It Had to Be Him(57)

Josh’s eyes darkened as he pressed her against the cool, lime-green tile at her back. The desire in his gaze as he checked out her body from head to toe set her on fire. He palmed both of her breasts and grinned naughtily.

The steam billowed around them as he lowered his mouth to her chest, sucking and teasing her nipples. When he bit lightly, it sent a jolt straight to her core. Multiple orgasms looked promising. She was already almost there.

Her knees grew weaker with each hot stroke of his tongue. “Josh, I . . .” When his lips moved to her earlobe and nibbled, she forgot what she wanted to say.

His hand slid between her legs and stars appeared before her eyes.

Three years was a long time, dammit. She grabbed his face and kissed him. Hard.

His tongue danced with hers as he pressed her against the shower wall again. He lifted her legs to his waist as his kisses grew deeper, firmer, and needier.

Any second now he’d put her out of her misery. She wanted to tell him to hurry up about it, but didn’t want to stop kissing him long enough to do it. Her whole body was on fire, ready to explode.

At first she thought the buzzing in her ears was caused by the molten blood pounding through her veins, but then it became a voice. Her sister called out from the hallway just outside the master bedroom. “Meg? Where are you? Haley needs you.”

The cold water earlier couldn’t have squelched her inner fire faster than hearing that.

Seriously? Now?

Dammit!

She called out, “In the shower. Be right there.” She pressed her forehead against Josh’s and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Go.” He pushed the door open for her, then cranked the hot water off again.

She dried off, wrapped her hair up in the towel, and slipped into her clothes from the day before. While still pulling her T-shirt down, she made her way to the kitchen. When Haley saw her, tears filled her baby’s little brown eyes.

Guilt stabbed Meg in the heart for her frustration at being interrupted. Even if it was only for a second. “What’s wrong, Bug?”

“It was dark. I got scared.” Haley struggled to fill her lungs with air as Casey put her down. “I couldn’t find you.”

Casey winced. “I left the blackout curtains drawn. She was so sound asleep, I didn’t want to wake her. When I went back to check on her a few minutes later she was crying and upset. I’m sorry.”

Meg scooped Haley up and forced a smile. It was hard to tell if the crying was making it hard to breathe or if she was having an asthma attack. Stress could trigger them. “Everything’s fine now, baby. Did you take your medicine?”

When Haley shook her head, Casey said, “She wanted you to give it to her. I brought it along.”

Haley had to eat before she took her meds, so Meg yanked the refrigerator door open and dug through all the food Josh had thankfully added. While she looked, Josh, who’d arrived a few seconds earlier but hadn’t said anything, came up behind her and took Haley from her arms. “There’s oatmeal in the cupboard, Meg.”

After he nodded a greeting at Casey, who couldn’t have possibly missed that they’d both come from the master bedroom with wet hair, he set Haley on the countertop. “I had asthma when I was your age too. Know what I used to do when I’d get scared and had a hard time breathing?”

Haley shook her head as she panted for air.

“I used to take care of lots of animals on the ranch where I grew up, but I had a favorite one named Charlie. All I had to do was close my eyes and think of him. It helped me breathe better.”

“Was Charlie your doggy?”

“Nope. He’s a horse, and he still lives on the ranch. He was just a colt, a baby, when he came to stay with us.”

Haley’s eyes grew wide. “You had a baby horse?”

Josh fished his phone from his jeans pocket. “He isn’t mine, he belongs to someone at the ranch. But he was my best friend while I lived there. Want to see some pictures?”

When a smile lit Haley’s face as she leaned closer to see Josh’s phone, Meg’s shoulders relaxed. It was just the crying making it hard for Haley to breathe. She was fine now.

Casey found a little plastic jar of honey shaped like a bear to sweeten the oatmeal and handed it to Meg as they waited for Haley’s breakfast to heat in the ancient microwave. Casey whispered, “Granger carries pictures of a horse in his phone? Never would’ve guessed that one.”

It was sweet that Josh carried pictures of Charlie in his phone, and at the same time sad that Josh’s best friend had been a horse. Meg whispered back, “Me either. Now I’m curious to see what other pictures are in there.”