Never Been Kissed

Ch.42 ↬ M

"Frank's a firefighter, right?" I asked.

My nervousness was beginning to slowly manipulate all knowledge I had garnered of Josh's family. Of course I already knew Frank was a firefighter and Josh's mom oversaw the finances for Kelly Industries on a personal level.

Josh grinned at me. "You're adorable when you're nervous."

Despite the trepidation, the compliment did ebb away at it, but only partially. Fleetingly seeing and exchanging quick pleasantries with Josh's mom was one thing but sitting down to dinner with her and being formally introduced as her son's girlfriend was in a whole other stratosphere.

In fact, after I'd initially offered to drive, Josh straight up protested after witnessing me almost crash into the side of his pristine BMW while navigating out of my parking space back at the apartment block. He'd been so persistent upon driving that he sprinted up all those stairs to get his key and gently ushered me into the passenger seat of his car.

Not that I was complaining. Imagine how I'd have been during the actual drive and not just the reversing of a parking space. I shuddered at the thought. I'm sure it would be stuff of nightmares.

"I just want to make a good impression."

Actually, the nerves had piled on only yesterday. Last night's sleep was dreadful. My nightmare revisited me—a rarity since Josh and I have been sleeping beside one another—and left me thrashing in Josh's secure arms. He awoke with a start, he told me afterwards, and locked his arms around me immediately. I'd only woken up after Dream Madeline had failed to escape the kitchen... moments before the harrowingly worst part of that memory.

"You've already made a good impression. And you know Vince can't say a single bad thing about you." He hesitated. "Well, except one."

My nerves jolted. "Which is?"

"The fact that you're with me. This might be the only time I agree with him because he said you're way out of my league."

The truth was, I was damaged. Damaged goods come at a price. No matter how many smiles I can muster sincerely and how loud my laughter might ring out, I will always clutch at that luggage that follows in my wake. But my history was intricately twined with Josh. Maybe that's why we were both managing to make it work. I know it's only been a few weeks, but everything just felt as though my world had slotted right onto its axis again.

"And don't you dare fucking argue with me on that," Josh interjected before I could bashfully negate his confession. "Vince agrees with me. And I'm sure Raegan does too. And my entire family. All the proof you need."

Josh was unfathomable sometimes. At twenty-three he was a CEO. He'd been thrust into that role way too young, but he was coping, and he was exceeding all expectations. A new expansion of Kelly Industries was already being executed due to his proposals.

He was one of a kind.

And when you got to know him as a person—behind the suits and charming smiles—he was so humble and down to earth it was staggering. He was selfless and always wore his heart on his sleeve. He might not have always offered Oscar the best of advice considering he was only six, but his heart and intentions were in the right place. And Oscar firmly believed that Josh was the kick-ass older brother he always wanted.

Josh's chuckle amputated me from my reverie. He reached out and squeezed my hand on my lap before drawing it back. Without any other warning, he activated his blinker and pulled off at the next junction, idly venturing down what I was soon realising to be quite a deserted area. My brows bunched as I registered the car decelerating and us swerving carefully to the side of the road. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I could confirm that there were no cops tailing us.