All of it would be nice, I decided.
I slept like a corpse that night, my body too tired after a day of demolition, explosive sex, and heavy food to resist the lure of sleep, even as my brain buzzed from my racing thoughts and tangled feelings. Feelings that persisted even after I woke up in the dark pre-dawn hours and raced through my morning routine, throwing on my work clothes and quickly checking my supplies so I could get to the Walsh house as early as possible—early enough that I might catch Josie before she charged out the door for her shift at the lab.
But when my truck roared up to the Walsh house at just six-thirty in the morning, Josie’s boxy SUV was already gone. I hid my disappointment and headed for the house, toolbox in hand.
Fine,I decided. It’s fine. I wanted to invite her back over again anyway, and maybe it would have looked a little desperate and clingy to only make it until six-thirty the next morning. Maybe I could hold off at least until after breakfast. Lunch, if I felt especially motivated.
Not long after seven, while I was buried elbow-deep inside the wrecked shell of a wall, my phone buzzed, and I yanked it out of my back pocket to see that my oldest brother, Nicky, was calling—on his way into work at police headquarters, I assumed.
“Big brother,” I greeted, speaking through the Bluetooth ear buds and tucking the phone back into my pocket as I reached into the wall again to scoop out bits of loose debris.
“What’s this I hear about you and Josie Walsh?” Nicky said, not bothering with a greeting.
“George told you,” I guessed. He couldn’t keep a secret worth a damn.
“He loves to flap his gums,” Nicky confirmed. “Did you ask her out?”
I adjusted my gloves over my hands and yanked on a dangling chunk of drywall. “Yup.”
“And?” he demanded.
“And I don’t feel like spilling all the private details right now,” I replied peevishly. “Why do you care, anyway?”
“Because I’m your big brother and you looked like somebody kicked you the other night when Dad gave you shit about being single,” he replied swiftly. “And then suddenly George calls me and says you have the hots for Annie’s sister. I was just wondering when that happened.”
“It was…recent,” I said vaguely. I looked behind to see if Josie’s parents, or even worse, Josie herself was close enough to overhear. “I let her use my place to study and then we ate dinner together.”
“You like her?”
“I do,” I said. “A lot.”
And it was true, I realized—what I felt with her, for her—for all that it was new and different territory for me after three years with Marnie, it was also strong and undeniable. Stronger than I would expect after just twenty-four hours. But then again, I didn’t know if I’d ever met anyone else so bright and interesting and driven. I’d always thought that George was the smartest person I’d ever met, but Josie—her brilliance flashed in her eyes and spilled out every time she opened her mouth. She wore it like a second skin, and it was wildly attractive.
“Well, then,” Nicky said, his tone thoughtful. “I don’t want to pry any more than I already have. Sounds like you know what you’re doing.”
“I do, yeah.” I took a breath, and in the background, I heard a muted heaving noise. “Is someone hurling?”
Nicky swore. “Yeah, the morning sickness is still hitting Kresley pretty hard. I need to grab her some water and make sure she’s okay before I leave for work. Later.” He hung up the phone, and in the silence that followed, I decided to give in to my urge to say something—anything—to Josie.
If I was going to pursue Josie Walsh, I decided as I pulled my phone from my back pocket to tap out a quick text message, she was damn well going to know that I was after her.