Элла Франк - Entice

Josh watched as she made her way across the dining room with a Hessian bag. With her purple hair braided into pigtails, she was dressed in tight black leather pants and had a bright red hoodie zipped to just between her breasts.

Josh tried to look at her as a woman, someone he’d never met, just to see if he could. But no such luck. She was Rachel—his best friend’s baby sister. She would always be the little brat he’d picked on. It was a shame really because she was extremely attractive in an in-your-face wild kind of way.

She stopped in front of him and held her palm out flat, looking down at him with twinkling eyes full of mischief.

“Give me that horrible excuse for a doughnut.”

Josh lifted it slowly and licked right across the top of the powdered sugar, winking at her. That was when she reached out and pushed it into his nose. Coughing, he pulled it away, hearing both Mason and Lena laughing behind her.

“Don’t mess with her pastries, Josh,” Lena told him through a fit of giggles.

Looking up at Rachel, he watched as she grinned and reached out to swipe his nose with her finger.

“Powdered sugar doesn’t look right on you. You aren’t that sweet.”

Josh frowned. “Aw, come on, Rach. Now, you’re just trying to hurt my feelings.”

Turning, she moved around the table and took a seat, putting her feet up on the chair opposite her.

Josh watched as she crossed her arms, and then he asked, “How can I make it up to you?”

She sat forward before questioning him. “Do you still like to dance?”

Groaning, Josh shook his head and rolled his eyes. Back in the day, Rachel, Mason, and himself all use to frequent the clubs. Sure, now I do it a lot less, but I’ll go if she really wants me to. Plus, I might meet someone.

“Yeah, I don’t mind it. Got a place in mind?”

She nodded, putting her feet on the floor. “Friday night. We’ll all go to Blue Moon.”

From across the table, he heard Lena cough a little, so Josh turned to look in her and Mason’s direction.

“You don’t like Blue Moon?” he inquired cautiously.

Mason reached over and took Lena’s hand. He squeezed it, and then said, “We’ve only been once.”

Josh watched Mason turn to Lena, speaking softly, “Let’s go and change that memory, huh?”

Lena nodded, and Josh could tell there was more going on than he knew about. He turned back to Rachel, who was sitting quiet and pensive, lost somewhere else in her own thoughts as she stared out the window.

Josh kept his eyes on her, wondering what was on her mind. Instead of asking, he told her, “Okay, count me in. Friday it is.” He paused, reaching for the doughnut. “Now, can I eat my doughnut in peace?”

Rachel turned back to him, plastering on a too happy smile, and took the offensive doughnut, dropping it on the table. She opened her bag, pulled out a cling-wrapped plate with what looked like homemade beignets, and placed it on the table in front of him.

Josh pulled his eyes away from the plate, moving them back to Rachel. He grinned. “You’re an angel. Anyone tell you that?”

“Stop sucking up, Daniels. Just know that when this melts in your mouth, I saved you from polluting your taste buds.”

Picking up one of the tasty morsels, he took a bite and groaned, looking over at her smug face.

“You can say it now,” she instructed him.

“Say what?” he questioned around the second bite.

“That I’m right, and I’m a genius,” Rachel pointed out smugly.

Grinning, Josh leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “You’re right, and you’re a crazy purple-haired genius.” Sitting back, he watched the smirk creep onto her face. He looked at Mason and Lena and winked as he ended with, “Who loves to look at her brother’s porn.”

He watched with delight when her eyes widened, and the other two at the table burst out into laughter.

“Oh, I hate you, Daniels!”

Finishing off the beignet, he blew her a kiss. “Nah, you don’t. I’m gonna take you dancing.”

Shelly was standing in front of her mirror, inspecting her reflection, when she heard the intercom peal through her condo. Quickly, she dashed over and hit the enter button.

Lena had called her the other night and asked if she wanted to go out dancing. At first, Shelly had hesitated, thinking it was a set-up, until Lena had told her to bring a date.

Enter Paul Worthington, a man that would most certainly prove my father’s theory on my dating skills wrong. Enter a successful, stable, reliable man.

Shelly had called him back when she’d gotten home Monday and was surprised when he told her he wanted to get together and maybe even give things another try. Not having any other interesting offers available, she hadn’t seen the harm in giving it one last shot, even though she had a rule about repeats. Never repeat bad words you hear, never repeat bad dates you had, and never ever repeat a bad sexual experience.

In all fairness, Paul hadn’t been bad at anything. He just never followed through. He’d told her over and over that he wanted to wait so it would be special. Wait for what? Marriage? It wasn’t like I was saving myself since those days were long gone. So, what was he waiting for?

Before she talked herself out of the date, she slicked her lips with gloss, tugged down the hem of her black dress, and made her way to the front door. Pulling it open, she found Paul standing with his back facing her.

He was dressed in a dark brown sports coat and cream-colored slacks. When he turned, his green eyes shined as he smiled at her, looking her over. She reciprocated, looking at the blue button-up shirt that was tucked neatly in at his waist. She finally pulled her gaze up to land on his.

“Paul, it’s so nice to see you again.” Reaching out her hands, she watched as he took them and squeezed her fingers.

“You, too, Shelly,” he told her as he moved into the condo. She turned away to grab her bag and coat as he said softly, “You look fantastic.”

