Married to the Devil

Chapter 19

I felt like a stalker.

Josh's condo door was glaring at me in the face. The golden numbers mockingly glinted against the bright overhead light in the lobby way. They seemed to sense my hesitation and laugh as I reached my hand forward, back, and then forward again in an attempt to knock on the dark green painted wood.

In all honesty, I wasn't even sure why I was here.

On a spur of the moment I had jumped out of my chair and left the comforts of the warm, but busy, coffee shop. I took a cab to Josh's and it hadn't been a long ride, which in my case was fortunate because it forced me to avoid the luxury of spending time to think.

Time to think about Derek? And how he's all alone at home? Wondering where you are and if you decided to ditch him, maybe?

I shook my head and slapped my hands to my cheeks as a wake up call. This wasn't the time to think about him. This was the time to talk to Josh about his letter and to confront him about whatever the heck this was.

With a sudden burst of confidence, I knocked as hard as I could. A muffled voice on the other side seemed to acknowledge me and I heard footsteps shuffling my way.

A burst of fear and dread wormed it's way into my heart. What if Josh wasn't alone?

Was Evelyn on the other side?

Shit. Why hadn't I thought this through a little bit more?

The possibility of being seen by Evelyn would conquer of foul consequences.

I scowled as I thought of how I knew that she'd march over to Lamar's office, or one of her top-notch lawyers, and demand to sue me for negligence of the contracts. I could almost imagine the satisfied sneer that would appear over her lips, smothered in whatever the latest brand of lipstick was these days.

My fingers flew to my mouth, about to reconstruct the horrendous habit of nail biting that I'd thought I'd destroyed years ago.

The green door opened slowly and out peeked a pair of welcoming blue eyes. The door opened wider and with a quick sweep of the area behind him, I knew that Josh was alone.

He smiled happily, his pearl white teeth shining. I smiled back and raised my hand in a tiny wave. He stepped back and let me in. The gesture eradicated all my previous doubts and thoughts to leave.

I sucked in a breath at the warm feeling I got from being back to his condo.

"I've missed this," I said, looking around at all the objects in the room, reminiscing about past evenings, nights, even days spent here.

I hadn't been back since being married. And the other times I went to meet Josh, they were always at small restaurants or cafés.

Josh beamed, taking my purse and hanging it up on the coat rack. I walked further and touched a hand to his glass table over a plump Arabian rug.

Considering his wealth, he was easily able to afford this condo overlooking the best view of the beach for miles. It was big and spacious, nothing like mine. From the photos of family fishing trips as a youngster to a trophy wall of all the birthday, Christmas, and whatever other gift-giving holiday, of presents I'd given him, his entire place screamed 'home'.

I loved spending weekends and endless hours here leafing through his wide range of books or just painting pictures in his art studio.

Josh guided me to his dining table and I saw a buffet of silver lids on silver platters, all of which were probably real, and mouth-watering smells wafted around me. I eyed the dishes hungrily, probably because of my mousy breakfast, and took a seat as fast as I could.