The Driven Snowe (16 page)

“Well, is this Friday one of those nights? Because I'm going out,” Angela said, with a firm nod. “I'm sick of feeling like this. I want to have some
fun.
”

“Whoo-hoo! I'll drink to that!” Ginny said, raising her soda in salute.

“You go, girl!” Tanya called.

“Ladies.” Josh's smooth baritone emerged right behind her ear, and Angela jumped. She twisted in her chair quickly enough to hear her neck crack. “You looked like you were having so much fun, I couldn't resist coming over.”

“Josh?” Angela couldn't believe it. “What are you doing here?”

“What I should have done two weeks ago,” he said in a low voice. “Could I talk with you for a minute?”

She looked over at her lunch companions. They were a comedic mixture of hope and protectiveness. May was smiling at Josh encouragingly, while Ginny was frowning at him. Tanya looked like she didn't know which way she wanted to go with it.

“Sure.” Angela stood up, carefully folding her napkin to get time to compose herself. She followed him outside the restaurant. “What…what did you want?”

“I…” He looked at her, his cobalt eyes deep and…unsure? “I…er, how have you been?”

She blinked at him. “Fine,” she lied.

“That's good. That's…oh, hell with it.” He leaned forward, and before she knew what he was doing he was pressing her against a wall and kissing her fervently. Her body started reacting before her mind could catch up. His tongue was in her mouth, and she welcomed it, gripping at his shoulders, bringing him closer. She moaned gently in the back of her throat.

She didn't know how long that went on…not long enough, though. He pulled back, leaning his forehead against hers, his breathing rough. “Let's try that again,” he rasped. “So, how have you been?”

“Miserable,” she whispered, unevenly. “You?”

“Worse.”

She smiled. She couldn't help it. “That's nice.”

He grinned, stroking her cheek. She curved into his hand like a cat, all but purring. “I missed the hell out of you.”

She didn't want to admit any more than she had. “How did you find me?”

“One of the benefits of small-town living,” Josh said, pointing at her car, parked in the restaurant's lot. “I wanted to apologize.”

She pushed him away so she could look into his eyes. “Really?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” He grinned at her, and despite his humor, his eyes seemed serious. He wasn't just trying to charm her. At least, she didn't think so. “I shouldn't have yelled at you. You made those plans ages ago. It just caught me by surprise.” The look of frustration on his face comforted her. Probably because she knew how he felt. “To be honest, you always catch me by surprise. I haven't known quite what to do with you.”

“I know the feeling,” she murmured.

He grinned, that sexy, lightning grin that made his eyes glow. “So do you forgive me?”

“Well…”
Was she being too harsh on him?
The lunchtime conversation was still too fresh. “I suppose. But don't let it happen again,” she added. As May said, she needed a line in the sand.

“You don't sound certain,” he said, nuzzling her neck and making her heart race. “Why don't I make it up to you?”

“Wha…what did you have in mind?” He was starting to stroke her sides, nothing overtly sexual, but her eyes were still beginning to cross.

“Let me take you away this weekend. To San Diego. I told you I should take you there one of these days.”

“San Diego?”

“I know this great hotel that has a view of the ocean, and the weather's great this time of year.”

“Um…” It sounded lovely. And romantic. And she'd really, really missed him. “I guess so.”

“I'll pick you up tomorrow, and we'll go to the airport from your place,” he said. Then his eyes smoldered. “I don't suppose you could bag class tonight, and stay with me?”

She shook her head. “Dance class. I always go to dance class. It's my favorite.” But it was
tempting.

He sighed, and she saw the frustration again. “I understand,” he said, then kissed her, slowly this time, until her head was swimming and she wanted to drag him to his car and ravage him. “I don't usually get this carried away in public,” he said, apologetically. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she said. Her lips felt swollen, and she was on the razor's edge of canceling her dance class—and taking the rest of the day off, for that matter.

“Angela,” he added, before she could disappear back into the restaurant. “This means a lot to me.
You
mean a lot to me.”

