Scandalous Engagement

Why was he even letting his mind travel to that space? He needed to get control over his wayward thoughts and keep himself in check.

“You don’t have to stay here, you know.”

His focus shifted back to her face. She stared at him over the rim of her mug. Those dark eyes never let on to what she was truly thinking...just another way they were so alike. Both held their emotions close to their chest.

“How many times did Chris text you last night?” he asked.

Josie’s eyes darted away as she mumbled something under her breath. He thought he heard a staggering number, but even one was one too many at this point. Beyond the fact that they were divorced, she’d blatantly told Chris no and Reese had mentioned they were engaged. A lie, sure, but Chris didn’t know that. The man should back off.

“All the more reason for me to stay for a while,” Reese replied.

Maybe his presence would keep Chris away, maybe it wouldn’t. Reese really had no idea. He did know that he obviously enjoyed a round of torture before breakfast because he was in no hurry to move away from his newly appealing best friend and get going on his busy day.

Did she always sleep in something so damn...sexy?

Maybe they did need to set some clothing boundaries now that they were temporarily living together.

Their friendship was solid; it was perfect. They completed each other and there was nobody else he would trust with every aspect of his life. But he wasn’t quite ready to open up about that letter. He still wasn’t sure what to do with the truths it had revealed, and the strange things he was feeling since announcing their fake engagement weren’t helping him figure it out.

Only a week ago, his main worry had been about his Manhattan opening and now...well, that opening was the least of his worries. He and his selected launch team had a good handle on the upcoming momentous day and Reese truly believed the opening would be nothing short of a smashing success.

“How’s your father?” she asked as she set her mug down. “Still doing good?”

His father. Those two words sounded so odd now, so foreign. He had no idea how he felt about the changes in his family, except maybe a little deceived that the people he’d loved his entire life had lied to him from the beginning.

“Reese?”

He blinked and focused on Josie. “He’s fine,” Reese replied. “His doctor has checked on him every day since they’ve been gone.”

“That’s great. Your mom and dad have worked so hard and then for him to have heart surgery right after retiring—he deserves some downtime.”

Which was one of the reasons Reese had been holding on to this letter, this secret. When

the letter came, it had been with a stack of mail that Reese hadn’t gotten to immediately. He’d been so swamped with taking over the Conrad restaurants, plus working on the launch of the new one, that if something didn’t seem pressing or like an emergency, he’d put it on the back burner.

Josie sighed and came to her feet, bringing his attention back to her.

“I have to finish my article before my noon deadline,” she told him. “I’m just going to grab a quick shower first. Feel free to use the guest bath or head on home and get ready there. We can meet up for dinner later if you’re free.”

She sashayed out of the room...and that was the best way he could describe those swaying hips beneath that flimsy material. It was driving him out of his mind.

He was going to need a shower, too. A very, very cold shower to get control of this new reaction to his best friend, one he should ignore.

Reese cleaned up the few dishes in the kitchen and headed to the spare room to throw on his clothes from yesterday and head to his house for a few things.

As he moved toward his room, he heard a thump from one of the other guest bedrooms. Then a string of muttered curses followed and Reese let his curiosity get the best of him. He circled back to the nearly closed door and tapped his knuckles on the frame.

“You okay?” he called.

The door flung open and Josie seemed even more frazzled than earlier. A strand of inky black hair fell across her face and she blew it away.

“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to peek over her shoulder.

“Nothing.”

Because she tried to slip out the door, Reese took it upon himself to put a hand on the wood and ease it back open.

“You know you’re a terrible liar.”