Josh & Hannah (Redwood Falls, #1)

by Lynda Chance

"And somebody needs to look after you, princess. And I am your next door neighbor." "My neighbor," she said flatly. "That's the reason?" He studied her intently. "It's the only reason that I'll admit to, so just drop it."

Josh looked at his friend. "I'm not interested in Ava. You don't have shit to worry about." Josh turned to Ava. "No offense." She rolled her eyes at him. "None taken." Josh glanced back to Ethan. "What's up with you two, anyway?" "Nothing!" Ava and Ethan shouted simultaneously.

The fingers in her hair tightened in her scalp. "So, I had your first kiss?" She swallowed hard. "Yes."

"I need to kiss you so hard and for so long that if somebody dares to touch you . . . all you'll be able to think about is this."

He knew he couldn't risk taking her clothes off. He knew he couldn't touch her the way he wanted to. But he didn't care; he'd had to kiss her. And if he hadn't been able to get her out of his mind before tonight . . . if his thoughts had turned to her time and time again after that first kiss in the school parking lot, then there was no question that he was damn fucked now. He wanted her with an ache in his gut that he knew couldn't be appeased by someone else. There was no sense in even trying. It had to be Hannah.

"You're only fifteen years old. You shouldn't even be reading Cosmo. I don't like it." His fingers tightened in possession. "So if you want to pay me back, don't try those damn magazine tricks on somebody else."

"Stay sweet for me, okay?" With tears in her eyes, Hannah nodded her head as Josh stroked her cheek one last time and then turned and walked from the store.

Tension ran down his body but he stood still as she stared up at him, her gaze now focused on his lips. His body stiffened as he tried to stay in control. "What do you want, Hannah?" "I want . . . I want you to kiss me," she said so softly he barely heard her.

"What the fuck, Turner?" Ty spit out. Josh's body jerked and his hand slammed down on the table in front of Ty. "Don't use that word in front of Hannah," Josh snarled.

Ty looked as if frustration was eating him alive and then abruptly, his expression changed as he glanced over at Ethan and Ava. A new kind of anger filled his features and he spoke to Ethan in a low, gravelly tone as if he were trying to control himself and not lose it completely. "Is your goddamn hand on my sister's leg?"

Hannah sat frozen in stunned disbelief as Ethan, slowly and with exaggerated movements, raised his hand from underneath the table and carefully placed it on the top. Taking his time, he looked up and met Ty's gaze. "No," Ethan replied harshly.

"You need to stay away from me. Don't make this harder on me than it already is. You don't know what it's doing to my insides--knowing I can have you, but I can't."

"Good girl," he praised. "Do us both a favor and remember that the next time you come looking for me. Repeat it to yourself if it helps. I'm dead serious, Hannah. You may feel grown-up, you may even know what you want, but the State of Texas doesn't agree with you."

"You have to have mercy on me, princess. There's only so much I can take before I'll snap, okay?"

Hannah had about ten sweet seconds of his eyes devouring her, his attention focused solely on her, and during those seconds, the realization came to her that this wasn't just a high school crush for her. She wasn't merely infatuated with him; this was an emotion deep in her soul that she was very much afraid would never go away.

You try to remember that it's not where a person comes from that makes him who he is. A man chooses how he makes his own life, and it's fairly damn obvious you've chosen the right path. You're a good kid,

all he could think about was the fact that no one would ever have Hannah but him. He would have all of her kisses, he would be the guy who took her out and held her clamped to his side; he would be the one who eventually took her virginity.

"I don't think . . . the two of us . . . together . . . is going to come as a shock to my parents." "Maybe not, but that doesn't mean they're going to like it." "They're going to have to get used to it, right?" Suddenly, if his mind hadn't been made up before, it was now. "Yeah, they will, because I'm not going anywhere."

"It's a done deal now. Your parents know about us and I'm still alive, so here's the way it's going to be. Just because we're not cementing this relationship with sex, that doesn't mean it's not a relationship. We're together, end of story."

"You belong to me now, understand? You're mine; we're exclusive. Nobody else gets to touch you, and I mean not at all." His nostrils flared and Hannah's heart stopped before

taking up a faster cadence. "I own you." His eyes searched hers. "I hope like hell you can handle it."

