Page 76 of The Catch

She didn’t like that either. “Look,” she said, obviously being gracious with him, “you’re not feeling well. Let’s just drop it.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Thirty

Dropping it wasn’t that easy,it turned out. Clearly missing the daggers Cat was staring at her, Dani had just finished embellishing the story of Josh’s moment for a captive audience over dinner.

“Jay from behind the bar?” Adam laughed around a mouthful of cheeseburger.

Josh set down the fork he was using to push food around his plate and stared at him. “You know him too?”

“Yeah, he’s the guy that’s been drooling over Cat for years now.”

“What the hell, Adam?” Cat said, unimpressed.

“What? It some secret?”

“You really don’t see this?” Josh asked.

She could see him getting testy again, and she wanted to put an end to it before that side of him appeared again. Josh’s pettiness was only amusing when it was directed at Dylan.

“There’s nothing to see,” Cat said. “He works for tips; it’s his job to flirt.”

Adam shook his head. “Cat’s never been good at reading signs right.”

Sonya hummed a co-sign. “If they’re too forward, they’re creeps. If they’re too casual, she misses it altogether.”

“What’d you do right?” Emma smiled, nudging Josh with her arm.

“Pretty much everything, remember?” Dani laughed. “But even then, she was so focused on that stupid bet that she almost missed out.”

Josh paused with his drink halfway to his lips. “What bet?”

Heat rushed up the back of Cat’s neck when he turned his eyes on her. “Nothing,” she said nervously, glaring at Dani for some sort of retraction. It was a hopeless effort, really. Josh wasn’t going to let that go. She wouldn’t have.

He set his glass down and looked at her until she was forced to speak again.

“It was just something I said to them after you and I first met.”

His eyes didn’t budge. This was not going to go well. Josh was already in a mood she hadn’t seen from him before.

“You made a bet about me?”

Cat shifted in her seat, stalling. It wouldn’t sound that bad now that they were what they were, right? Or at least what they were a week ago, and she hoped they still were. Shit. Dani had horrible timing. Maybe Josh would see the humor in it. He had to.

“I just bet them that you were too good to be true,” she explained, keeping her voice light.

“Christ, Cat,” Adam muttered, shaking his head at the table.

“What do you mean?” Josh asked. “Like I was lying to you?”

“No. Of course not. Just that there had to be some catch or something because you seemed so perfect.” She reached a hand out to touch his cheek, but he jerked his head away.Definitely not going well.

“Did you think I was feeding you lines like your friend Jay? Just trying to get you into bed?”

“Josh!”

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