Hidden Depths (26 page)

"Back at ya, baby."

Gia locked up and followed Kelly down to the car. Time to go
prove to Josh just how different they really were.

Josh had been standing around talking to Blake. Despite the
masks that covered half your face, a stylized version of Phantom of the Opera,
it was still fairly easy to identify your friends. At least, those you knew
well.

They had been doing just that, watching everyone and trying
to identify people they knew by build, eye color and smile.

Josh had just located Dev and turned to point him out to
Blake when he heard him mumble, "Holy hell," under his breath.

He followed Blake's line of vision to see a woman who could
only be Gia step into the ballroom.

Gia... who had been acting strange all week long.

Gia... who had completely blown him off last night.          

Gia... who had told him there was no way she was coming
tonight.

Yet, there she was. There was no possible way that the
absolutely stunning creature standing in the doorway could be anyone else. It
had to be her. Shiny, beautiful black hair shot through with bright red
streaks. Her luscious lips, with a matching red lipstick shining in the light.
Her black satin dress hugged every curve, stopping high enough to show her
gorgeous calves, leading into shiny red heels. To top it off, she had
deliberately picked a dress that would show off all the gorgeous artwork that
covered her skin.

As if there was any way he could have possibly mistaken that
body for anyone else's. With or without the ink.

"I thought you said she wasn't coming."

Blake's voice snapped Josh out of his little reverie,
dragging him back to the present. "Yeah... that's because she said she
wasn't."

"She looks..." Blake stopped, letting his eyes
speak for him.

It was enough. Josh understood. "Yes, she does."

"So, you gonna go over there and ask what's up?"

Josh tilted back the glass of champagne some waiter had
handed him, trying to get a little more control over his temper before he answered
Blake. "No. I don't think I am."

Blake's head swung around to look at Josh, rather than
continue gaping at Georgia. "Really?" At Josh's nod, Blake continued,
"If I were you, I would get over there and at least make it known that you
guys are together. She is someone unknown to the men in this room. She's also
different. Throw in the fact that she is a total knockout, and I figure you
have about five minutes before every single male in this room is vying for her
attention. You need to let them know that she isn't available."

"No."

"What?"

"No. Things are not going so well with us right now.
She blew me off yesterday and told me she wouldn't be here tonight. If she
wants to talk to me, she can damn well come find me."

Blake nodded, his lips quirking up into a smirk that should
have served to warn Josh, yet somehow he completely missed it. So he was
shocked when Blake said, "So, you're totally fine if I head over there and
see if I can't at least score a dance?"

Gritting his teeth, Josh forcibly released the grip he had
on the empty champagne glass. It was either that or it would shatter. Sucking
air through his teeth, he glared at Blake. "Sure, Blake. Go right
ahead." He managed to force out the right words, although he knew Blake
wasn't anywhere close to fooled.

Turning on his heel, Josh stomped off to find his parents.
He knew they were here already and he hadn't yet greeted them. Maybe, if he
focused on something else, he would somehow be able to ignore Gia dancing with
other men.

Chapter 36

An hour later and Josh knew he was going to lose his mind.
Gia had danced with every male in there that wasn't married or over sixty. And
he wasn't a hundred percent sure some of them weren't married.

She was the belle of the goddamn ball.

Josh, on the other hand, was completely miserable. He wanted
to go and ask her to dance, but he was still pissed that she was here at all.
No, that wasn't right. He was pissed that she wasn't here with him.

It hadn't taken him long to figure out that it was Kelly she
had arrived with. He had even had a chance for one dance with Kell. He was
proud to say he had managed to be polite, charming, and he hadn't grilled her
on why Gia had come with her and not with him.

After grabbing a scotch from the bar, he wandered around a
little more until he finally located his parents. It wasn't that they were all
that hard to identify, even with the masks, merely that the ballroom was
particularly crowded this year. By the time he found his father, the man had
disposed of the mask and was well on his way to cheerful inebriation.

Wishing he could drink enough to join his father in his
merriment, Josh finished his first and only scotch of the evening. He still had
to drive home, and since Gia hadn't come with him he hadn't bothered getting a
limo.

So, he was done with alcohol tonight.

Fuck it, he was done with this party.

He slapped his father on the shoulder, kissed his mother's
cheek and turned to head toward the exit, tossing his own mask on a table as he
went. He made the mistake of looking at the dance floor as he walked by.

Gia was dancing again. Or maybe still dancing was a more
appropriate description. This time she was dancing with a guy Josh knew was a
few years younger than him. His name was Stephan, and he was a dickhead.
Charming at first, he was a sexist pig, a cheating bastard and always out for
the easy score. Since he was actively flirting with Gia, he must think she was
going home with him tonight.

Josh froze in place, fighting down the raging fury. He tried
to remind himself that Gia was more than smart enough to see through his smarmy
little persona. She could take care of herself.

The second Stephan's hand slid down to Gia's ass, going so
far as to cup and squeeze that tight flesh, all rational thought fled. Josh was
operating on instinct, and instinct alone.

Josh stomped across the room, reaching the dance floor and
pushing people out of his way. In the red haze that was clouding his vision, he
somehow missed Gia removing Stephan's hand and shoving him none too gently away
from her. By the time he reached them the only thing he could see was that
Stephan's face was wide open to receive the closed fist of Josh's right hand.

Stephan went sprawling back, blood spraying from his nose as
the mask he still wore went sliding across the dance floor.

"Josh, what the hell are you doing?" Gia asked.

The words were more growl than speech, but Josh managed to
reply. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I was dancing. You, on the other hand, are acting like
an ass."

"I'm an ass? This fuckhead had his hands all over you,
but I'm an ass."

