“You don’t need to go?”
“No, Avery has a friend who is going to help her and I might hire her.”
“I think you need the help.”
Josie sighed, giving the pot of pasta a stir and tried not to let her mother’s comment bristle her.
“I know but it takes time to find good people.I’m not a fine dining operation.”
“You’re a busy operation, Josie.Look how your business has grown from simple takeout meals to catered events.It’s impressive.”
Josie shook her head at her mother’s praise, but she was proud of how far her little catering business had come.Her mother was her biggest supporter and fan, and it meant a lot to Josie that Fleur was proud of her success.
Her phone buzzed behind her from the bench.Expecting it to be Avery, Josie grabbed it and read the text.
“Just Ares,” she set the phone down.
“Put that man out of his misery and answer his text.”
“You’re as bad as Cecilia!”
Fleur spread her arms wide, the sleeves of her shimmery purple dress falling.“I want to see you happy too.”
Josie shook her head but grabbed her phone.The whole week she’d been dodging Ares’s calls.
She knew that was unfair and maybe even childish.If not childish it was scaredy cat behaviour.
That night at the Christmas market was so intense, the entire experience soaked into her pores and then when she collided with Harper in the hall and her two gorgeous men, it made all of it seem too real.
Too real with how she tossed and turned, awake with need and want and lust.
“Must be good.You’re blushing.”
“Mom!”
“It’s true,” Fleur shrugged an elegant shoulder.“You told me you liked the first date.Why not go out with him again?”
“I didn't say I wouldn't,” Josie mumbled.It’s not like she could tell her mother that she got spooked because all the talk about kink and BDSM were suddenly right in front of her face, literally.As if being in a real dungeon didn’t drive that point home.
Josie glanced at the time, wondering where Avery was because she needed to be at the organizer’s home in twenty minutes.
“So put the man out of his misery and answer his texts.”
“Do you think I would be happy with Ares?”
Fleur raised a pair of perfectly groomed eyebrows.“I don’t know.I’ve known the Montagues a long time and they are serious about the people they have around them.”
“What does that mean?”Josie took trays from her rack, starting to pack up the food.
“I guess it means, while I want you to have fun, I don't want you to get hurt.”
Tension pounded between her shoulder blades.The fear of being hurt wasn’t why she hadn’t responded to Ares.Maybe it was because her last relationship left her numb.She viewed this thing between her and Ares as something different.She’d never felt the way she had when Ares kissed her.
And maybe it was because they had been friends for years before she said yes to him and she knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.
“Hey, sorry for the interruption,” Carter knocked on the doorway.
“Not interrupting, trying to pack up this catering order for an event tonight.”
