“Ruin what?” I asked him,confused.
“Finally waking up with you in myarms.”
Pushing out of his embrace, I sat up and turned to face him. “Are you still drunk?” I asked himskeptically.
“No baby,” he said, chuckling. “Although my head hurts and I’m not really sure what I’m doing in your bed. Did we…?” He looked at me, raising his eyebrows inquestion.
Folding my arms across my chest, I glared at him. “If you’re asking if we had sex, no we didn’t, and the reason you’re in my bed is because you came up to use the bathroom and passed out in here. You were supposed to sleep on the sofa!” Iexclaimed.
“I remember you picking me up from the bar, but it’s a blur after that. Did you take my clothesoff?”
“No Josh, that was allyou!”
“I’m sorry—sorry you had to come pick me up, and sorry for not sleeping on the sofa,” he said, his voicesincere.
“I’m not going to tell you it’s okay, because it’s not. I’m pissed atyou.”
“How did you even know to pick me up?” heasked.
“You really don’t remember?” He shook his head. “The bartender called me from your phone. Believe me, I tried to get Brody to pick up your drunk ass, but his phone was turned off. I also tried to drop you off at home, but no one was there and I couldn’t find your housekey.”
“How did the bartender know to call you?” he asked, still confused. I looked down and played with the edge of my t-shirt. “Sav?” he prompted, and Isighed.
“Apparently, you were talking to him about me,” I said quietly. When he didn’t comment, I climbed out of bed. “I need coffee.” I rushed out of the room, quickly using the bathroom before heading downstairs. Waking up in Josh’s arms was something I’d dreamed about for years, and it certainly hadn’tdisappointed.
“Do you mind if I jump in the shower?” Josh shouted fromupstairs.
“No, that fine. There are clean towels in the bathroom,” I shouted back, flicking the coffee pot on. I wasn’t really supposed to drink coffee, but I allowed myself one cup each morning to get megoing.
15 minutes later, I heard Josh coming down the stairs. “Something smells good,” he said as he walked into the smallkitchen.
“I’m still mad at you, but I’m hungry, and I can’t eat and not offer you something,” I said, gesturing to the bacon. “Help yourself. I put you some Tylenol on the side, and water is in thefridge.”
“Thank you,” he said gratefully. “My head is killing me.” I watched as he took a bottle of water from the fridge and popped two Tylenol in his mouth, taking a gulp of water to wash themdown.
“What happened last night? Why were you so drunk?” I asked him. I figured if I was the one dragged out of bed to pick him up, I deserved to know why. Josh liked to drink and I’d seen him drunk plenty of times, but I’d never seen him like he’d been the previousnight.
He sighed and dragged his hand down his face. “Just trying to forget,” he repliedcryptically.
“Forget what?” Iasked.
“You, and how much I’ve hurt you over the years,” he said quietly, sipping his water. “I’m so sorry for ruining your date the other day. I never intended for things to get so out of hand, but when I saw you kissing that guy…” He trailed off and I watched his jawtick.
“Are you saying you were jealous?” I asked, dropping my eyes from his, afraid to hear hisanswer.
“What if I was jealous?” he muttered. “What if I can’t stand the thought of another man touching you, holding you, kissing you?” My head snapped up to look at him, and I saw a flash of pain in his eyes before he closed them and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He turned to walkaway.
“Wait!” I exclaimed, reaching for his arm. “What do you mean? I might be mad at you right now, but you know how I feel about you, how I’ve always felt about you. I’m yours. I’ve always been yours, you’ve just never seenme.”
His eyes met mine again before giving me a small smile. “I’ve seen you Savannah. I’ve done nothing but see you since I was 16.” He reached up and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. I closed my eyes and nuzzled my face against his fingers, my skin tingling from his touch. My heart was racing and my stomach churned with a mixture of nerves andexcitement.
“Why did you push me away? Why have I had to watch you with all those girls? If we both want this…” I trailed off as his hand dropped from my face and he took a stepback.
“Have you ever taken a good look at the girls I date?” he asked mequietly.
I snorted. “I try not to—it makes me nauseous!” I exclaimed, and I heard himlaugh.
“Well almost all of them look like you.” My eyes widened in surprise. “I could never be with you, so I dated girls who looked like you. The problem with that, though, was that they could never live up to the reality of you. I had you on a pedestal, and no one couldcompare.”