“I’m serious, Em! I feel it.”
“Really? Like you felt Tab and Abby finding someone?”
“Hey, you gotta admit that this whole thing of doing something out of our norms found results.”
“True.” I nodded. “But I highly doubt I’ll meet anyone.”
“What if I make you a deal?”
“Ooo, this is intriguing coming from you.”
“We both make a profile on Locked 4 Love when we get back in the new year. So that we have a date for Valentine’s Day.”
“Hmm… that’s not a terrible idea. Deal.” We shook on it, but her hand didn’t let go. Her green eyes locked on mine. “That’s if you don’t meet someone on your little adventure.”
“Look who’s talking!” I laughed. “For all you know, you could meet some gorgeous prince in Dubai or London.”
“London doesn’t have any more princes available over the age of consent,” she pointed out, and we giggled.
“I’m just saying… you go out to these things where you’re surrounded not only by stunning locations but by beautiful people as well. There is never anyone at all who calls your attention?”
“Honestly, no. They’re all too… vain.” She made a face. “I know that sounds terrible because I’m one of them, but… with the people I work with, its all about working out, skin care, looking as young as possible, or getting some kind of work done all while wearing the hottest newest thing. People in my industry can be… exhausting.”
“Was there ever someone?” I asked. Rosie was usually very tight-lipped when it came to romance and love. Which was crazy because she was the biggest romantic of the bunch. If anyone was meant for a family, it was Rosie. It’s why I knew without a doubt that someone would show up when she least expected it.
“Maybe.” Her lips twitched. “A photographer,” she confessed. “But we both knew it was for fun. He made it veryclear that whatever fun we had wasn’t shelf stable, if you know what I mean?”
“It had an expiration date,” I answered, and she nodded.
“Oh yeah, very much so. After him… I didn’t want to go there with anyone else. Not with people I worked with.” I wondered if he’d meant that much to her or if people she worked with were dicks after they found out.
“What was he like?” I asked instead.
“Older. Gorgeous. Seriously sexy.” She smiled. “He got married a couple of years ago and had some kids. He’s still a photographer I bump into, but he’s like an old friend now, you know? It was never more than a hot fling,” she added, letting me know that chapter was closed shut.
“Wow. And no one else? Just a photographer? No models? Or designers or, I don’t know, some kind of international businessman who looked like James Bond?”
“No one,” she laughed. “But I love your imagination. Businessmen who look like James Bond.” She snorted adorably with an eye roll. “But the deal is sealed on the whole looking for a Valentine’s Day date. Maybe we could even do a speed dating event?”
“Speed dating,” I started to say with a grimace and sighed. “Fine. I’ll do all the crazy wacky dating crap to get a date.”
“No, you won’t,” she said, making me still. Those beautiful green eyes were laser-focused on me in a way that when you added just how freaking beautiful she was, it could be jarring. “You’ll be taken by then.” She sounded like she believed it with her whole heart.
“I seriously doubt that.”
“We should make a bet about that! But I think if we do, it will mess up the manifestation I’m putting out into the universe.”
“Oh my god. I think we need something stronger than this if we’re talking about manifesting men.” I grinned. “How about we hit up the wine bar and get some tapas there?”
“That sounds like a deal,” she said, so we both stood and walked out of the coffee shop together.
Rosie and her manifestations,I thought to myself. She was usually right on the money when she did that. But this one? Me finding someone in the middle of the woods? I had a feeling it would not be one of them.
2.Asher Tillbury
Iglanced out the high-rise floor-to-ceiling glass wall and sighed.
I knew I had a lot to be grateful for, more than most, but no matter what I did for the last couple of months, I couldn’t shake this feeling.
