“Is it Zane or the wedding eating at you?”
Taking another gulp of the hoppy brew, she looked into the glass, trying to figure out what the spicy undertone was. “Both. My mom thinks I should bring a date, since I haven’t seen Dad’s family since I left Randy at the altar when I was my cousin Lulu’s age. You know, make it look like I’m not lonely and desperate.”
“Are you lonely and desperate?”
“No, but I would really like to make my parents proud. In a massive family of strait-laced normal people, I am too often the oddball that everyone gossips about.”
“I would never have pegged you as an outsider when I saw you with your parents and your extended family at Pippa’s wedding.”
“That’s the good side of the family; we’re all oddballs.”
“And a date would make you look normal?”
“Sort of. I just want to give my parents some bragging rights. Instead of,Freya broke off another engagement and got homesick so she’s renting out a bedroom in her cousin’s girlfriend’s houseand hoping her career doesn’t tank,I’m going for,Freya’s art is being sold all over the world, and she’s happy and successful.”
“You know? I’ve never had to worry about that.”
Freya’s heart stumbled as she realized she’d been ranting about the woes of pleasing parents and impressing a huge extended family, when Sophie only had one horrible aunt and had lost her parents and grandparents as a kid. “I’m such a bitch. I’m sorry, Sophie.”
Sophie leaned into Freya. “It’s okay. I now have Asher, and soon, my best friend for a sister, fierce parents in Denise and Paul, and,” she tipped her head against Freya’s, “you for a cousin.”
“Damn right. I’ll just be me at this stupid wedding. They can see the Freya that will tell them to fuck off if they don’t approve.”
Laughing, Sophie took a drink of her beer and nodded to the picture, “And what about Zane?”
Stepping back a few paces, Freya slumped onto the bench and took a long, long pull on the beer, letting the bubbles ping and pop in her mouth before speaking. “I like him.”
“And the problem is?” Sophie joined her and leaned back.
The sun was beginning to lower in the sky, and Freya’s stomach rumbled, reminding her she’d skipped lunch and was well on her way to missing dinner. Nearly done with the beer, she was already feeling the buzz on her empty stomach. “I don’t want to like himthatway. I’d love to fool around with him, as, well, he’s gorgeous and is comprised completely of Freya-friendly pheromones. But, well, I’ve been there, done that, bought the freaking t-shirt, and I’m not going down that road again.”
Sophie laughed under her breath. “I guess you’ll need to catch me up a bit.”
Sometimes Freya forgot she’d only known Sophie a few weeks. They’d instantly hit it off in the weeks before Pippa’s wedding, and Freya had been grateful when Sophie had asked her to be her roommate while Freya settled back in the States and Sophie tried to not jump headfirst into things with Asher.
“I’ve been engaged three times.”
Sophie winced. “Oh my.”
“You know I’m a sucker for good chemistry. So much so, that, well, I get caught up in the romance of it all. And then I realize there’s nothing more than good sex and end up disappointed when the rest doesn’t follow and he wasn’t what I thought he was and I’ve lost a little more of myself.”
“I see. So you’re looking for someone you don’t have good chemistry with?”
“Exactly. Like a long-term friend with benefits that I can settle down with and we can have babies together and joint checking accounts… but without that intensity that is too easy to lose yourself in.”
“But you just met Zane, what, a week ago?”
“We’re beyond the met stage already. Once when we helped him with his boxes. Then Asher sent him to save me from the scary gunshots and, well, within twenty minutes of seeing him up close for the first time, I was already making out with him. We’ve had our first fight, and our second, and kissed and made up.”
“Wow, you do move fast.”
“Only when the chemistry is so freaking overwhelming. Whenever I’m within a ten-foot radius of that man, I can’t keep my mouth off him.”
“Dinner tonight should be interesting then,” Sophie snickered, sporting a wicked grin.
“You didn’t.”
“You’ll have chaperones. Asher and I will be there.” Before Freya could whimper and whine, Sophie changed the subject.
