Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Shame drags my head down, and when I risk a peek back at her, I admit, “I always have. Even as angry as I was at him for breaking my heart, you never forget your first love.”
“And now you two have been thrown back together in less than ideal circumstances,” she muses out loud, as if she’s trying to put pieces of a puzzle together.
“It doesn’t really matter,” I say quickly to stop her from taking this any further. “Marek will never forgive me for what I did, keeping Lilly a secret. And besides, he’s just a playboy. He might want to mature up and be a daddy, but that’s all there will ever be between us. Parenting responsibilities. He’s made it perfectly clear that he likes his freedom from a romantic commitment.”
“I don’t know about that,” Josie says as she shakes her head. “You should have seen him when he found out you were getting married. He was freaked out big time. I think he’s still got feelings.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I maintain staunchly, refusing to even let myself think about that. Things are way too up in the air with Owen throwing a wrench into things and expecting me back in New York in a few weeks. “Everything’s changed now that he found out I had Lilly and didn’t tell him.”
Except…he did almost kiss me last night.
But he was drunk, Gracen.
Drunk and being stupid. That’s all there is to it.
“We’re friends, right?” Josie asks me as she sets her fork down and I blink at her in confusion.
“Um…yeah.”
“Okay, then I’m going to get all up in your business and be nosy, and if we’re not that good of friends or we don’t have the potential to be that good of friends, tell me to shove it and mind my own business.”
“Okay,” I say hesitantly.
“Honestly…no shit. Friend to friend and I’ll take this to my grave—I won’t even tell Reed—but I sense there’s more to this story. What’s the deal with Owen?”
My cheeks turn hot that she’s asking me point blank now as a new friend and someone who’s just laid a job opportunity before me. More important, I really like Josie and think we could become very good friends.
I weigh keeping my secret versus letting one person in on the entire truth, especially since she’s said she won’t tell anyone else, including Reed. I don’t want my shitty predicament to get back to Marek, who already thinks I’ve got a few screws loose in the head for keeping Lilly a secret.
With a heaving sigh, I poke my fork down into the quiche and unburden myself. “Owen was blackmailing me to marry him.”
When I risk a glance at Josie, she blinks at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“You can probably call me an idiot for getting caught up in it,” I mutter before taking my first bite of the quiche.
I can’t help the tiny moan. Man, that tastes like heaven, and I’ll be making this recipe again.
“You’re not an idiot,” Josie says with such assurance someone might believe it. But not me.
She pushes up from her stool and grabs the bottle of wine. “Where’s the corkscrew?”
I point to a drawer beside the sink.
“Glasses? And regular glasses are fine. We don’t need fancy stuff.”
I point to a cabinet.
When Josie is back at the counter, she uncorks the wine and pours our drinks. After taking a liberal sip, she nods at me. “Okay. Lay it all on me.”
I set my fork down and take a sip of the wine myself. Then another just for good measure.
“It just got out of control so fast,” I tell her. “I accepted his invitation for a date. I’d known him since high school, and while I didn’t care for him then, he’d seemed to mature. Had a bigwig job at the bank his father runs, so I thought, why not? I was tired of being alone.”
Josie nods at me in sympathy. “Girl, you don’t know how much I can relate to that, but that’s another story for another time. Go on.”
“So I went on a handful of dates with him,” I continue with a glum voice. “And they were good. Fine. He seemed nice. He was attentive and kind to Lilly. I mean, there weren’t major sparks, but it was fine.”
“He sounds boring as shit,” Josie mutters.
I can’t agree with that, because he was anything but boring. He was intense and intimidating. I was always on my toes around him.
“My parents took out a second mortgage with the bank his father works at to pay for my degree. About a year ago, my dad got laid off from his job and then he injured his back. For one reason or another, he couldn’t find a job, and once the savings ran dry, the note went into default.”