“Say what you want,” Reese stated with a smile. “My fiancée doesn’t keep secrets from me. Right, lover?”
Was he out of his ever-loving mind? She didn’t need his help, and he was making this uncomfortable situation an impossible one.
Engaged? That was taking things a bit far. She’d only mentioned that she’d moved on, not that she’d moved on and was ready to walk down the aisle again.
“You’re marrying this guy?” Chris asked. “I always knew there was something more than friends going on with you two. Were you seeing him the entire time we were together?”
“What? No, of course not,” she said defensively, wondering how she could circle around and restart this conversation with less chaos and confusion.
“As you can see, Josie is not available,” Reese added with another squeeze of her hip. “We’re getting ready to go out for the evening.”
His hand dipped down over the curve of her hip and too many thoughts and emotions hit her at once. First, why was he being so handsy? Second, was she enjoying this?
She shouldn’t have a rush of tingles from her best friend’s touch. It wasn’t like they’d never touched before.
But they’d never touched like this. Not in a faux intimate way.
And it was like something shifted between them.
He was so firm, so strong, and he smelled too damn good.
No.
She shouldn’t be thinking of Reese’s muscle tone and his cologne. That would only lead to trouble, right?
Yes, trouble with a big fat capital T.
The last time she’d let herself step outside her comfort zone, she’d found herself married to the wrong man.
Reese was her friend.
Her best friend.
And she needed to keep him in that zone. She liked her life nice and tidy. She liked having everything, and everyone, in their own place.
But that excellent muscle tone...
To save her sanity, Josie extracted herself from Reese and offered Chris a sympathetic smile.
“I do hope you can move on,” she told him. “There’s a woman out there for you. She’s just not me.”
Chris’s expression went from disbelief, to anger, to...hell, she wasn’t sure, but the man wasn’t happy.
His eyes scrutinized her. “Are you sure this is what you want? I mean, you’re not even wearing a ring. You deserve better. You know I treated you like a queen.”
Before Josie could reply, Reese stepped forward.
“What she deserves and doesn’t deserve is none of your concern anymore. You’ve had more than that five minutes you asked for.”
Without another word, Reese stepped aside and slammed the door in Chris’s face. Josie stared at the space that had just been open and couldn’t believe Reese had the audacity to...to...
“Are you serious?” she exclaimed.
Reese turned and started back toward her patio as if he hadn’t just acted like a complete jerk. She marched right after him. This was her house, her ex, and Reese wasn’t just going to do whatever he wanted and manipulate the situation to his liking!
&
nbsp; “Are you going to explain yourself?” she demanded as she stepped outside.