Smiling over her shoulder at him, she took his hand in hers. “So do you. Ready to go dancing?”

He tensed a little, and Shelly got the impression that he was not looking forward to it at all. Ahh, prayers answered—a boring suit, a nice man, and a personality that I can predict. That’s what I want, right?

* * *

The music was pumping through the club and bodies were gyrating when Rachel dragged Josh through the doors. The dim lights were a welcome relief from the bright floodlights outside where they’d been waiting in line. His eyes scanned the sea of people, looking for his friend, but he was coming up empty. Man, I could use a beer, he thought as they pushed through the crowd. When they got to the bar, Rachel turned and rested her back against it.

“Man, I love this place!” she shouted over the music.

“Really?” he queried, looking at her as she scanned the crowd.

Josh was starting to get the impression that Rachel’s outlandish hair and outfits were all part of some kind of bigger picture that he and everybody else may be missing, and he wanted to see if she would confirm it. She turned her head, facing him, and grinned.

“Yeah, really.” She paused, and then looked back out at the dancing crowd with that same almost sad look on her face from the other day. Then, she brightened again and nodded as if confirming her first thought. “You can totally lose yourself here. I love it!”

Josh looked at her, smiling. Now, that statement is completely Rachel.

She was dressed in a tiny pink PVC tank top and leather pants tonight. She looked like a tiny little dominatrix that had been spray-painted with Pepto-Bismol.

The bartender came down and took their orders. Josh watched the crowd as they shifted and swayed to the throbbing of the music.

Rachel turned around when the bartender came back and grabbed her drink. Josh was about to ask when Mason and Lena were supposed to meet them when Rachel started waving her hand in the direction of the door. He turned around and that was when he saw her walk in.

Even from where he was standing, he could see every curve of her spectacular body, but that probably had something to do with the skintight black dress she’d painted on herself. She had her perfect blonde hair pulled up into a tight high ponytail. As she stepped forward through the crowd, he noticed her feet were flaunting a wicked pair of heels that looked so sharp they could be deadly.

Josh took a deep breath in, letting his eyes follow her naked legs up to the long stretch of creamy white thigh that was then cut off by the black dress. It hugged her thighs, hips, and all the smooth lines between before tightly clinging to her spectacular breasts. The sexy little dress ended in a halter fashion, held up by two strips of material tied around her neck.

The woman looks fucking amazing. No matter what his brain had told him the other night, he couldn’t help but want her. Want. Her.

He was about to make the dumbest move possible and go over there when his sanity was restored in the form of a man stepping inside the club behind her. He was dressed in what looked like a sports coat and a pair of slacks and looked like he belonged at a business barbecue, not at a nightclub and certainly not with her.

Josh shook his head. Turning back to the bar, he picked up his beer. Thank God for men in sports coats because that schmuck just saved my ass from being a total dipshit.

* * *

Shelly let her eyes adjust to the dimly lit club.

Looking around, she couldn’t see Mason or Lena anywhere, but suddenly, she spotted Rachel over by the bar, jumping up and down and waving her hand erratically. Shelly grinned and turned to grab Paul’s arm.

“They’re just over this way,” she shouted, pulling him into the crowd with her.

Pushing her way past the bodies, she noticed a man standing with his back to them. Must be Rachel’s date, she thought, looking him over.

As her eyes worked over his relaxed form, Shelly felt a stab of guilt for the jealous thoughts entering her mind. Damn, Rachel’s date has one fine ass.

He was bent over leaning on the bar, wearing jeans that clung to his thick thighs and the posterior she was currently admiring. Stretched snugly across his huge shoulders was a black leather jacket that Shelly wanted to stroke.

God, that’s hot, she thought as she stopped in front of Mason’s sister. Stop looking at him and start paying attention to your friend, Shelly chided herself, and then tacked on the end, and your own date.

“Hey, Shelly. Mase and Lena aren’t here yet,” Rachel told her with a grin.

Nodding, Shelly looked over her shoulder at the crowd, and then back to Rachel and her mystery boyfriend. Shifting toward Paul, she figured introducing him would in turn get Rachel to encourage Mr. Sexy to turn around.

Hey, if I can’t date these guys, I can at least look and drool.

“This is Paul,” she said, gesturing to him.

Paul leaned toward Rachel, holding out his hand. Shelly watched as Rachel looked at him with a confused frown before she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward into a huge hug. Shelly tried to stifle a laugh at Paul’s stiff posture.

“Hi, Paul. I’m Rachel, and this here is Josh.” Turning to the guy beside her, Rachel whacked him on the back before he stood and turned to face them.

Shelly felt her stomach tighten as butterflies started to take flight in her belly.

Josh Daniels! Just my damn luck.

She let her eyes wander down his jeans, and then back up over the tight black T-shirt that molded to every muscle he had.

Delicious. There’s that stupid annoying word again, but holy cow, he looks edible. His shaggy brown hair was falling down around the collar of his leather jacket, and a few stray strands were flopping into his eyes. Those sexy chocolate-brown eyes were currently making no secret that they were unmistakably devouring every inch of her. When they finally got to her face, he winked.

“Dr. Monroe,” he said in a voice that licked all over her naughty bits. “So nice to see you again.”

Gripping her purse in one hand and Paul in the other like he was her lifeline, she answered, “You, too. Still no bald patches, I see.”