Marek (Cold Fury Hockey 11)

Smells all right for sure.

"So there's a job opening at the hospital where I work," Josie says out of the blue, and I almost drop the quiche. I set it down on top of the stove and drop the mitts on the counter as I turn to face her. "It's not neonatal, but they are searching for a labor and delivery nurse. In fact, the job hasn't even been posted publicly yet, but feelers were put out to staff for any personal recommendations."

"Okay," I say hesitantly.

"If you're interested, I want to personally recommend you," she continues.

"But why?" I blurt out, walking to the island that separates us. "You don't even know me."

"That's true," she replies with a wave of her hand. "So maybe let's start with this...are you interested in a job here, and if so, are you qualified?"

"Of course I'm qualified," I tell her with a smile. "And I have excellent references. My supervisor was surprisingly understanding of why I had to leave so soon without giving notice, so I'm not too worried about that. But I'm not sure how to answer your first question, am I interested?"

"Because if you were interested that would mean you're reconciled to stay here permanently," Josie drawls as if she's hazarding a guess.

It's a damn good guess. Still, I hedge slightly. "It would be a fresh start for me."

Josie studies me for a moment, but then she just merely nods toward the quiche. "Want to serve that? I'm starving."

The request startles me for a moment, but then I remember my head. "Yeah, sorry. Let me get some plates."

I slip into hostess mode and plate up two perfectly sliced pieces of the quiche. As I reach for some forks out of the drawer to my right, Josie asks, "Are you here to stay then?"

If I had my way, yes.

If Owen gets his way, no.

My answer comes out without thought, because Lord knows I've spent a lot of damn time thinking about it already. "I think I'd like to. But I want to get my own place. It's just not going to work out staying at Marek's house."

"Is he still being a dick?" Josie asks as she stabs her fork down into the quiche. "Because I can get Reed--"

I shake my head and hold my hand up to stop her. "No, nothing like that. I mean, he's still angry at me, but it's waning. I can tell."

"Then what's the problem? That's one less pressure on you right now, having to find a place to stay and pay for it."

Another hard shake of my head. "That's not it. It's just..."

My words trail off because it's all kinds of fucked up. I don't even want to say it out loud.

But Josie's eyes go a little wide as if she's had an internal epiphany and she leans across the table a bit more to whisper, "Oh my God. You still have feelings for him, don't you."

Shame drags my head down, and when I risk a peek back at her, I admit, "I always have. Even as angry as I was at him for breaking my heart, you never forget your first love."

"And now you two have been thrown back together in less than ideal circumstances," she muses out loud, as if she's trying to put pieces of a puzzle together.

"It doesn't really matter," I say quickly to stop her from taking this any further. "Marek will never forgive me for what I did, keeping Lilly a secret. And besides, he's just a playboy. He might want to mature up and be a daddy, but that's all there will ever be between us. Parenting responsibilities. He's made it perfectly clear that he likes his freedom from a romantic commitment."

"I don't know about that," Josie says as she shakes her head. "You should have seen him when he found out you were getting married. He was freaked out big time. I think he's still got feelings."

"Doesn't matter," I maintain staunchly, refusing to even let myself think about that. Things are way too up in the air with Owen throwing a wrench into things and expecting me back in New York in a few weeks. "Everything's changed now that he found out I had Lilly and didn't tell him."

Except...he did almost kiss me last night.

But he was drunk, Gracen.

Drunk and being stupid. That's all there is to it.

"We're friends, right?" Josie asks me as she sets her fork down and I blink at her in confusion.

"Um...yeah."

"Okay, then I'm going to get all up in your business and be nosy, and if we're not that good of friends or we don't have the potential to be that good of friends, tell me to shove it and mind my own business."

"Okay," I say hesitantly.

"Honestly...no shit. Friend to friend and I'll take this to my grave--I won't even tell Reed--but I sense there's more to this story. What's the deal with Owen?"

My cheeks turn hot that she's asking me point blank now as a new friend and someone who's just laid a job opportunity before me. More important, I really like Josie and think we could become very good friends.

I weigh keeping my secret versus letting one person in on the entire truth, especially since she's said she won't tell anyone else, including Reed. I don't want my shitty predicament to get back to Marek, who already thinks I've got a few screws loose in the head for keeping Lilly a secret.

With a heaving sigh, I poke my fork down into the quiche and unburden myself. "Owen was blackmailing me to marry him."

When I risk a glance at Josie, she blinks at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. "I don't even know what to say to that."

"You can probably call me an idiot for getting caught up in it," I mutter before taking my first bite of the quiche.

I can't help the tiny moan. Man, that tastes like heaven, and I'll be making this recipe again.

"You're not an idiot," Josie says with such assurance someone might believe it. But not me.

She pushes up from her stool and grabs the bottle of wine. "Where's the corkscrew?"

I point to a drawer beside the sink.

"Glasses? And regular glasses are fine. We don't need fancy stuff."

I point to a cabinet.

When Josie is back at the counter, she uncorks the wine and pours our drinks. After taking a liberal sip, she nods at me. "Okay. Lay it all on me."

I set my fork down and take a sip of the wine myself. Then another just for good measure.

"It just got out of control so fast," I tell her. "I accepted his invitation for a date. I'd known him since high school, and while I didn't ca

re for him then, he'd seemed to mature. Had a bigwig job at the bank his father runs, so I thought, why not? I was tired of being alone."

Josie nods at me in sympathy. "Girl, you don't know how much I can relate to that, but that's another story for another time. Go on."

"So I went on a handful of dates with him," I continue with a glum voice. "And they were good. Fine. He seemed nice. He was attentive and kind to Lilly. I mean, there weren't major sparks, but it was fine."

"He sounds boring as shit," Josie mutters.

I can't agree with that, because he was anything but boring. He was intense and intimidating. I was always on my toes around him.

"My parents took out a second mortgage with the bank his father works at to pay for my degree. About a year ago, my dad got laid off from his job and then he injured his back. For one reason or another, he couldn't find a job, and once the savings ran dry, the note went into default."

"Let me guess," Josie says knowingly. "Owen stepped in and helped."

"His father is the bank president. At first it was a thirty-day extension when they requested it. Then another. The entire time, he was upping his romance game with me. He started getting serious and dropped hints about marriage. There was no way I was marrying him, but I felt so trapped. He was helping my parents out...pulling strings. So I just sort of played along. I strung him along to be exact."

Josie's eyebrows raise, but her expression is sympathetic and nonjudgmental. She nods at me to continue.

"Until I couldn't string him along anymore," I admit to her. "His romantic proposal including a long-winded discussion about how his wife's family would never have to worry about anything in the future. The implication was clear, and to prove himself, he got the note put into a temporary deferral. I knew if I didn't say yes, my parents would lose everything."

"What a shitbag," Josie mutters.

"God, I was stupid." The lament in my voice is painful to my ears. "He didn't love me and I knew that. I didn't love him either. I should have never let him bully me into it. I mean...my parents would never have wanted me sacrificing myself to help them out, but I just couldn't stomach the thought of them losing their house when they put it at risk for my college education."

"Why did he do it?" Josie muses out loud. "I mean, you're gorgeous and sweet and smart, so I get the attraction, but why force a marriage that clearly wasn't based on love?"