Free Holly's Intuition by Saskia Walker Page B

right.
    Stewart was al ready to spar. “Friends with benefits, huh, just like Uncle Ted.”
    “I’m not like him though, am I?” Josh was attempting to address the similarities, and the differences, and it was weighing him down.
    “Oh, yeah, right.” Stewart picked up the heart-shaped cushion and tossed it between his hands as if he was warming up for a game of rugby. “You’d love to analyse that one inside out and get yourself in a sweat about it.”
    The remark was meant to be teasing, but Joshua took it badly. “It’s just the way I am,” he muttered. “I worry about stuff. We can’t al be perfect like you.”
    Tension fil ed the atmosphere and Hol y felt it swel ing al the time—angst-laden, and shot through with the simmering chaos brought about by their mutual needs and desires.
    Stewart lifted his hands in the air. “Why the hel are we arguing?”
    “I have no idea.” Joshua glared at him.
    “Wel , try to keep that thought in mind.” Stewart lifted an eyebrow. “I am the one who is waiting patiently here.”
    He threw the cushion back on the bed.
    Joshua reeled at that. He stared across the bed at his lover then turned away, lifting the curtain to stare out of the window into the night.
    Hol y ached to comfort him. Stewart’s disappointment had hit him like a fist to the solar plexus. There was a building sense of self-resentment inside him and she couldn’t help herself. She stepped around Stewart, resting her hand on his shoulder briefly as she passed.
    He nodded at her, understanding her intentions.
    When she closed on Joshua she put her arm around his shoulders and drew him into her embrace. At first he was tense, then his resistance caved and he gripped on to her tightly. Affection and need poured from him and she felt her response rising. Drawing back she looked at him while she caressed his jaw affectionately. His expression was intense, dark and questioning, and he stared deep into her eyes. It made her want him, and her hips swayed dangerously close to his. With effort, she tried to put her own involvement aside for a moment and concentrate on his confusion about coming out to his family.
    “What you’re feeling is natural,” she whispered. “You’re worried in case they are sad that you won’t have a traditional family, but tonight showed us that they love you and they wil love you whatever your situation.”
    He nodded. “You’re so right. It’s made me feel like a total idiot.”
    Hol y could feel how much he wanted to kick himself. The yearning to reassure him had taken a hold of her. “I know you couldn’t just say it right there and then, not when your brother joked about it, but your parents weren’t offended when he did.”
    “That’s because they thought it was a joke.”
    “Did they?” She wondered if it was a no-smoke-without-fire situation.
    He eyed her thoughtful y.
    Assuming she’d got his attention, she pressed on. “You’re worrying too much, trying to gauge their responses ahead of time, and that means you’re throwing up al sorts of possible scenarios and putting yourself through the wringer over it.”
    He nodded, stil looking at her with curiosity.
    “The most important thing is they care about you, and they are warm and accepting people. Even if it takes time to get used to the idea they won’t judge you because of it. Deep down you know that, even if you wish it were easier to get past the tel ing stage.”
    He shook his head at her, and his mouth had lifted in one corner. “How is it that you know how I feel?”
    “Oh, I…” Damn . Hol y pul ed away, aware that she must have said too much and got too close to exposing her own secrets.
    “You’re a sensitive person,” he added, “but I knew that already.”
    He was thinking back to the accident, and Hol y was captured by his mood as he remembered the sound of her voice cal ing his name when he was out cold on the road. Hol y let his experience fil her senses. Their attachment had formed