Some piece of Josh's brain acknowledged that they were
drawing quite a crowd with their little argument. The idiot  lying on the floor
just made matters worse.

"Joshua Taylor, just what do you think you're
doing?"

The sound of his mother's voice behind him was just the push
he needed to get the hell out of there. But there was no way he was leaving
Gia.

In a move that would have made his football coaches proud,
Josh swooped low, tossed Gia over his shoulder and shoved his way through the
crowd before anyone else really had time to react.

He didn't have a clue what Gia might be thinking since he
couldn't see her face, but for whatever reason she was oddly still. He had
expected screams, or wiggles, or fists beating at his back. Instead she was
just hanging there, gripping the back of his jacket in her fists.

Gia was in shock. Her brain simply refused to process what
she'd just witnessed. Josh had decked some guy. For dancing with her? That
wasn't even possible.

As he set her down, in the passenger seat of his car, she
still couldn't seem to form any coherent thoughts. When he finally sat down in
the driver's seat, she managed to ask, "Where are we going?"

"My house."

His voice was still deep and raspy, the anger that had
driven him to such reckless behavior was still quite evident.

"Josh..."

He cut her off before she could get any further.
"Don't, Gia. Just don't. We'll talk later."

The ten minute drive to his house was made in silence, each
lost in their own thoughts. Gia hoped that the drive, the quiet, would help to
calm his temper a little. This was a side of Josh she'd never seen. Never even
imagined it could exist beneath that cool exterior, if she were being
completely honest. Even back in college, when they had first met, she never
would have suspected he was capable of this type of emotion.

Humor, sarcasm, and a lot more fun than he had become a few
years later, but still not this extreme. She felt like she should maybe be
afraid.

She wasn't.

As he pulled into his garage, he shut off the engine and
actually came around to open the door. The gesture was very gentlemanly, more
typical of the Josh she had come to expect. Only his eyes gave away the truth.
He was still furious.

She tried again to ask, "Josh, what's..."

He turned away from her, grabbing her hand and pulling her
roughly behind him. She could either rush and keep up, or fall flat on her
face.

This was not what she had expected at all. She had planned
on him seeing her there, maybe being a little peeved that she hadn't come with
him, but quickly making note of how different they were. Noticing that Gia
didn't fit with the crowd of people he had known his whole life. Instead he was
absolutely irate and she had no idea why.

As she tripped over the carpet edge, he stopped only long
enough to let her get her feet underneath her, before walking even faster than
before toward his bedroom.

Once she determined his destination, she got a glimmer of
his plan. Her body responded as if he'd plugged her into an electric outlet.
She couldn't stop the shiver of anticipation that ran through her.

She shouldn't do this. She should tell him to take her home.
Despite his anger, she had no real fear. She knew that if she told him no, he
would take her home immediately. Pissed or not, he would never force her.

As she crossed the threshold of his bedroom, she knew she
wouldn't say no. Tomorrow... tomorrow she would be strong enough to let him go.
For tonight, she wanted this.

Chapter 37

Gia tried one more time to ask why Josh was so upset, but
before she even managed to get his name out this time, he had her pinned
against the wall, his lips hard against hers.

Her heels gave her some extra height, bringing her five foot
six frame much closer to his six foot three. He managed to lean in at just such
an angle as to bring them together, body to body almost full length. At least,
all the good parts were pressed together.

She tried to wrap her arms around his neck only to have him
grab her hands and push them against the wall beside her head.

He pulled back and finally spoke to her. "You said you
wouldn't go to this 'shindig'."

"No, I said I wouldn't go with you."

That was the wrong thing to say.

His blue eyes, normally so bright and clear, darkened
turning an icy steel color, the blue almost obliterated in his anger.

"I see. So, you'll go with Kelly, but you still won't
be seen with me in public."

"No, Josh... that's not what happened at all..."

He shook his head, cutting off her explanation.
"Doesn't matter, Georgia. You don't owe me any explanations. You've never
lied to me. Never intimated that there was anything between us outside the
bedroom."     

He stepped completely away from her, looking her up and
down, his expression settling into one of decision, he said, "So, you said
that there were no boundaries, right? You were up for anything?"

She had no idea what he had planned, but her body was ready.
For anything. She nodded her agreement.

He backed away another few steps, crossing his arms over his
chest. She watched the pull of his tuxedo jacket, stretching tight around his
arms, showcasing the muscles she couldn't wait to sink her teeth into.

After a time, he said one word. "Strip."

Josh watched as Gia began to undress. He saw the slight
tremor in her hands as she undid the buckle of the bright red belt. She kicked
off her shoes, tossed the belt on the floor, and reached behind her to unzip
the satin dress that emphasized every luscious curve of her body.

When she slipped the shoulders off, the satin fell in a pool
at her feet. Josh sucked in a breath at seeing the red satin bodice she wore
with tiny matching panties. As much as he enjoyed the sight of her clad in
satin, he wanted her naked for what he had in mind.

"The bra and panties too, Gia."

Once she was completely bare to him, he told her to go and
lie in the middle of the bed. Still fully dressed Josh shucked his jacket and
tie, toeing off his shoes and socks, leaving her to lie there and watch.

Once he was down to just his shirt and slacks, he walked
around to the far side of the bed, reaching beneath the mattress to pull out
the leather cuffs that attached to the restraint system.

As he slipped the first cuff around her wrist, he took just
a moment to admire the look of shock she wore. He moved down to the foot of the
bed, pulling out the ankle cuff and strapping it around her leg.

As he walked past the foot of the bed, he decided he would
give her one chance to get out of this. "It's now or never Gia. If you
don't want to do this, just say the word and I'll take you home."

With what looked to be a very deliberate move, she clamped
her lips together before shaking her head violently. He swore he saw a glimmer
of excitement in her eyes.