Free Once A Bad Girl by Jane O'Reilly

you these.’ Josh shoved his fingers into his left pocket, and pulled something out, something small and white. At first, she wondered why he was giving her a crumpled tissue. It took a moment for her befuddled brain to latch onto the fact that it wasn’t, in fact, something she could blow her nose on. The fabric wasn’t smooth but woven, sheer in places, and decorated with tiny flowers.
    Lottie buried her face in her hands. ‘Thanks,’ she wheezed, as Josh placed her knickers delicately onto the table. She slapped her hand on top of them and whipped them out of sight. ‘But you shouldn’t have.’
    Next to her, Barry made a noise like a pig being strangled. ‘Six months,’ he huffed. ‘Six months of turning me down, and you opened your legs for him ?’ He shot to his feet for the second time in under a minute, and nearly sent the table flying. ‘How long?’ One pasty hand wrapped around the paper napkin he had tucked into his collar, ripped it free. ‘How long have you been seeing him?’
    Josh cut in before she could figure out an answer. ‘We only met a week ago,’ he said cheerily, scratching his chest, looking unreasonably, infuriatingly pleased with himself.
    Why was he doing this? What did he possibly have to gain? ‘Barry, please,’ Lottie pleaded, as the napkin was flung aside, only to be caught by the breeze and draped slowly over his half-eaten pasta and clams.
    She willed him to say something, anything, but he didn’t, he just glared at her with those gravy-brown eyes, shook his head, and walked off, linen jacket flapping noisily.
    Anger boiled up inside her as Josh settled himself into Barry’s seat. ‘You!’ She poked him hard in the chest with her index finger. ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ She jabbed at him again, and he flinched. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?’
    ‘Saved you from making a horrible mistake?’
    She threw her hands in the air. ‘No! Barry works for Christie’s. He told me about Marlene’s memorabilia. I was hoping he might let something else slip.’
    ‘Then I really did you a favour. Jeez, Lottie, that’s desperate.’
    ‘I am desperate.’ Sinking back down to her chair, Lottie pinched the bridge of her nose, as if pain could stop the tears, suddenly realising just how far she’d sunk. ‘I’m out of ideas,’ she admitted. ‘I’m seriously considering selling a kidney.’
    Josh folded himself into the chair opposite, took her hand in his big, warm one, and started to play with her fingers. ‘I don’t get why the auction house is so important to you. Businesses go under all the time. You’re attractive, smart. You could get another job.’ He set his thumb to her palm and rubbed.
    Tingles of pleasure shot up her arm. She tugged her hand away, straightened up in her chair, refusing to be distracted from the fact that she was very, very angry with him. ‘It’s a family business.’
    ‘But it’s not your business, right? It’s your father’s. Therefore it’s his responsibility.’
    He didn’t understand, but then why would he? ‘No, it’s a family business. That means that all of us pitch in, regardless of who’s name is over the door.’
    Those blue eyes cut right into her. ‘I see.’
    ‘Do you?’ Lottie folded her arms, stared at the swirls in the wrought-iron table top until her vision went blurry and her mind dredged up things she didn’t want to think about. How it had felt to have his weight pin her down on the bed. The sheer bliss of having him move inside her. She hardened herself into ice-cold steel. ‘Not all of us have the luxury of swanning around doing whatever we fancy. Some of us have responsibilities. I won’t let my parents down, Josh, and if that means I have to make nice with people like Barry, so be it.’
    ‘I guess your family means a lot to you.’
    ‘Of course it does. My parents have done everything for me. I owe them everything in return.’ Lottie grabbed her tote, found her purse, and