Fool's Gold Collection Part 1: Chasing Perfect / Almost Perfect / Sister of the Bride / Finding Perfect. Susan Mallery
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would be offering him more. It implied a relationship they didn’t have. The fact that he’d done it before the “incident”—as she was now thinking of it—should have helped, but only made the situation more confusing.
Just as mind-bending was Pia’s implication that Josh might be interested in her. He wasn’t. His ex-wife had been some gorgeous actress. Charity was going to have to go online and find out who, exactly. But the point was, he was not someone orbiting in her universe. Interested? On what planet?
Yes, they’d had sex, but only because they’d both been carried away by the moment. Her more literally, but still. She refused to read too much into a single evening of hot lovemaking. That’s how hearts got broken.
She did her best to push any thoughts of Josh out of her mind, only to have them resurface when she saw his offices up ahead. Maybe she should simply ask the question outright. Why was he giving her a deal on a house when he didn’t have to? Asking him was the adult, mature thing to do. She squared her shoulders and walked into the building.
“THERE’S SOMEONE HERE to see you,” Eddie told Josh. “She doesn’t have an appointment. She being the operative word here. Although I’ll give her credit. She’s not like the usual groupies who come looking for you. She’s out of her teens, for one thing, and dressed like a regular person.”
Josh wasn’t in the mood to dash anyone’s hopes this afternoon. He had a lot to deal with, including figuring out how he was going to start training—a relatively easy problem to solve—while dealing with an irrational inability to ride with other people. A problem with a less clear solution.
“You can handle her,” he told Eddie.
“I can, but I don’t want to. She claims you know her. Charity Jones.”
He was out of his seat before she’d finished speaking. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I just did. Are you giving me attitude?”
He ignored her outrage and went out to the reception area. Charity stood in the center, looking nervous and determined. She managed a faint smile, which made him want to promise to fix whatever problem she had.
“I didn’t have an appointment,” she told him. “Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. You don’t need an appointment.”
“It would be nice if someone made one,” Eddie said with a sniff.
Josh pointed to her desk. Eddie sighed heavily before returning to it. He put his hand on the small of Charity’s back, leading her to his office and then closing the door behind them.
“Your assistant has a lot of personality,” Charity said.
“She’s efficient and takes care of me.”
“I like her.”
“Me, too. Not that I want her to know.”
Charity’s smile turned genuine. “She’d use it against you forever.”
“Tell me about it.”
He motioned to the sofa and chairs in the corner. “Can I get you anything? Coffee? Iced tea?”
“I’m fine. I just had lunch with Pia.” She sat in a chair.
He took the center of the sofa. “What’s going on?”
She clasped her hands together. “I’m not sure where to start.”
She didn’t sound worried, which was good. As he didn’t have a clue as to what she wanted to talk about, he simply waited. Checking out the view filled the seconds. She wore a short jacket over a lacy shirt and black pants. Very “woman in charge,” a look he enjoyed. It made him think about taming that power, and making the lady in question weak with longing.
“That house we went to,” she began, forcing him to ignore the fantasy of a naked Charity writhing under him.
“You want to make an offer?”
“Not exactly. You own that house.”
He wasn’t sure how she found out, but he wasn’t surprised, either.
“Does it matter who’s selling it?”
She drew in a breath. “You’ve had other offers. People who can pay more than me.”
“I put a lot into that house. I want it to go to the right person.”
“You’re giving me a break on the price that you’re not giving them.”
Normally he would have been happy to take credit for being a great guy, but there was something in her tone, in the way she stared so intently.
“And that’s bad why?” he asked.
“How much of the town do you own?” she asked. “I know about the hotel. Do you own this building? More houses?”
“Want to see a profit and loss statement? My accountant prepares one every quarter.”
“No. Of course not. But you’re rich.”
“By some definitions.”
She shook her head. “Don’t play games. You’re successful and rich and gorgeous and great in bed.” She sucked in a breath. “Well, I can’t say about the ‘in bed’ part, but you obviously know what you’re doing and you do it well. And you’re nice.”
Her tone told him she wasn’t trying to compliment him. The last statement had come out like an accusation.
“Okay,” he said neutrally.
She stood, so he rose. She faced him.
“It’s so not fair. Why can’t this be easier?” she asked.
He shoved his hands in his pockets. Answering the question would be less of a problem if he knew what they were talking about. “I, ah…”
“Sure. For you,” she grumbled. “You get whoever you want. You practically have women being delivered by room service.”
“I don’t do that.”
“I know. I didn’t mean that, exactly. It’s just you could if you wanted. And you don’t, which means more points for you.”
“Charity? What are we talking about?”
She glared at him. “My life. My sucky love life. I don’t get it. Is it genetic? Karma? Did I do something bad in a previous life?”
He stood there, feeling helpless. “There’s nothing wrong with you.” She was pretty and smart and funny and when she smiled at him, he had the feeling that he could do just about anything.
“Isn’t there? Look at Robert. Isn’t he nice? Calm and pleasant and looking to settle down. But there’s not a scrap of chemistry. I couldn’t do it. I tried, but I couldn’t do it. And he would fall in the column of my more successful relationships. My first boyfriend hit me. Just once, but he did it.”
Josh’s hands curled into fists. “Where is he now?” he asked, his voice low and angry.
“It was ten years ago,” she said. “I walked out and never saw him again. But still. It made me wonder. My second serious boyfriend cleaned out my savings account. Talk about feeling stupid. The last one…” She sighed. “I’m not even going there. It’s too humiliating. And now there’s you. I like you. I like you a lot. Which means all I can think is if I like you then what on earth is wrong with you?”
With that, she turned and left.
Josh stood in the center of his office, trying not to grin like a fool. She liked him? Hot damn!
CHARITY STALKED OUT of Josh’s office, feeling foolish and exposed and a thousand other things that weren’t very pleasant. Her head was spinning,