Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis Page A

sin.
    He slowly shook his head. Obviously he didn’t know what that proved any more than she did. “I’m not looking for a relationship with you either,” he said quietly. “I’m not looking for a relationship period. You’ve seen my life, Grace. Hell, you’re living it. You know I’d be crazy to bring a woman into this mess.”
    “So we’re on the same page,” she said with relief. Except not really. She should feel relief, but didn’t, which made no sense. Neither of them wanted this. Where was her relief?
    His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Thanks for agreeing to watch Toby for me this week.”
    “Any time,” she whispered, then went up on tiptoes so that when she repeated the two words softly, her mouth brushed his with each syllable.
    He groaned, and the sound of it was so innately male, so sensually dominating, that she tingled all over. She leaned into him, and when he groaned again, it rumbled from his chest to hers. “Grace.”
    “I know.” She lifted her hands from him and backed away, right into the door, of course.
    His hand, low on her back, slid up until he cupped her head in his palm. “Careful.”
    They stared at each other some more. Then her hands made their way up his chest, around his neck, her fingers gliding into his hair.
    He made another sound low in his throat and pulled her back to him. She wasn’t sure which of them made the next move after that, but then they were kissing again, and damn, she’d been right. The man could kiss, really kiss—
    The knock on the other side of the door caused her to nearly jump out of her skin.
    Josh didn’t jump or let go of her. He pressed a kiss to the soft spot just beneath her ear. “You’re lethal,” he whispered before pulling her clear so he could open the door to Anna.
    Toby was in her lap eating a Popsicle, his mouth rimmed in purple.
    Anna was smirking. “Whatcha doing?” she asked.
    Josh just sent her a long look, one that would have had Grace quivering in her boots if it’d been directed at her.
    But Anna wasn’t cowed in the slightest. “Oh, I know,” she said. “You were checking each other’s tonsils.”
    “Anna,” Josh said, his tone mild but laced with a clear warning.
    She just smiled. “Toby wanted to remind you that you have open house night at school later. And you’re supposed to bring cupcakes for something or another tomorrow.”
    Still sucking on the Popsicle, Toby nodded his agreement on this.
    “Neither of those things are on the schedule,” Josh said.
    “Oops,” Anna said. “They must have gotten erased. Like my Europe trip.”
    A muscle twitched in Josh’s jaw, but he softened his expression for a solemn Toby, ruffling the boy’s hair in reassurance.
    Tank was at their feet, squealing and snuffling, trying to coax someone into picking him up. “Arf,” he said.
    “Arf,” Toby said.
    Grace’s uterus contracted, which she couldn’t have explained to save her life. “I can handle the cupcakes,” she heard herself say.
    Josh looked at her with the expression of someone who was drowning but hadn’t expected a rope tossed to him. “Yeah?”
    “Yeah.” She smiled at Toby. “I’m something of a cupcake expert. Especially chocolate cupcakes.”
    Josh’s phone buzzed from the depths of his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen, mouth grim. “Gotta go.” He kissed the top of Toby’s head. “Be good.” He sent Anna a long warning look, then went on the move, towing Grace along with him, his hand on her wrist, forcing her to practically run to keep up with him. They strode through the house and out the front. Josh shut the door firmly, then pressed her back against it, dipping down a little to look into her face.
    “We have got to stop meeting like this,” she said.
    He didn’t smile. “We still on the same page?”
    “The no-relationship page in spite of the fact that we tend to burn up all the oxygen in a room when we’re in it together?” she asked. “Hell yes, we’re