Chasing Perfect (Fool's Gold #1)(64)

“You thought I’d be an easy mark?” Josh asked, sounding more conversational than angry.

“Everybody says you’ve, you know, been with a lot of girls. I figured I could pretend and you’d pay me off.” She glanced down at her hands. “It was pretty stupid, huh?”

“It’s not a moment you’re going to remember with pride,” he said. “What’s your major?”

Emily glanced up, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“What were you going to study in college?”

“Oh. Nursing. I want to be an RN. Pediatrics.” She smiled. “I like kids.”

“Have you looked at grants?” he asked.

“A couple. It’s confusing. I really don’t want to get a bunch of loans, if I don’t have to.”

“You take the SATs yet?”

“Uh-huh.” She smiled again. “625 on English and 630 on Math.”

“Impressive.” He was silent for a minute. “After school on Monday, I want you to go to my office. You know where it is?”

“Sure.”

“You’re going to talk to a lady named Eddie. She’s my assistant.” He hesitated. “She sounds a lot meaner than she is, so don’t let her scare you off. She’ll help you with the grants. As for the rest of it, you can work for me this summer. Part-time. I’ll pay you minimum wage, if you want. Or I won’t pay you anything, but I’ll put away twenty dollars for every hour you work. At the end of the summer, I’ll send that money to the college of your choice. But if you start and then quit, you get nothing.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “You’re really going to help me, even though I lied to you?”

“You have to do the work. If you’ll see it through, I’ll know you’ve learned your lesson.”

Charity felt as surprised as Emily looked. She’d figured Josh would lecture the girl, then let her go. Instead he’d offered her a way to get everything she wanted, while still having to be responsible and show initiative.

Emily stood, rushed to Josh and hugged him. Then she stepped back. “I’ll be there,” she promised. “I’ll do whatever you say. I swear. I’m so sorry.” She turned to Charity. “I am sorry. I was desperate and that’s not an excuse. Please don’t be mad at him.”

“I’m not,” Charity told her.

“Thank you,” Emily said again. She hurried to the door and let herself out.

Josh walked over to a small cabinet by the wall, pulled out a bottle of Scotch.

“Want some?” he asked.

“I’ll wait and have wine with dinner.”

He poured himself a glass, then set down the bottle and took a long drink. “Welcome to my world.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“Every now and then, in different forms. People get desperate, I’m an easy target.” He looked at her over the glass. “You know I didn’t sleep with her, right?”

“Of course. I knew it before she confessed everything.”

He put down the glass. “How?”

“You told me there hadn’t been anyone for a while and I believed you. Plus, she’s not really your type.”

He crossed to her and put his hands on her waist. “What’s my type?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but I’m confident you’re not into girls still in high school.”

“You know me well.”

He kissed her.

As his mouth claimed hers, she realized that tonight she knew him a little better than she had before. He could have simply thrown Emily out after her confession. There was no reason for him to help a girl he didn’t know who’d tried to blackmail him. Josh was a complicated man. He was also someone she liked. A lot.

The thought terrified her. Not only did she have to worry about the stupidity of falling for a man like him, she had her own hideous track record looming. Still, it was too late to run for cover now.

He drew back and smiled at her. “How hungry are you?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. “Dinner can wait.”

“That’s my girl.”

JOSH WARMED UP WITH the high school team. They rode slowly for a couple of miles, mostly talking and laughing without paying attention to anything beyond getting ready for the real workout.

Josh didn’t listen to the conversation. He couldn’t. Every bit of his attention, every ounce of self-control, was focused on not freaking out like a kid at a monster movie.

The students rode in a pack, which wasn’t unusual. What made the event incredibly different for Josh was the fact that he was part of the pack. Not in it, exactly, more on the outside, but still riding with the others. At least he was doing it.

Maybe the slow pace helped. There was no sense of being out of control. He knew nothing bad was going to happen. At this speed, the worst result of a fall would be a skinned knee or elbow.

One of the students maneuvered his bike closer to Josh’s. The boy, tall but skinny with that awkward, lanky look of an adolescent who hasn’t figured out what to do with his new body, smiled tentatively.

Josh smiled back. “Brandon, right?”

The kid nodded. “I can’t believe you’re riding with us. I’m on a loop with some other guys who ride around the country. They think I’m lying.”