What Fools Believe Read Online Free

onto his erection, but a nagging uncertainty halted the biting need coursing through him.
    This moment could mean nothing. But what if it meant everything?
    Joshua stopped. He gasped, breathing hard from want. After a second he tipped his head back and confessed, “You really hurt me.”
    “It happened such a long time ago, Josh.”
    “No. What you said to me today. That really hurt me.”
    “I don’t want to lie to you.”
    “I don’t want you to either.” Refusing to concede an inch, Joshua dug his fingers into her hips and held on. “Were you really happier with him than with me?”
    “Spencer and I were in love. Somewhere along the line it just wasn’t enough for him anymore. None of that means I didn’t care for you. It never meant I didn’t want to be a part of your life.”
    “But you just left.”
    “Because I know you better than you want to admit. You would’ve never accepted me being more in love with him. If I had stayed, it would’ve ruined both our chances at being happy.”
    “Olivia. Spencer. They could’ve turned me into a pariah, but if I’d had you, I would’ve been happy.” Rebecca laughed at his overture and he nudged her away. “You’re right. I am too old for this.”
    “Sleep it off. You’ll be fine by morning.”
    He flopped back onto the bed. Joshua eyed her. Spurned, but wrestling with a keening body part, he groped himself so she could see the outline of his erection. Rebecca reached out and touched his stomach, but he pushed her hand down to the bulge. His eyes rolled shut at her touch. More flashes appeared. Joshua tugged on her arm, gently encouraging her to join him on the bed. She curled into his side and he turned to her and said, “I hate you again.”
    “Can’t we just be friends first?”  
    “No. That’s how much I hate you.”
    Rebecca tucked her hair behind her ear and stared into his eyes as the silence built around them. He mimicked her position on the bed then said, “I want to make love.”
    “We just decided—”
    “We did not.” He glanced down at her breasts, licked his lips. “Let me make love to you. I can tell you want me to. Just admit that, Rebecca.”
    “There’s no point in admitting that.”
    “Do you want me to beg?”
    “I want you to understand and to be okay with my decision.”
    “Be okay with your one-sided decision that involves me. Absolutely not,” he told her. She said nothing to that. He inhaled and blew out the breath. “Was the sex good at least?”  
    She laughed and asked, “Is this interrogation ever going to end?”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “Yes.”  
    “Good because I’m tired.”
    “You want me to leave?”
    “I told you you could stay and I meant it.”
    “Did you mean the part about us just being friends too?”  
    “That’s your choice.”
    He cupped the back of her neck and brought her close, kissing her forehead. “Right now, I don’t want to be your friend.”
    “Maybe tomorrow you won’t feel that way. Have you considered that?”
    “How many tomorrows do you think I’ve had to consider that?” She tensed in his hand. She really didn’t believe that he loved her. “Too many is the answer,” he told her.
    Fondling her back, Joshua found her zipper and pulled. He looked up at her, fearing a rebuffing, but also terrified he might cross an unforgivable line. It figured that for someone who made a living off of reading people, the woman he fell in love with would be the one person he couldn’t read. He didn’t understand her. It worried him she remained this huge blind spot in his life, but there had been nothing like her before and no one came close after so he’d have to keep going.
    He sat up. Rebecca came up with him. He pointed to the phone on the nightstand and said, “I’ll have the concierge call me a cab.”
    She started to protest, but reconsidered.  
    A short while later he stumbled into his apartment. Exhausted, he passed out on the sofa.

7

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