Page 21 of Heal Me

I grab a mug from the cupboard and a tea bag out of the canister on the counter, purposely keeping my back to Tom. “Well, I went to that book event thing that Astrid’s company had for Gary at Jupiter Winery.”

“Okay. Decent start to a weekend.”

I concentrate on pouring the hot water into my mug so I don’t scald myself. “And I kinda met someone for the first time again.”

Tom snorts. “How do youkindameet someone for the first time again?” I can hear the grin in his voice.

“Well, I showed up, expecting the evening to be painfully boring. But when I got to the winery, Astrid’s friend Jocelin came rushing over, calling memon chéri,pulled my tie from my hand, then draped it around my neck, forming some elaborate knot I’ll never be able to duplicate.” I pause and blow on my tea.

“Gunnar.”

“I’m getting to it. Anyway, there was this other guy there who I guess has been repeatedly asking Jocelin out and won’t take no for an answer. I felt bad, so I kinda let him talk me into playing his boyfriend for the event.”

I risk a glance over my shoulder. Tom is leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed over his broad chest and an expectant look on his face. “Youaregoing to fill in the details. Right?”

Groaning under my breath, I head for the fridge to get the milk, nudging Tom aside. “Fine. So, Jocelin works with this jackass who keeps pressuring him to go out. To get him to back off, Jocelin made up a fake boyfriend. I’m not sure about all the details, but the guy was at it again when I got to the winery, and Jocelin panicked and told the asshatIwas his boyfriend. What was I supposed to do? He’s Astrid’s best friend. I couldn’t leave him hanging.”

Tom makes a little grunt, which is his ‘I call bullshit’ noise. “Of course not.And…”

I stir the milk into my tea, square my shoulders, and turn to face him. “Well, we got inside, and his boss came over. Well, one of his bosses. I guess he has a few? Anyway, this boss was excited to finally meet Jocelin’s boyfriend.” I point at myself. “Me. And then he invited us both to some party he’s throwing at his house next weekend. Jocelin was so excited. Like, really excited. It was adorable. So I said of course I would go with him.” Tom hums for me to continue, and I relax into the story. “Anyway, the pest, Victor, kept hovering around us, making Jocelin nervous.” I smirk. “So I took care of it.”

“And you did that how?”

I shrug, trying not to grin too broadly. “So I kinda kissed him.”

Tom chokes. “Hell, yeah. Did he kiss you back?”

A rush of heat washes through me. “Oh, yeah.” I blow on my tea and take a sip so the pain will redirect my attention from my dick. “Did the trick, too. The creep backed off.”

Tom laughs loudly. “That good, huh?”

“Well, the first time I kissed him, it was pretty great. But we both were in a bit of shock about it since I kind of caught him off guard. But then when we kissed back at his place—”

“You went back to his place?”

I hold up a hand. “It was just to get a look around. Everyone at his office thinks we’ve been dating for a while, and we’ve been invited to another of his work functions. So if we’re going to pull this off, then we have to know a certain amount about each other, and what his apartment looks like would be one of those things. Right?” I fiddle with my mug. “Anyway, we really hit it off. And I really like him.”

Tom makes another of his ‘I’m letting that go, but we’re coming back to it’ noises. “And are you going to ask him out?”

I sheepishly meet his eyes. “Well, we’ve already kinda had our first date.”

Tom snorts. “God, you don’t waste time.”

“It was only to Bjorn’s on Sunday.”

The silence is thunderous, and I glance at Tom. He’s staring at me, open-mouthed, and that’s not an expression I’m used to seeing on my best friend. “You took Jocelin to Osouf Family Dinner for your first date? I thought you liked him.”

I shake my head. “You’d think it would have been a disaster, right? God, I remember the first time Jules came over for dinner.” I still feel so fucking guilty about that night, especially now that I know him. “But Jocelin fit right in. It was seamless. He already knew Astrid and Gary, and he’s been to Bjorn’s once or twice before and met everyone. So, there wasn’t even any drama.”

Tom whistles. “Wow! Amazing.”

I take a sip of my tea. “I know, right?”

Tom throws back his head, and the room fills with his booming laugh.

There’s a throat clearing, and we both turn to see Quinn MacDougall, the M in MRB Concepts, standing in the doorway. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did you say you went on a date with our friend Jocelin Allard?”

I grip my tea and meet Quinn’s gaze. This isn’t anything to be embarrassed about. It was a date. And he may be Quinn and Tadhg’s friend, but he’s Astrid’sbestfriend. And if she doesn’t have a problem with it, then they shouldn’t either. “As a matter of fact, yes. We met at Gary’s book thing, and I took him to my brother’s house for dinner last night.”

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