Scandalous Engagement

Not Reese. How silly that she’d been expecting him to call or come by. True, they’d just gotten in yesterday, but it’d been over twelve hours since she’d seen him.

Her editor’s name lit up the screen and Josie knew she still had to pretend the engagement was on.

“Hello.”

“Jo, the blog is breaking records,” Melissa squealed. “Have you seen? The comments are astounding and we are getting emails that we can’t keep up with.”

When she’d gotten online this morning, she hadn’t even looked at the comments—she’d been too wrapped up in the photos.

“That’s great news,” Josie stated.

“We’d love to keep this momentum going,” her editor tacked on. “Do you know when formal engagement pictures will be ready or when you will be dress shopping? If we could do a weekly wedding update, I think that would be best. There are so many details that we could easily make this work.”

Josie rubbed her forehead. “Let me think about this, okay? Reese and I just got back last night and I’m still a bit fuzzy.”

“Yes, of course. Oh, and honey, that red dress was fabulous,” she praised. “Great move on your part to branch out at your fiancé’s grand opening. You two looked absolutely perfect.”

Guilt weighed heavy on her, but another emotion overrode the guilt. Regret.

Had she made the right decision turning Reese down? Since the moment she’d slid that ring off, everything had felt wrong, out of place.

“Thanks,” Josie replied. “Let me think on weekly blogs and I’ll be in touch.”

“Sounds great. I’m just so happy for you guys. You really look like you’re in love and that’s so rare to find these days.”

Unable to handle anymore, Josie said her goodbyes and hung up. She grabbed her drink, ignored her phone on the counter and slid her beach bag from the kitchen chair and onto her shoulder.

No phone, no uninvited guests at her door; she just needed peace and quiet and the ocean. That’s all. The space in her head was filled to capacity.

And the man who occupied each and every thought was the man who claimed to love her, who wanted to spend his life with her.

Josie pulled in a deep breath and headed out to the beach. She had so much thinking to do and serious decisions to make. Was she ready to take that leap? Was she ready to take the biggest risk of her life and create a brand-new box?

One where she and Reese were together forever?

Seventeen

A shadow came over her and Josie squealed.

“Good grief, Reese,” she scolded as she jerked her legs over the side of her lounge chair. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“Well, you scared me, because I’ve been texting and calling. Usually, you are glued to your phone.”

She adjusted her hat and stared up at him. “I wanted some time alone and didn’t want to be interrupted. What are you doing here?”

“I was going to see if you wanted to take the boat out?” he said. “Nick, Sam, Silvia and Maty are at my house.”

“They are?” she exclaimed. “Did you know they were coming?”

“We had discussed it, but it was kind of a last-minute thing. I invited them yesterday before we left New York and they came this morning. Frisco is going to work up a shrimp and crab boil. I know how much you love that.”

Josie came to her feet and reached for her cover-up, but too late. Reese’s eyes raked over her barely clad body and every one of her nerve endings sizzled with arousal.

Well, clearly this was going to be a problem. Now that she’d had him, she couldn’t simply turn off that need.

She slid her arms into the sheer material and stared back at him. “We aren’t engaged anymore,” she reminded him. “So how is this going to work?”

Reese shrugged. “I would have asked you as a friend even before we did this fake engagement. Nothing has changed there, Josie. I want my best friend by my side and I figured you’d enjoy the day out. You seemed to really hit it off with Maty and Silvia.”