It was like that then? Engagement, marriage, happily ever after? Geez, she reallywouldneed to find her own place. She slid her eyes over to Jake, who looked equally floored by the reveal.
He leaned close to murmur, “Did you know about this?”
She shook her head and glanced across the table to find Erik trying to set her on fire with his gaze. Her skin heated, and she looked down at the bouquet, shocked to find herself the flustered one.
By the time she’d composed herself, the rest of the table had dived into their meals and the conversation had moved on to Lily’s flower-wholesaler secrets, which allowed Josie to focus on the honey-glazed salmon on the plate in front of her. It melted into flavorful deliciousness the instant it touched her tongue, sure, but it also kept her from shouting over the table and demanding to know what Erik’s deal was already. Where was Gina? Had they ever been engaged? And how dare he show up looking this good?
Soon enough the meal was over, and the deejay handed the microphone off to Richard to start the toasts.
“Friends. Family. Friends who’ve become family,” he began. “Byron and I are so touched that you’re here with us on this special day. And I’d like to share a little story that some of you know and many of you don’t. It’s the story of how I left a pair of pants in an Uber and Byron found a pair of pants in an Uber, and even though it wasn’t the same pair of pants, it nevertheless brought us together.”
The chuckles that moved through the room turned to full-blown laughter as Richard described his and Byron’s modern fairy-tale meeting, which he concluded by turning to his new husband with a soft smile. “Everyone who finds love in this world is lucky, and tonight I feel like the luckiest of them all.”
Emotion clogged Josie’s throat, and she stared down at the bubbles swirling in her champagne flute, guiltily aware of the twinge of self-pity coloring her joy for the two of them. When she looked up, she found Erik’s unreadable gaze on her, and she stared back for a long moment, snared by his blue eyes, before wrenching away at Richard’s cry of, “To love!”
After the assembled company cheered and sipped, it was her turn at the microphone. She swept to her feet and walked to stand behind the grooms’ table, relieved to be in her comfort zone.
“Let’s hear it for finding love in the gig economy, everyone!” She soaked up the laughter and turned up her wattage. “I’m Josie Ryan, Richard’s best maid, and I’m here to offer a few more reasons why these two men are perfect for each other.”
Give her a crowd and a few prepared jokes, and she’d rise to the occasion. By the time she’d wrapped up her toast, the newlyweds were gazing at each other in goofy adoration, and the crowd roared when she instructed them to raise their glasses.
The night got even better when Richard and Byron sliced into the cake. Oh, the cake. Although she and Erik had been out of touch while he’d been finishing it up, she’d marveled at the end results earlier in the evening. She had no idea how he’d done it, but the gold-veined blue-and-white marble looked so authentic you’d almost expect to see it in a South Beach villa owned by a cartel kingpin whose decorating aesthetic was juuuust on the right side of gaudy. In other words, it was perfect for the couple whose love it was honoring. And of course it was the best-tasting cake she’d ever had in her mouth.
“Oh my God, each flavor’s better than the last one.” Finn moaned after she and Tom exchanged bites from each other’s plates.
When Josie turned a speculative eye on Jake’s half-eaten slice of peach-pecan, he tossed up his hand as a barrier. “You already finished your piece. Live with your choices.”
“Food aggression much?” she scoffed. “I was just looking to see what flavor you picked!”
He shifted the plate closer with a dark look, and when she glanced to her right, Cecil edged his plate of chocolate hazelnut farther away from her to continue inhaling it. At her huff of exasperation, Jake laughed. “Just go and get a second piece, devil woman!”
“I will if you’ll save me a dance.” As this wasn’t their first friend-group wedding, Josie knew for a fact that Jake danced the way he performed every other social nicety expected of him: with technical flawlessness and a total lack of zeal. But it was also good for him to remember that life existed outside the walls of his office, and sometimes that life involved a compulsory dance or two with an equally single friend. In fact, he might just be her most frequent wedding dance partner, and wasn’t that saying something about her pathetic love life?
“My pleasure,” he said, almost managing to sound sincere.
“The awkward platonic tradition continues!” she said with a laugh. But when she glanced across the table, she found a pair of blue eyes glaring at her, so she glared right back. Mister “I’m possibly engaged but maybe not” could go ahead and stare daggers at her until those gorgeous eyes fell right out of his head. What did she care? It’s not like he had any right to be jealous.
She hardened her jaw and flounced out of her chair to grab a piece of cardamom before the dancing got underway in earnest.
She might be confused over everything having to do with Erik, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t eat every crumb of his cake that she could get her hands on.
Nineteen
Erik was strapped to a roller coaster, and he hated it.
First was the agony of watching Josie exchange private glances with that good-looking asshole she was sitting next to. Then came the perverse pleasure of watching her bound out of her chair to toast the newlyweds. She spoke for close to six minutes with no notes and, effortlessly and with great charm, had the whole reception hall laughing. How anybody possessed the skill and courage to do that he’d never know, and he hoped never to find out for himself. Then there was the ecstasy of watching her eyes roll back as she wrapped her red lips around that first bite of cake, knowing thathewas the one who did that to her. And, finally, there was his old friend agony again when she and fucking Jake agreed to a dance.
As the guests flocked to the floor, Erik started eyeing the exit. He’d satisfied his masochistic curiosity about Josie in The Dress—it was even more torturous than he’d expected, showing vast swaths of flawless skin—and now it was time to go. Look-but-don’t-touch had been difficult enough before he’d given in and put his hands all over her. But now that he had the memory of her taste on his lips, look-but-don’t-touch when she was lit from within and wrapped in filmy blue material might actually kill him.
Before he could make good on his exit strategy, a polite voice yanked his thoughts back into the now. “Excuse me. Are you the baker?”
He turned to see a silver-haired woman from a nearby table hovering at his elbow and nodded.
“The cake was divine! Can I talk with you next week about baking something similar for my fiftieth wedding anniversary party next month?”
“Absolutely.” He didn’t have to force his smile as he took down her information. Another job meant another small weight lifted from his shoulders.
Across the table, Josie’s hand darted into her clutch and emerged with a Have Your Cake business card.
