“Excuse-moi?” she squeaks, closing the door behind her.
I roll my eyes at her basic French.
“Juliet, you just made out with your stepson’s best friend at your daughter’s birthday party.”
Groaning, I bury my face in my hands. “Can you not call him that?”
She snorts. “Sorry to break it to you, sweetie, but that’s exactly who he is. Care to share what the hell I just walked in on?”
I peek at her through my fingers. “Blake’s the guy from Euphoria.”
Quinn’s mouth drops, and it would be comical if she wasn’t right—I was just kissing my stepson’s best friend. What the hell is wrong with me?
“That’s the guy with the pierced—” She waggles her eyebrows.
The memory causes my lady parts to tingle.
“Stop, please,” I beg. “Quinn, this is serious. He’s Everett’s best friend. What the hell am I supposed to do? I wasn’t supposed to see him again.”
“I’m more intrigued to know how he ended up in here with no shirt?”
My cheeks heat. “There was blood on it from Tinsley’s knee. I offered to spot-clean it for him.”
“Spot-clean?” she deadpans. “Is that what the young ones are calling it these days?”
I shove her shoulder. “I didn’t know it was him until he took his shirt off and I saw his tattoos.”
“And he just tripped and fell on your mouth?”
“Not helping.”
“Do I need to remind you he’s yourstepson’sfriend? He’s like fifteen yearsyounger than you.”
“Blake’s twenty-five.”
“Nine years then. Jules, his age doesn’t matter. I don’t think Everett would be happy if he knew you fucked his friend.”
I grimace. “Do you have to be so crude?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, what do you want to call it? Making love?”
I screw up my nose. “Ew, no.”
She sighs. “What are you going to do?”
Turning to check my reflection in the mirror, I rake my fingers through my hair. “I’m going to get the cake and sing happy birthday to my daughter.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
My stomach sinks as I meet her concerned gaze. “I don’t know, Quinnie. We didn’t exactly have time to talk before he rushed out of here.”
She opens her arms, and I step into them, resting my cheek on her shoulder as I repeat my words from earlier. “I wasn’t supposed to see him again.”
“I know, sweetie,” she says, squeezing me tight. “But if you think about it, the universe keeps bringing the two of you together. Maybe there’s a reason.”
I pull back and force a smile. Despite my racing pulse and the ache in my chest that started the minute he walked out the door, I know things can’t be that easy. There are two massive factors—Tinsley and Everett. I’m sure the universe hasn’t taken them into consideration.
A nagging voice in the back of my head says Blake knows about Tinsley, and he kissed me anyway. Maybe it won’t be a big deal.
