Scandalous Engagement

Completely the truth.

“Why did you get engaged?” she retorted.

Reese shrugged and stared up at the starry sky. “I was taking over Conrad’s full time and starting to wonder about my legacy and who I would share it with. I know I want a family someday, but once I got engaged, I realized I wasn’t ready and she wasn’t the one.”

Josie placed her hand on his chest and smiled. “Sounds like we both dodged bigger mistakes.”

“Speaking of, Chris has been leaving notes and stopping by your house,” he told her. “My contractor informed me several days ago, so I reached out to Chris.”

Josie stilled. “What? You should let me take care of this.”

Reese’s gaze came back to hers. “I let you try that, we ended up engaged and he still didn’t back off. I told him if there was any further contact there would be harassment charges filed.”

Josie didn’t want a keeper. She didn’t want anyone, especially Reese, fighting her battles.

“This engagement wasn’t my doing,” she informed him. “I told Chris I had moved on. You’re the one who threw out I was your fiancée.”

“He needed something stronger than just dating,” Reese replied in that calm tone of his. “I could’ve said we’d already eloped.”

Josie pulled in a deep breath and closed her eyes. The opening was in just a couple days and then they would go back to normal. Hopefully Chris would still keep his distance.

“I’m tired,” she told Reese as she rolled off the side of the swing and came to her feet. “I’m going in to bed.”

Reese continued to lie there, staring up at her. “We can stay out here,” he suggested. “When I buy this place, I plan on staying out here as much as possible.”

Josie smiled, but her heart was heavy.

She wanted things to go back to the way they were a few weeks ago. She wanted to ignore the way her heart shifted when Reese talked about lying with her, holding her or when he spoke of the future. They didn’t have a future, not in the way they’d been playing house these past several days.

“You can stay out here,” she told him. “I’ll be fine.”

She turned and stepped into the house, closing the patio door behind her. Maybe he’d come in and maybe he wouldn’t. Right now, she needed time to think.

Reese had never acted like he wanted more with her. He seemed content with just the physical, which was fine. It had to be. If they tried this whole relationship for real, she didn’t know how long that could or would last. If he tired of her and moved on...that would definitely ruin their friendship.

That was a risk she couldn’t take, no matter how much she might be falling for her best friend.

Fifteen

Reese adjusted his tie, more out of nerves than anything else. The opening was due to kick off in less than thirty minutes, but that wasn’t what had a ball of tension in his belly.

The restaurant business was in his blood; he wasn’t worried in the slightest about failure or mishaps. Manhattan had been his main goal and here he was. Getting the building in the exact location he wanted had been the most difficult part. Everything from here on out was in his wheelhouse.

He stood on the second-floor balcony where he had a clear view of the first-floor entrance and one of the bars. For this location, he’d gone with old-world charm. Black and white, clean lines, clear bulbs suspended from the second floor to the first, a glossy mahogany bar. He’d wanted to keep this place upscale like the others, but really appeal to that classical era he associated with New York.

Josie had accompanied him from the penthouse he’d purchased a month ago. He wanted to keep a place in town because he planned on visiting quite often now. Their conversations had been a little strained since they’d left Green Valley a couple days ago. She was pulling back, and he was losing her.

The fear that continued to grow and develop inside him stemmed from that distance, from this fake engagement, from the fact that after tonight they wouldn’t have to pretend anymore.

He’d just wanted to get through this opening, but now...well, he wasn’t so sure he wanted things to end.

Oh, she wanted to go back to the friendship they’d once had, but that was impossible now. He knew her too intimately, had let her into that pocket of his heart he hadn’t even known existed, and he’d seen her in a whole new light.

After being best friends for twenty years, Reese hadn’t even known it was possible to still learn more about her, but he had. He’d actually discovered more about himself, too.

Like the fact that he wanted to give this relationship a go in every way that was real.

A flash of red caught his eye and he turned his attention to the bar area below. He knew that inky black hair and those killer curves.