She smiled, then walked back into the restaurant on
unsteady legs. When she sat down her co-workers stared at her like hawks.

“So? What happened?” Tanya asked eagerly.

Ginny laughed. “I think it's obvious what happened, from the look of her. Guess you're back together, huh?”

“Um, yes,” Angela said, still dazed. “I think.”

May sent her an indulgent smile. “Guess dancing is out this Friday, huh?”

Dancing! “Oh, no. I'm sorry! I completely forgot. I'm supposed to go with him to San Diego this weekend—I forgot about going out with you guys.”

Ginny waved her statement away with one hand. “No problem. All women get their priorities whacked when a man enters the picture.”

Tanya quirked an eyebrow at her. “Like you haven't?”

“Honey, if I could get Russell Crowe to enter my picture, I don't think anybody would ever see me again!”

They laughed, but Angela felt sobered, abruptly losing the high she'd felt from Josh's kisses. “I promise, no matter what, I'll go out with you guys next weekend,” Angela said.

“It's okay,” Tanya said. “Really. We understand.”

“Well, I promise anyway.” Angela said, and let them move on to other topics of conversation. Still, she could feel it…feel the slow sink of realization.

You've just broken your second rule to yourself.

She still had one more. She wasn't about to tell him anything—no professions of love. He had enough power over her as it was.

 

A
NGELA SAT ON A
big beige couch in Josh's parents' house, a small, blond-haired cherub sitting contentedly
on her lap with her tiny fist in her mouth. She was drooling on it, Angela noticed. Glancing around to see if anyone else noticed this development, she saw Josh sitting with his parents at the kitchen table, talking animatedly. His youngest sister, Isabel, was standing by the grand piano in the living room with her boyfriend Drake. They were talking to some cousin or aunt, Angela couldn't remember which. Meanwhile, she heard clomping around upstairs.

“Robby, you get back here this instant!”

A small, naked and apparently wet boy made a dash down the stairs, paused just long enough to grin at everyone's laughing applause, then dash back up the stairs.

Robby's mother—Josh's middle sister, Harriet—was also the mother of the blonde on her lap. She appraised the child nervously. The drooling showed no signs of abating. She took another glance around, then surreptitiously wiped off the little girl's mouth and fist with the corner of her frilly little dress. “There we go,” Angela said, relieved.

The child grinned toothlessly at her.

And this is how Josh decides to “make it up” to me.

San Diego was just as beautiful and peaceful as Josh had described it. She'd felt very serene—right up to the point when he pulled into his parents' crowded driveway.

“I have to do this,” he said, his eyes trying to be apologetic and failing. “It's my father's birthday.”

Angela's first reaction had been shock. She was expecting this to be a romantic idyll, filled with lots of sun, sand, and make-up sex that she'd kept reading about in romance novels. Instead, she got blindsided by the stress
of meeting not just his parents, but his entire family, with no prior notice. He just grinned at her as he ushered her into the house and started introducing her around. She managed as best she could with the absolute crush of people swarming around her.

For a perceptive man, he'd been really dense about this. She reluctantly admitted that they had an arrangement, something that far outstripped the “arrangement” that they'd originally agreed on. But she was still getting used to those emotions. For someone on shaky ground, definition-wise, introducing somebody to their entire family in one fell swoop was hardly the way to ease her into this new status.

She thought of her khaki slacks, her white tank top. Not that everyone else was dressed formally, but she certainly would have dressed up if she'd realized she was meeting his family. Darn it! Didn't he know women liked to be warned about these sorts of things?

If this is how he's going to apologize for last Sunday, how exactly is he planning to “make up” for this weekend?

The child tugged on her shirt, and she looked down.

“Ga,” the baby said, solemnly. Then she yanked at the end of Angela's ponytail and grinned, a beatific baby smile.

Angela couldn't help it. She smiled back.

“She likes you.”

