“Wait, you’re the brother who couldn’t come to the wedding?”
“Yeah, I got stuck in Chicago. Long story. Why does it matter?”
“Well, I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but Lauren is one of my best friends and also my boss.”
“Your boss?”
“I’m the events manager at the Whitman Street Cat Café.”
“Oh.” Josh frowned. “Wow, okay. Didn’t see that coming. Awkward.”
“Oh god, oh god, oh god.”
“Why are you acting like this is a huge problem?”
“Because you’re Lauren’sbrother.”
Josh pushed himself up so that he was sitting upright on the bed. The bedding pooled at his waist. “Why are you treating this like a crisis? Neither of us did anything wrong.”
Paige couldn’t articulate why, but something here felt very wrong. “How am I supposed to tell one of my closest friends that I slept with her brother?”
“You…don’t.”
Paige narrowed her eyes. That was interesting. “I don’t?”
“Don’t tell her. Why does she need to know?”
Paige turned that over in her head. She supposed she didn’tneedto tell Lauren. But if she didn’t, then last night would remain in this apartment. “So…this was just one night. One secret night that we never tell anyone about.”
Josh shrugged, and his nonchalance was a little infuriating. “Sure,” he said. “I mean, I’d love to see you again. I meant everything I said. But this doesn’t have to be anything more than what it is right now if you don’t want it to be.”
If it were just one night, then they wouldn’t be seeing each other again, and although Paige wouldn’t want to have to explain this relationship to Lauren, it still made her sad. But Paige couldn’t imagine any way to make this work. “Oh. Okay.”
“I mean, I don’t know about you, but I kind of make it a policy to never talk about my sex life with my sister. Lauren and I are pretty close, but not that close.”
“I mean, I don’t tell hereverything.” Paige felt heat come to her face. Feeling embarrassed or out of control put her in exactly the place she did not want to be.
In her work life, she was always so on top of things. Give her a big event with many moving parts and she excelled. Why was her love life such a damned mess? She finally met a guy who matched her in ambition and intelligence, a guy she really liked and could see going on more than one date with, and he was her best friend/boss’s brother. Wasn’t that just perfect?
Josh frowned, looking sleepily confused. “You’re still freaking out. Why?”
Paige stood at the foot of Josh’s bed and watched him rub his eyes. He was gorgeous in the morning, his hair disheveled, his bare chest shown to its best advantage in the morning light streaming through the window, his sheets draped haphazardly over his lap. He’d been very clear about what his schedule meant, and she didn’tthinkshe needed more than one night…but she did. She wanted more. But how could she possibly keep dating her best friend’s brother? That was a recipe for drama Paige did not need.
She sighed. “Maybe I should go.”
“You don’t have to.” Josh looked over at his bedside table, and his eyes went wide when he saw the clock. “Oh, yeah you do. When did it get to be so late?”
“It’s six in the morning.”
“And I have to be at my desk before my boss gets in at eight. I mean. I’ve got some Cheerios in the kitchen, and you can shower if you want before you go home, but I gotta get ready. Uh. I’m gonna shower, I guess. Feel free to make coffee.” Josh scrambled out of bed and walked across the apartment naked.
Paige got dressed, found her bag, and paused in the kitchen as she waited for the shower to go on. Once she was confident the noise from the water would mask her movements, she slipped out of the apartment.
Chapter 6
As Paige sat beside Evan at Pop, Evan looked up from his phone and said, “Where’s Lauren?”
“She’s closing. Told me to go ahead so you wouldn’t wait here all alone too long.” Paige made a faux sympathetic pouty face.
