Page 73 of Maneater
Josie might like picking at me, but Rory likes picking on Josie, and it’s fun to watch. I realize then that her picking on me, poking and prodding and teasing, might have been her way of being into—or at least friendly with—me all along. It’s just her own strange brand of affection.
“All right, all right,” Rory says, standing and hefting her bag over her shoulder. “I’m out of here. Have fun, you two.”
And then it’s just Josie and me.
THIRTY
ROWAN
“Sorry about Rory, she’s very protective of me,” Josie says after we leave the restaurant.
“I don’t mind.” She looks up at me like she doesn’t believe me, and I shrug. “I like it. Clearly, she cares about you. That’s a good thing,” I tell her, meaning it.
She smiles softly before explaining. “She doesn’t usually get the opportunity to interrogate someone I’m into, so I think she saw the opportunity and ran with it.”
‘Because you avoid bringing them to her?” Silence hangs between us as we walk. As I take a left to go the quieter route to the beach, the one mostly employees take, I look at her. She’s biting her lip, contemplating what to say. “Or…?”
“I haven’t really had someonetobring to Rory. Not in a long time, at least.” A light blush blooms on her cheeks as my brow furrows.
“You haven’t?”
“I don’t really…” She closes her eyes like she’s about to make a confession, and I squeeze her hand, trying to reassure her. “I don’t really date. I haven’t found one yet that was worth my time enough that I wanted to introduce him to my friends.”
“I see you on dates all the time,” I say, and regret it instantly when her face drops.
Fuck. I have to stop bringing that up, rubbing in her face the many times I’ve seen her out with other men. Not only does it not matter, but it’s really not any of my business. She wasn’t mine then; we didn’t have anything between us, and she’s an adult, able to do whatever she wants. I open my mouth to argue, but she cuts me off.
“They’re…” she says, looking off into the distance and taking a deep breath before continuing. “Those dates aren’t what they seem.”
A part of me wonderswhatthey are, but I don’t ask. It’s not my business, I remind myself.
“It doesn’t matter what you do with your life or who you date. Right now, you’re here with me, and that’s all I care about,” I tell her. It’s what I should have been telling her from the start, but we’ve already concluded that I’m both an idiot and an asshole.
Relief washes over her face, and she smiles up at me. In that moment, I realize my words are the truth: I don’t care what Josie is hiding, what secrets she’s keeping, so long as she’s by my side and smiling at me like she is right now. I return her smile and squeeze her hand as we continue to move.
“So you took time off work to come eat lunch with us,” Josie says, breaking the silence. She sounds satisfied and a bit amused by that fact.
“Yeah.” I take a moment to gather my thoughts and shift gears before adding, “I thought I’d feel guilty about it, but I don’t. The world kept spinning, the business hasn’t fallen apart just because I didn’t supervise every single action,” I say. “I’m starting to wonder if maybe there’s more to life than working.”
I’m starting to believe thatmore to lifeis holding my hand and smiling up at me right now.
“Why do you sound so confused by that?” she asks with a laugh.
“Because I am.” I laugh as well, shrugging. “I don’t think I’ve ever said that before. I love work.”
“Except…”
“Except there’s this brunette who I can’t stop thinking about, and every time I’m at work, all I can think about is spending more time with her.”
“She sounds pretty awesome.”
“She is,” I say. “I keep wanting to ask her out, except I’ve recently realized I don’t even have her number.” She turns her head, our steps slowing as we approach the entrance to the beach where I’m going to leave her.
“Maybe you should ask her for it,” she says. “Have you tried that?”
I shake my head with a smile.
It’s wild how light I feel when it’s just Josie and me, how when she looks at me like that, I forget that my world is on fire and nothing makes sense. For a split second, the world revolves around Josie and her smile and the warmth radiating from her.
