“My parents are, anyway,” Eve said with a shrug. “I thought I might hear from some of my other relatives after I left, that someone might reach out, or even that my parents might come to their senses once they realized what they’d done.”
“What did they do, exactly?” Josie asked, one hand resting on Eve’s thigh. To hell with this being a business meeting. The woman she cared about needed comfort right now, dammit.
“They said I was no longer welcome in their home.”
“And how old were you?”
“Twenty-two,” Eve said. “I’d just graduated from college.”
Dear God, Eve’s parents had missed out on her entire adult life? Josie missed her parents every single day. Mostly, she missed her dad. Her mom had been gone so long, she barely remembered her. If anything, she missed the idea of having a mother. But to know that her parents were out there, living their lives and pretending she didn’t exist? She couldn’t even begin to imagine what that was like. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s been thirteen years,” Eve said with a stiff-shouldered shrug. “At this point, I think it’s safe to say they’re not going to have a change of heart.”
“Well, that’s their loss, then,” Josie said, pulling her in for a fierce hug. Eve hugged her back, just for a moment, before pulling free. “I hope someday they’re filled with regret for losing the chance to have you in their lives.”
“I’m not holding my breath.” Eve gestured to her laptop. “Back on topic, this is ordinarily the point in our last consult where I’d offer my services so you could hire me through Marlow Marketing to continue working toward Dragonfly’s success, but all things considered, I don’t think that would be appropriate in this case.”
Josie sat up straighter in her chair. “You’re dumping me as a client because we’re sleeping together?”
“No,” Eve said quietly as she shut her laptop. “I’m just declining to let you hire me.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Not if I offer you unofficial marketing advice for free.”
“Wait a damn minute,” Josie stood, arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t want your advice for free. That’s not fair to you, and it makes me feel shitty.”
“Taking your money while I’m sleeping with you would be even shittier,” Eve countered. “I don’t need the money.” She raised her eyebrows for emphasis. “I have a full client list already.”
Josie narrowed her eyes at her. “Well, I just…”
“Take my unofficial free advice, or don’t. It’s your choice,” Eve said with an air of finality, indicating the matter was not up for debate as she packed her briefcase and turned to face Josie. “Or, I suppose, we could just go back to being business associates.”
“Hell, no,” Josie said automatically.
As she looked past her discomfort with taking Eve’s advice for free, she saw that Eve was offering a way for them to keep seeing each other, a way around her rule about not mixing business with pleasure. And after learning that Eve’s entire family had turned their backs on her, knowing she’d rebounded from that only to lose Lisa too…well, it put into perspective why Eve had built such a fortress around her heart. And if she was offering even a teeny, tiny part of it to Josie now, she was going to grab hold of it and treasure it with every fiber of her being.
She sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll take your unofficial help, but don’t put yourself out on my account. If you’re too busy, or too tired, or too anything, focus on your paying clients, okay?”
“Fair enough,” Eve said with a brisk nod.
Josie leaned in to kiss her, hoping that brief brush of her lips against Eve’s conveyed the depth of emotion she felt. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Since we’re no longer working together in any sort of professional capacity, could I stop by and take you to lunch tomorrow? Or Friday?”
“I’m pretty busy these next few days, but I’ll let you know.” Eve picked up her briefcase, pausing in the doorway. “Just for the record, I still want to keep things low-key until after your episode airs. I’m not saying we can’t be seen in public together, obviously, but we should be discreet here at Dragonfly and especially at my office.”
“Okay,” Josie said, trying not to read too much into Eve’s words, because keeping things low-key until after her episode aired sounded an awful lot like Eve thought they would still be together next month and that she wouldn’t mind kissing Josie in the middle of Dragonfly on a busy Saturday night after theDo Oversegment was behind them.
And that felt…almost too good to be true.
“I’ll text you,” Eve said.
Josie nodded. “Or call me. Or, you know, just show up.”
“Okay,” Eve said with another small smile, and then she was gone.
