Until There Was You(83)

Except for the jacket. He wanted her to keep his jacket. Granted, the fact that she had it right next to her at this very moment made her a tremendous loser, but please. The coat was battered and leather and dead sexy and smelled like Liam, and if she couldn’t have him right here at this very moment, she did have the Official Bad Boy Jacket of Hotness. Not bad. Plus, a marathon of The Pickers was on.

As Posey was practically drooling in envy as the show’s hosts visited an old amusement park, the back door opened. She hit Mute and was just about to call out hello, when Gretchen spoke. “Okay, be quiet,” she said (not quietly). “My housemate’s probably asleep.”

Housemate, right. Way too uncool to say cousin, as in I’m staying with my cousin because I have a gambling problem and blew through all my money. There was a rumble of a male voice, then Gretchen’s sultry giggle.

Well, this was fun! No wonder Gret had been pleasant lately. She was getting a little some-some herself. Posey would just tiptoe upstairs. Unfortunately, they were in the kitchen, where the stairway was. Maybe she’d just stay put after all and let them creep upstairs.

Another giggle. “Come on in the living room,” Gretchen said.

So much for hiding. “Gret? Is that you?” she called.

“Oh, Posey! I figured you’d be asleep by now.”

Gretchen’s head appeared in the doorway. Her hair was tousled, and she was flushed. “Um…I have a guy with me,” she whispered.

“Hi, guy,” Posey called, grinning. Shilo’s tail thumped.

The guy appeared.

Posey’s smile dropped like lead. “Oh. Uh…Dante. Hi.”

Clearly, he felt as awkward as she felt now. He gave her a stiff nod. “Posey. Nice to see you. I…I wasn’t aware you two lived together.” No. Dante had never been to her house, something that had bothered her when they were involved.

“It’s temporary,” Gretchen said hastily. “We’re a very close family.”

“Oh. How nice.”

A couple of things were clear to Posey—one, Gretchen had no idea that Dante had had a thing with her. And two, somehow or another, Gretchen had forgiven Dante that nasty comment from the parade.

“Dante, could you pour us a glass of wine?” Gretchen asked, putting her hand on Dante’s chest. “There’s a gorgeous cabernet on the counter.”

“Sure. Uh, Posey, one for you, too?”

“No, thanks.”

“Very well,” he said, retreating to the kitchen.

Gretchen sat in the easy chair, crossing her long legs. “Posey, I know this looks bad,” she said, her voice low. “But we ran into each other at the farmer’s market two weeks ago, and the truth is, I told him off. He called to apologize, and we ended up meeting for a drink. I know it seems like I’m sleeping with the enemy, but I really, really like him.”

“Okay, but Gretchen, I should—”

“Please don’t tell Max and Stacia.” She tucked a strand of long blond hair behind her ear. “I just…I just don’t have a lot of good things in my life these days. And even if it’s early, it feels…special. I really fell for him, Posey. I bet you feel the same way about Liam.” She gave Posey a smile—a genuinely excited, sweet smile, and Posey’s heart sank slowly to her stomach.

“Um, sure, Gret. I mean, you’re an adult. And the whole restaurant rivalry thing is silly.”

“Exactly! Oh, Posey, I knew I could count on you. Thank you. And listen. I haven’t said a word about you and Liam, because I know Mutti would go nuts planning the wedding and all that. So this is kind of fun, right? We each have a secret beau. Secret for now, anyway.”

Posey’s toes curled in discomfort. Of all the times for Gretchen to want to be friends…

“We’ll get out of here. I thought for some reason you’d be at Liam’s tonight, and he wanted to see where I lived… Anyway. We’ll go to his place. It’s gorgeous, by the way. House on the water in Midnight Cove.”

Posey tried not to cringe. Granted, if she could erase the Dante chapter from her life, she would. But not telling Gretchen…that didn’t seem right. Then again, maybe some things should be left to wither and die. Especially things that meant nothing.

“Dante, babe, never mind about that wine,” Gretchen called, rising gracefully. “Let’s head over to your house, shall we?”

“Good idea,” he said, returning to the great room.

“Just let me run upstairs and grab some things,” Gretchen said. She shot Posey a grateful smile, smoothed her skirt and swished out of the room.

Alone with Dante. How fun. Posey unmuted the TV to cover any conversation and looked over at the King of Slick. “Ironic, you two together,” she whispered.

He eyed her warily. “She doesn’t know about…our thing.”

“So I gathered.”

“I’d like to keep it that way.”

“I bet you would.”

“Are you going to tell her?” he whispered. “Because I’d really prefer that you didn’t.”

Posey’s jaw clenched. “Well, Dante, you smug bastard,” she whispered back. “I don’t really care what you prefer. She’s my cousin. So I’ll sleep on this, and if I feel I should tell her, I will.” Shilo put his massive head on Posey’s lap and groaned in adoration.