Josh saw this as if from a distance, but with a familiarity that was haunting as he not only imagined himself somewhere in the unknown house, but he knew, without a doubt, that he was there. As the picture was firmly established in his mind, peacefulness

radiated, not only in his thoughts, but also around the home in his head that seemed so real it had a lifeblood of its own.

He wanted what he'd seen. He wanted Hannah just like the picture in his head, and from this moment on, he'd hold on tight and make sure nothing could separate him from his purpose.

"I don't want you to think I'm blowing you off or anything, because I'm not. I get off at eight on Friday night. You think your dad will let you stay out later since it'll be a weekend?" "He'd freakin' better." Josh couldn't help it; he chuckled at the ferociousness in her tone. "Or what? You're going to run away from home?" "Only if I can run to yours," she quipped.

"And it'll be good, I swear to God. It'll always be good between us. Don't make the mistake of thinking it would be the same with someone else . . . because it wouldn't be."

"I don't care if it's half an hour. You're worth it. And remember what I said before. This is more about establishing our relationship . . . getting everyone used to us being a couple . . . it's more about that than anything else.

It might not be easy, but trust me, the last thing you have to worry about is not being worth it."

"Daddy!" Hannah's angry shout came from across the room, and after an abbreviated look of horror at her father, she ran across the room and threw herself at Josh's chest. His arms reached out and enclosed her, and he dropped his head into the crook of her shoulder. He held tight and then rocked her, to and fro, and let the essence of Hannah spread through him and calm his stretched nerves.

He squeezed her to him, and in that instant, the deeper feelings he'd been holding back came to the surface. He'd never said it before, had never said it to any girl. But he'd been feeling it for months now, and he couldn't hold back any longer. Josh lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Hannah." Her eyes flared and became brilliant with unshed tears. "I love you, too."

"When you're just banging a girl you care nothing about, hell no, you won't forget a goddamn condom. But when you're fucking obsessed? When she's yours and yours alone and you're fucking crazy-in-love and you think you're going to die if you can't get it in? You sometimes forget! Shit. Would you fucking let it go and stop acting like my father and start acting like my goddamn friend?"

Shit. She was going to die a virgin.

"I've never judged you by who your father was. I've never let your scars define what kind of a person you are; I've always looked past them and focused on the person you are on the inside. Why can't you look past the money and just let me be me?"

"Hannah, I'm warning you, and you better listen up and listen good. You're mine. Every sweet little inch, understand me? You belong to me, and no matter what kind of fight we had . . . while you're gone you best remember that you belong to me. And just so you'll know, just so we're on the same page about this and you don't have any doubts in your head . . . I'm going to be here waiting for you when you get back, because I'm yours and nobody else's. Is that clear enough for you? We're together and if you don't remember that then there will be hell to pay."

"It's not your fault. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry I'm such a douche." "You're not a douche." "Yeah, I am."

"You're my douche," she said softly. "Yeah. And I love you." "I love you, too."

"You're mine." His voice was harsh as he pushed up until he was in a place inside of her where she could feel him stretching her. His eyes wouldn't let go of hers. "Just mine, Hannah. Nobody else will ever have this." He slid in another inch and her breath caught. "You gave it to me and now it's mine. For all eternity."

She was almost asleep in his arms when she heard his voice whisper gently in her ear, "You're my world."

"What do you want, Mrs. Turner?" His voice was low and deep and it made Hannah ache for his touch. She answered him as the smoldering flame of his appraisal penetrated her. "You. What . . . what do you want?" His eyes fell to the juncture of her thighs and the air around them electrified. "Just you." His answer, determined and intense, struck a chord within her and she wanted to give him anything and everything he desired. "You have me."

His head fell to the side of hers, his mouth at her ear. "You're mine. You belong to me, heart, body, and soul." Hannah panted harder. "Yes." "No one will ever touch you, not now and not in the future."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you've figured out what I was doing in here, Hannah." She looked puzzled. "Not really. Homework, I guess." She glanced around again. "There's no television." "I was jacking off most of the time." He watched as her face split into lines of amusement and her voice peeled with infectious laughter.