****
When she saw Josh standing in the middle of the road, Lux decided to test him as there was no way she was going to back down from his challenge. If he thought, he was rubber man she was about to put him to the test. Sweat broke out on her forehead. She didn’t want to hurt him, she would never hurt Josh, but she enjoyed pushing him to his limits, she always had.
They locked eyes as she sped towards him. He called her bluff; he didn’t move a muscle, not even a twitch. Too late, she realized she was going too fast, so there was no way to avoid hitting him. Everything slowed down as she registered his stunned look and engaged the brakes for all she was worth.
Then the most incredible thing she had ever seen happened. His hands made brief contact with the hood of the car before he pushed off and vaulted out of the way. To her mind, his feat was implausible and it freaked her out more than she could have imagined.
Finally coming to a stop, her head whipped around in concern. Catching sight of him was to watch a furious Josh striding towards her.
Tracking his every move, Lux bit her lip as his long gait ate up the distance between them. She wasn’t surprised when he nearly ripped the door off its hinges to get to her. Gripping her by the arm, Josh pulled her out of the vehicle. One moment her feet were on the ground and the next she was suspended in the air, her arms plastered at her sides. And she was nose to nose with smoldering, green-black eyes.
“I should put you over my knee and paddle your backside for pulling that stunt! Why the hell didn’t you at least swerve?”
“I’d like to see you try it, Joshua!” Lux responded ignoring his question. She wasn’t really frightened he’d carry out his threat; she was more embarrassed with miscalculating her speed and braking time.
“What the hell were you thinking?!” Josh asked.
“I was thinking, I told you to go away and leave me alone. I also thought that as you chose to stand in the middle of the road, you apparently thought you could stop a moving vehicle.” Lux delivered her response without inflection.
“Luxandria!” Josh warned, his voice a rumble of irritation.
“You need to stop using my name like it belongs to you!” Lux flung back.
The stunned look on his face didn’t bother her in the slightest. What bothered her was how close she had come to hurting him. If she were a better person, she would admit it and apologize.
Something in his eyes changed. By increments, the fury seeped out to be replaced by a look that bothered her even more than his anger. His nostrils flared and he seemed to pull in her scent. Lux knew that look and stiffened in reaction. She fought it, but her heart rate picked up speed.
In the seven years since she’d last seen him, she’d found out the hard way that the attraction they shared couldn’t be replicated with any other man. This reaction was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid; him touching her or being this close to him. Their brief encounter of last night was all the proof she needed that she had to stay away from him.
She couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop her heart from pounding nor the thin veil of sweat from popping out on her forehead. Lux didn’t fool herself that he missed her reaction to his proximity.
His eyes slowly descended to her lips and Lux held her breath as her mind pulled up memories of being held in his arms. Her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned closer to him.
Without warning, she felt the strong hands that held her by her shoulders disappear. Her eyes opened just in time to see him step back to watch her land on her backside.
“Why you... you did that on purpose!” Lux sputtered.
“Luxandria, all you had to say was sorry. Seems to me, if I have to eat dirt the least you can do is sit in it,” Josh laughed.
Rising to her feet, Lux brushed off the seat of her shorts while giving him the dirtiest look she could manage. Turning her back on him, she stomped towards her car, feeling like a complete fool. If she could get away with it, she was going to leave him standing exactly where he was.
“I’ll drive,” Josh said blocking her attempt at getting into the car.
Knowing he’d read her intention, Lux said nothing as she leisurely walked around the vehicle and got into the passenger seat. Looking over at Josh, she bit down on her bottom lip. He looked ridiculous as he sat behind the steering wheel with his knees nearly pressed up against his ears.
“God dammit, Lux, could you have found a smaller car!” Josh grumbled even as he searched for the lever to push the car seat as far back as it would go.
Lux did her best not to laugh, but it escaped her. The sounds of discomfort coming from him pulled her gaze towards his struggle. When their eyes finally met they both burst into laughter. That this older and harder Josh still retained his irrepressible sense of humor hitched at her heart.
Chapter 4