The Trouble with Bree (Spotlight #1.5) by Kristen Strassel Page A

tapped out sometime in the middle of the second one, but Landon probably could have gone for another.”
    My whole body warmed, and it wasn’t from the wine. “He likes you.”
    Josh’s smile faded, he put down his wine, taking mine from me as well, placing the two glasses on the coffee table. He took both of my hands in his. “I need to talk to you about that.”
    Oh, shit. “You got caught.”
    “I did.” He looked anywhere but me. “Just before I left today, I got a phone call from my supervisor, with a list of things Landon told one of the teachers.”
    “Miss Kate.” My smile was murderous. “She acted funny on the first day when Landon ran over to you.” This afternoon, she’d been super sweet to me, but I saw right through it. I knew she was up to something and I would have bet it was this.
    “Apparently, Landon told the class about our sleepovers.” Josh raised an eyebrow. “And that I read him bedtime stories. That was their biggest concern. I guess Miss Kate asked him a lot of questions about that to make sure everything was on the up and up.”
    My blood ran cold. At first, I wondered why Landon didn’t tell me, but he wouldn’t even know to think it was strange. He’d probably just been excited to tell Miss Kate about his friend Josh. “So what’s going to happen?”
    Josh shook his head. “They’re going to want to talk to you. Other than that, I’m not sure.”
    “I’m so sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I was apologizing. Josh went into this with his eyes open. And he was still here, with an overnight bag sitting beside the couch.
    “Don’t be.” Josh rubbed his thumb along my hand. “I knew what I was doing. You have nothing to apologize for.”
    “Then I guess my question should be how does this affect us? Because I can’t see them saying never mind, everything’s cool. Miss Kate,” I couldn’t stop myself from mocking her name, “is leveling some potentially heavy accusations. They’re going to investigate this, Josh. Something’s going to happen.”
    “Tell them the truth.” Josh lifted his chin, sitting up straighter, and tightening his grip on my hands. “We don’t have anything to hide. If we start telling lies, then it will make the truth look like something that’s bad.” He leaned close to me, his words a whisper against my neck. “We’ll figure it out.”
    I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of his lips just below my earlobe, knowing that everything was going to change. Instinctively, I leaned back against the pillow and Josh followed, his hands now on my shoulders. His kisses intensified, more urgent. He felt the same way I did. We needed to figure this out, now. “Aren’t you worried? About your job?” I’d be terrified. I already was and it wasn’t even my job.
    “I am.” He kept kissing me, his breath tickling my skin as he spoke. “But there’s no use changing anything. They know, Bree.”
    His hands slid down the front of my body then under my shirt. I placed my hands over his. “We can’t do this out here.” I had to pull away from him to make him stop. “Landon comes out all the time.” He hadn’t caught us in action, yet. Even the bedroom wasn’t totally safe. He’d think nothing of opening the door and coming in.
    Josh sighed, coming back from the place he was shielding himself from reality. “I’m scared. But I don’t want to lose you. I need to figure out how to make the two most important things in my life work. Together.”
    He followed me to the bedroom, sitting on the edge of my bed while I was still standing. “How’s your class going?”
    “Good, so far. I have a quiz on Monday in psych.”
    “Not those classes, but I’ll help you study if you want.” A flame flickered in his eyes. “I meant your pole class.”
    “Oh!” I laughed. “Good. I can finally lift my hands over my head without wanting to cry.” And to show him, I pulled my shirt off, and dragged it across his lap. He caught it, taking it from me,