Элла Франк - Entice

“Be serious.”

She grinned, and then she completely floored him in her Southern lilt, “Why, I am being serious, sugar. It ain’t my fault I do such a good job of hidin’ my accent.”

His eyes widened, and he felt a genuinely happy smile spread over his face. She was adorable, and with that accent, she was absolutely lethal.

“Wow,” was all he could manage.

She spun on her heel about to move away, but he reached out and snagged her arm, pulling her back against him. Josh pressed his chest and body against her back and breathed against her ear.

“I didn’t think you could get any sexier. God, was I wrong,” he whispered.

Josh felt her take a deep breath, and he let go of her arm. But she remained right where she was, leaning against him.

“So do you always cover it?”

Turning to look at him over her shoulder, she whispered, “That’s two questions. You said only one.”

Josh conceded, knowing this was a bigger step than what she had wanted.

Then, he found himself nibbling her ear. “Come on. Give us a chance, Shelly?”

He was pretty sure he wouldn’t get an answer.

What he hadn’t counted on was Mason walking through the kitchen doors.

* * *

“This is not what you think,” Shelly stated as she quickly stepped away from Josh.

Mason looked from her to his friend, and then back to her with a smug grin. Shelly almost gave into the urge to punch him.

“Oh?”

Shelly marched over to Mason, looking up into his laughing blue eyes.

Mason was tall, well over six-feet. He probably stood around six-feet-three, but that didn’t stop Shelly from glaring up at him.

“Then what is it, Shel?” he asked her, grinning like a loon.

Shelly jammed her fists on her hips, furious that she’d been stupid enough to cave in for one lousy minute.

Narrowing her eyes, she snapped, “None of your business!”

Laughing, Mason looked over her shoulder to the silent man standing just behind them.

“Should I start addressing you as Mr. O from now on?” he asked Josh.

“Mason, shut up,” Shelly warned through clenched teeth.

Looking back down at her, Mason shook his head. “Sorry, Shelly, this is too good to let go.”

He stepped around her, and she turned, watching him move toward his friend. Josh had his eyes on her while she was trying to somehow melt into the floor. Finally, he dragged his gaze away to look at Mason.

“What happened to ‘hell no’? And what was the other one? Oh yeah, ‘she’d burn me to a crisp’?” Mason asked Josh.

Walking over to the two men, who were now about to discuss her like she wasn’t there, Shelly asked Josh, “Burn you to a crisp?”

Suddenly, this was a much more important issue than getting Mason to shut the hell up. Josh looked at her with a crooked smile, and then he had the audacity to wink.

“Yeah, because you’re so damn hot.”

Mason let out a loud laugh as Shelly fumed at Josh.

Damn him! He’d just confirmed everything with that single sentence. Even though it had been a fairly reasonable assumption about the two of them, up until that moment, they could have played it off. Right?

“Ha! You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, Daniels? I knew it! She’s totally your type!” Mason exclaimed.

“Ah, hello! She is still here, you morons.” Sighing as though she was extremely put out, Shelly turned on her heel, stalking to the door, when she heard Josh call her name.

Turning, she looked at him, standing there next to the grinning idiot, otherwise known as Mason.

“The deal?” Josh asked.

Lifting her chin, she shook her head. “Is done.”

Leaving it at that, she turned, storming out of the kitchen, and went back to her date.

* * *

Josh stood there, watching the doors swing slowly back and forth until they stopped.

“Holy shit! When did this all happen?” Mason questioned with a devilish smile.

Josh rolled his shoulders and shook his head. “Nothing happened. We just got together a couple of times.” He paused. “We had a deal.”

Mason moved around him to the fridge, opening it and grabbing a couple of beers. He turned and passed one to Josh, who took a long sip.

“What kind of deal?” Mason questioned.

“A fucked-up one.” Josh raised his hand and ran it through his hair.

“I didn’t think you two really talked. Although, Lena and I did start to get vibes. Do you even know her full name? That burned my ass once—big time,” Mason explained around a grin.

“Just barely. God, what a mess. That night at the club—”

“I knew it!” Mason shouted, interrupting Josh’s train of thought.

“Huh?”

“I asked her about that night, and the little brat lied right to my face.”

