Stealing Rose (The Fowler Sisters 2)

My cheeks bloom with heat just thinking about it.

“Wait a minute.” Violet licks the sugar from her lips and leans in closer. “Caden is the guy who ditched you in Cannes? When you were naked in the pool?”

Could she broadcast that any louder? “Yes. He is.” Deciding to hell with it, I grab the éclair from my plate and bite into it with relish, the combination of the cream filling, the flaky pastry, and the chocolate frosting like a little explosion of heaven in my mouth.

Still not as good as that orgasm I had last night, though.

“Rose. You’re messing around with a taken man.”

I make a face. She makes it sound so sordid. “I am not.”

“You are. He’s Whitney’s boyfriend,” Violet stresses, looking appalled. As if she has any room to talk, torn between two men like she was not too long ago.

“No, he’s not her boyfriend. At least, he said he’s not.” Doubt clouds my brain and I take another drink of coffee, feeling everything within me perking up from the jolt of caffeine. But along with the jolt comes reality.

What if Whitney really is his girlfriend? I’d feel like a home wrecker. I’d be a home wrecker. And that sucks.

“And when did he tell you this? When the two of you snuck off and did … whatever?” Violet arches a brow.

Busted. “Fine. I went to the bathroom. He followed me. End of story.” I take another bite before I tell her everything. I’m so tempted to spill my guts, but some things are better left unsaid.

“He followed you into the bathroom at the White Swan.” She shakes her head, a sly smile forming. “You are so bad, Rose. Whitney’s my friend.”

“And Caden isn’t her boyfriend,” I say again.

“According to Caden. Whitney might have a different perspective,” Violet points out.

I say nothing. Just continue to munch on my éclair as if I don’t have a care in the world.

Funny thing is, I don’t feel bad about what happened. I believed Caden when he said Whitney wasn’t his girlfriend. Maybe that’s me being a naïve fool, but they just didn’t give off that proper boyfriend/girlfriend vibe. Plus, the sparks between us were just too abundant to ignore.

I left the table on purpose. To see if he’d follow, and he did. I took that as a sign. That something was meant to happen between us. Silly, I suppose, but I was also buzzed after drinking three beers in quick succession. A girl’s allowed to do stupid stuff every once in a while. That was my one stupid move.

I should probably leave it at that.

“Was he as shocked to see you as you were to see him?” Violet presses.

“I don’t know. We didn’t talk much.” First there had been too much kissing, and then he said all of those deliciously dirty things … I still can’t believe some of the things he said and did.

I want to experience them again.

No. No, you really don’t.

“Ha. You didn’t talk much.” Violet shakes her head. “This is just so scandalous. You go from being a hermit hiding in your hotel room to getting it on in a pub bathroom. Talk about a complete turnaround.”

“Violet. Please.” I glance around the bakery, but no one is paying us any mind. It’s a late Saturday morning and the place is busy, but everyone is too wrapped up in their own little worlds to hear my sister broadcast that I fooled around in a restaurant bathroom. “So … do you know anything about him?” I’m trying to play this cool, but it’s probably a waste of time. Besides, I’m talking to Violet and she won’t judge. Not too harshly, at least.

“About who? Caden?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes. Caden.” I know nothing beyond that he’s gorgeous, he has a voice that can melt me with a few whispered words, he can kiss like no other, and he knows his way around a woman’s body.

Meaning, I’d love to see him again.

“Not really. I talked about him some with Whitney. You know what’s weird? She’s never mentioned him to me before.”

“What do you mean?” I frown.

“I mean, she never even uttered his name until I met him last night,” Violet explains.

“Really?” I’m eager for any bit of gossip I can discover about Caden. “If they were serious, she’d surely mention him to you, right? Aren’t you two pretty good friends?”

“Yes. We’ve become close since Ryder and I came to London.” Violet nods, takes a thoughtful sip of her coffee. “She said a few things about him right before you took off to the bathroom.”

“Like what?” I finish off the éclair because hello, it’s amazing. I’ll just skip lunch. Maybe dinner, too. I don’t know. This isn’t a smart move, meeting my sister at a bakery full of pastries. Now I’m tempted to buy a box of those gorgeous, colorful, and delicate macarons that are so popular and take them back to the hotel room so I can snack on them later.

“That they’re old friends, they’d known each other forever, went to school together in the States.” Violet smiles. “Listen to me—I sound like I plan on living here forever.”

“You’d better not,” I mutter, determined to get the conversation back to Caden. “Isn’t Whitney from New York?”

“Yes, and so is Caden.”

“What’s his last name?” A little Google could go a long way if I had more concrete facts.