Angela looked up to see Josh's parents. Josh stood safely a little behind him. She narrowed her eyes at him. He just grinned.

“Our Mindy doesn't take to many people,” Josh's father said, sitting on her left side. “You must be pretty special.”

To her dismay, Josh's mother sat on her right side. She was now neatly boxed in. Josh leaned against the opposite wall, his arms crossed in front of him, still grinning.

“So, Angela,” his mother said. “I'm afraid Josh hasn't told us too much about you. How long have you two been seeing each other?”

Let the Inquisition commence.
Angela suppressed a groan, and tried to look placid as the child settled herself in comfortably and started to doze. “Um…not very long at all, actually,” she said, hoping that she could pass herself off as someone more casual, just a friend.

“Three months,” Josh supplied.

She frowned at him.

“That's not too long,” his mother mused, looking Angela over speculatively. “So, dear. How did you two meet?”

Josh's eyes gleamed with mischievous amusement. “Well, that's a funny story, actually….”

Angela panicked. “We met in the library,” she improvised, interrupting him. “He was looking for something, and I helped him, er, find it.”

His father grinned at him. They could have been brothers. “Really? What were you looking for?”

Angela glanced at Josh, her eyes imploring him for help.

“Actually, I was looking for her,” he said, causing his father to laugh. “As you can see, she was very helpful.”

His mother clucked her tongue, rolling her eyes a little. “Men,” she said, with obvious disapproval.

“I couldn't agree with you more,” Angela said, frowning at Josh.

“Uh-oh,” his father said. “They're starting to take sides.”

“Honestly,” his mother said, scooping up the sleeping child off of Angela's lap. “Having you two around is like living in
Saturday Night Live.
” She carried the girl upstairs, where the naked Robby had disappeared.

Angela wound up having a good time. She discussed books with Isabel, who had some interest in writing—“more as a hobby than a career,” she'd said modestly—and then she'd talked about the kids with their proud mother, Harriet. She'd talked about Manzanita with his father, and about her old house with his mother. They had an early dinner, around a large table. It warmed her heart, to see such a big, strangely
normal
family enjoying time together.

They got to the birthday portion of the get-together. After frowning and bellyaching over his sugar-free carrot cake, Josh's father looked gleeful at the amount of presents he'd received, then tore into them like a five-year-old. New golf clubs were oohed and aahed over. After a while, they went back to separate, happy conversations. The kids were put to bed.

“Looks like it's time for us to go,” Josh said. Although she'd been having a pleasant time, she still felt relieved.

She went over to Josh's father. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Montgomery.” She felt her face redden slightly. “I'm sorry I didn't bring a birthday gift. This was sort of a surprise for me.” She glared at Josh, who just smiled back at her.

“Robert, please.” He hugged her. “And don't worry about it—I think you were my gift.” He winked at her, and he reminded her of Josh. She smiled back.

 

“I
STILL CAN'T BELIEVE
you did that.”

Josh smiled at Angela's comment. He probably shouldn't have, but he couldn't resist. She kept trying to pigeonhole them in their “arrangement,” or under the tepid guise of “friends,” and it annoyed him. He wasn't going to hide her from his parents, when he wanted very badly for them to meet her—a woman who was finally worth bringing home. He wasn't about to pretend he was feeling anything other than what he was feeling, not in front of anyone. Including her.

He'd been charming Angela for the rest of the evening, taking her to the beach, for a romantic moonlight stroll, and even out dancing. She'd slowly thawed, but it had taken a measure of his considerable charm.

He wanted her charmed for what he had to tell her tonight.

The hotel was perfect: a view of the moonlight glinting off the crests of waves hitting the beach, a soft breeze, the murmuring crash of surf in the distance. He couldn't have planned it better.

I love you, Angela. I love you, Angela.

He'd never said the words before, so he supposed that was a good enough reason to be nervous. He wasn't nervous about her reaction to it. Okay, maybe a little nervous about that, but how badly could she take it?