Taking another sip, Josh nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me. She wanted to keep it our dirty little secret.”

“Hmm, I don’t understand,” his friend stated as he leaned back against the counter.

Josh shook his head and pointed his beer toward the door. “The deal she’s talking about—that night at the club, we came to an arrangement of sorts.”

Mason slowly grinned at him. “Oh, this just gets better and better.”

“Are you gonna shut the hell up, so I can tell you? Or keep interrupting me?”

Holding his beer up, Mason nodded. “My apologies. Please go on.”

Rolling his eyes, Josh continued, “We both agreed that we liked what we saw and wanted to explore it, but then she told me it needed to stay a secret, and it was just going to be sex.” He stopped, waiting for Mason to comment. When he stayed silent, Josh asked, “Do you really have nothing to say to that?”

“Oh no, I have plenty. I was just waiting for permission to talk, sir.”

“When did you turn into such an asshole?” Josh asked with a smirk.

“Hey, man, I was always this way. You’re just feeling sensitive right now because Sexy Shelly closed the lid of the cookie jar.”

Josh shook his head and placed the now empty bottle back on the counter.

“I never got into the cookie jar.” Well, maybe I dipped my fingers in a little—okay, bad pun—but nothing else.

“So, why the secret? And why is she here tonight with her boss if you two are—well, you know—heating up the sheets?”

“Because we’re not. We fooled around in the parking lot and today at her office, but that’s it.”

Mason’s mouth fell open as he asked quietly, “At her office? In the hospital?”

Josh felt a smug grin spread across his lips and nodded. “Yep. She made sure she gave me a very thorough physical.”

“Ha! I really didn’t think you’d touch her since you dubbed her the Man-Eater.”

“Yeah, me either.”

Mason finished his beer and pushed off the counter, walking toward the door. “You never told me why she doesn’t want to date you.”

Josh shrugged, following him. “She didn’t make any sense, but she said something about losing focus and ending up wanting too much.”

Mason stopped and stated, “Well, surely, that isn’t a bad thing.”

“Apparently, it is when you’re Shelly Monroe.”

The dinner wrapped up fairly quickly after the disaster in the kitchen. Shelly had barely glanced at Mason or Josh the whole way through dessert, and once that was gone, she stood, grabbed Roger’s arm, and pulled him out the door. Lena had watched her carefully but kept quiet, and Shelly had to wonder just how long it would take Mason to share his juicy gossip.

As Roger walked her to the lobby door of her condo, she was so preoccupied with thoughts about Josh and how she’d been looking forward to finally getting into bed with him. Now that the opportunity was gone, she totally missed the cue that Roger McKinney was leaning in for a good night kiss.

Completely blindsided, Shelly froze and clamped her mouth shut. Feeling her tension, Roger stepped back, giving her a regretful look.

“This,” he said, motioning between them, “isn’t going to happen, is it?”

Shelly sighed and shook her head with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Roger.”

He smiled at her and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Nah, don’t be. It’s okay.” He paused and then asked, “You and Bob the Builder—there something going on there?”

“No!” she answered a little too quickly for her own good.

Roger nodded, reaching out to stroke a hand down her cheek, “Well, maybe there should be.”

Shelly felt her mouth open, and then shut without saying anything.

What can I say?

She didn’t want to date a man that was unreliable, especially in this economy. Been there, done that. “Not going to happen.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m going to leave you to it.”

She watched as he started to walk down the path back to his car.

Then, he stopped and turned to her. “Shelly?”

She looked at him and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for taking me tonight. I had a good time.”

Giving him a genuine smile, Shelly nodded, wishing there was something there.

“You’re welcome, Roger. Drive safe.”

He waved, walking back to his car. “Sure will. Have a good night!”

* * *

Josh just walked through the door to an excited ninety-pound Mutley, who was currently jumping up on his hind legs and placing his huge paws on Josh’s chest. Reaching up to scratch his dog’s head, he smiled as Mutley ran a huge tongue up his cheek.

“Hey, boy. How you doing?”

Mutley’s tail wagged as his mouth fell open, letting the same wet tongue loll there as though he was grinning. Pushing him down, Josh watched the dog circle him, and then he made his way through the hall down to the kitchen.