Jo shrugged. “I just mean we talked about it after that, but honestly, we’re still just having fun.”
“I’ve known Avery for a long time,” Charlotte continued. “He doesn’t date for fun. He doesn’t date at all, and the fact he agreed to an exclusive relationship while you’re this new is big.”
Oh my god, she’s like a dog with a bone, and I’m the one digging a hole to bury it in.
Time to change the subject.“It’s not—
Kate gasped and latched on to Brooke’s hand. “Did you say florist?”
Thank you, Kate, but yeah, I’m definitely hiding the booze and collecting keys.
Brooke frowned, as if trying to recall that particular thread of the conversation. “Yeah, why?”
Melody perked up, her head swiveling from Kate to Brooke and then to Charlotte.
“I’m looking for one.” Charlotte chuckled. “Sorry, I know it’s not funny, but my florist passed Sunday, and her family is closing the shop. Marcus is worried it’s a bad sign.”
“Sounds like divine intervention. Letty does beautiful work.” Brooke glanced at Jo. “I went by her shop yesterday to get flowers for a shoot.”
“A shoot?” Melody practically bounced on the sofa.
Jo saw where this was going. “Brooke’s a photographer. Quite talented.”
Melody looked at Charlotte again, who simply smiled and held up her glass. “To divine intervention.”
Brooke giggled. “Did your photographer drop dead, too?”
Charlotte shook her head. “I hadn’t found one I liked who wasn’t booked. We should talk.”
Kate waved off the possibility of fate. “I want to hear how Letty saved Avery’s ass.”
Sitting back, Jo let Brooke relate the story of Avery’s flowergrams, smiling at her animated version, and the rest of the afternoon went off without a hitch. She bought the red dress. It had a slit up to her kitty for Avery, barely covered her tits, and Grandma was indeed wrong about the color on her.
And about her panties. Avery hadn’t sweet talked her out of them. She’d given them to him of her own accord, and she would again tonight.
What else are you wrong about, Grandma?
Chapter Seventeen
Avery checked his watch. Ten ’til eight. He’d hoped to be out of here a long time ago to have dinner with Jo and hear about her day, but the walk-through with Whitaker’s people had taken longer than he’d thought. Then Nick had called a post-merger debriefing, so Avery’d been catching up on some other things to kill time before he left to meet his brothers across the street at Liquid Assets.
Which was odd. Not the meeting, but the location. Nick never hung out at L.A. In fact, other than an occasional family gathering or drinks in his office at the end of the day, Nick didn’t hang out with them. Not anymore. Not since Julie, anyway.
Avery was all for his brother rejoining the land of the living if that was what this was about. Just not tonight.
“Before I go, here’s the LPM from the last few days.” Zach set a stack of low priority mail several inches thick on Avery’s desk. Everything else had been couriered to his condo. “Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow, except the one on top. It’s time sensitive.”
“Thanks. Go home.” Avery eyed the purple envelope with blobs of silver glitter. The return address read Mr. & Mrs. Walter Hayes with a post office box in Jeopardy, Texas. Why would he be getting mail from Jo’s parents?
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The seal already broken—Zach opened all his mail—Avery pulled out an invitation to the wedding of their daughter, Georgia. Jo had a sister? And who got married on April Fool’s Day? And why would they invite him? They didn’t even know him.
Yeah, that’s a no.
But he’d let Jo explain why to her family. They’d be broken up by then, and he’d be in Greece on his annual trip with the Sigmas. Such was the plan, and he was sticking to it.
For now, he’d make the most of every second he had left with her. Starting with tonight.
