Raging Hard(71)

“So what’s your father like outside the board room?”

I missed a shot horribly. “I don’t know. He fishes every morning.”

“Every morning?”

“Religiously, when we’re here at least. But he’s always working otherwise.”

“He has quite the reputation for that.”

“What else does he have a reputation for?”

Joshua missed a shot and then looked at me. “Sure you want to know?”

“Positive.”

He took another shot and made it. “Your father has a bad reputation when it comes to making local people happy. He tends to outsource everything he can, and he charges insane rates.”

“Isn’t that just good business?”

“Maybe.” He missed another shot. I made two in a row. “But business isn’t just about the bottom line. It’s about taking care of your people.”

“I can agree with that. So you’re saying my dad doesn’t take care of people?”

Joshua laughed, suddenly turning lighthearted again. For a second I thought I was seeing the real him, but he quickly bottled that up. “Who knows. It’s just a reputation. Most of it is crap anyway, or at least in our case it is.”

“You trust him, then?”

“Wouldn’t do business with him if I didn’t.”

He took a shot and made it, and I missed three in a row.

“By the way,” I said, “which place are you staying at? Speaking of my dad, he wants to see if he can comp your room, or maybe get you an upgrade or something.”

Joshua gave me a look. “I’m just staying at this cheap little motel.”

“Really?”

“Sure. I like it there. Nobody bothers me.”

“Good. What’s it called?”

“Don’t worry, Claire. I can afford my own room.”

I wanted to press, but he had made it clear that he didn’t want to keep talking about where he was staying. “I get that. Staying with my parents can be frustrating. How old are you, anyway?”

“I’m thirty-two. You?”

“Twenty-three,” I lied, wanting to sound older.

“Look at us. Opposites.”

I snorted. “Yeah, exactly.”

My heart was racing in my chest as I threw a few more shots, missing them all. We began to chat about our families, and I focused on keeping him talking. I asked about what it was like growing up in the area, what his parents were like, but I was distracted.

I was worried I had given myself up, or at least that my questioning was a little too obvious. We were chatting amiably enough, but I felt a little wedge suddenly between us, like asking about his hotel had been a huge mistake. As time went by, I began to worry that I was never going to have another chance.

“Okay,” he said finally, “I’m sick of missing. Up for one last stop?”

“Always,” I said, giving him my best smile.

I caught him glance down at my breasts, and I subtly moved my chest out, giving him a better view. Maybe hope wasn’t lost after all.

“This way.” He walked off.

“Where are we headed?”

“You’ll see.”

He wound his way through the crowd and eventually stopped in front of a large entrance with “Fun House” written in paint above it. I’d never actually been in a carnival fun house before, and I’d always assumed they were basically like haunted houses but with more mirrors.

“Can’t leave without going through here,” he said.

“It’s not scary, right?”

He gave me a look. “Have you ever been in one of these before?”

“No. Just haunted houses.”

“You’re in for a treat then. Come on.” He tossed the bear down on the ground and reached out his hand. I hesitated and then took it, following his lead.

As we went into the dark entrance, the only reason I kept walking forward at all was the thought that Nathan was somewhere behind us, watching carefully, keeping me safe.

The first thing we came to was a slide. Joshua let go of my hand and hopped on, disappearing from view. Tentatively, I got on behind him and began to slip down.

It dropped a lot farther than I would have guessed. As soon as I was ready to start yelling for help, I came out into a pit full of plastic balls.

Joshua laughed at my very ungraceful landing. I was pretty sure he saw my panties, too, considering my dress blew up around my hips. Embarrassed, I adjusted myself and stood up.

“Warn a girl next time,” I muttered.

“Why? And miss the show?”

I blushed. “Pretend you didn’t see that.”

“Nope.”

“Anyway, what’s next? Snakes?”

“Come on.”

I followed him down a narrow hall full of silly paintings and bright colors. I had no clue where we were, but I figured we were pretty far beneath the pier. There were big spinning wheels in the next room and barrels along the ground. Joshua went first, running across the barrels and barely making it across.