by side in the green hotel pool.

How he drawled her nickname.Belle.

Wells made her feel like she belonged. Like she was vitally necessary.

Treasured. Important. Even when they were arguing.

And she missed him very, very badly.

It was Sunday. Three days remained before she was supposed to meet Wells in California. She’d distracted herself for the last seven with cleaning and gearing up to make major changes to the shop, but three more days seemed interminable now. That morning she’d considered getting in her car and driving the ninety minutes to Miami to see him, but wouldn’t that contradict every decision she’d made on their final night together in Texas? She was keeping her distance for the good of her reputation. In the name of professionalism. Respect.

None of that seemed to matter at that exact moment, though, when she wanted to hear his surly griping so badly, her breastbone ached.

She would have given anything to call Tallulah. Just for five minutes, so she could tell her best friend everything. Tallulah would validate the decision she’d made. Or, at the very least, she’d ooh and ahh over the sex details. Life simply wasn’t as fulfilling when there was no one to tell about the afternoon she’dhooked up in a bag room. That information was meant to be whispered and blushed about after three glasses of wine.

Although... calling those stolen moments in the bag room a hookup didn’t exactly do them justice. Not when she could still recall the sensation of him inside her a week later.

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