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“She had a hickey on her neck! Someone had to save the day. I thought I was impressive.”
Frankie shook her head. “You hid the hickey on her neck, but you didn’t do anything about the fact her face was the color of a tomato.”
Paige stood up and loosened the scarf from her neck. “Thank you for this.”
“Keep it. It’s yours. The color really did look good on you until your face turned puce. And anyway, I can’t have it back now. I’ll always associate that scarf with stress and anxiety.” Eva pushed her back into the chair. “You’re not moving until you’ve told us all about sex with Jake.”
Paige froze. “What makes you think it was Jake?”
“Your face when Matt walked into the room and then your face again when Jake walked into the room. Then there was all that delicious innuendo from bad, bad Jake—and I need to probably tell him that if he’s going to have under-the-table foot sex, he needs to not sit next to me while he does it. Also, I heard the motorbike,” Eva confessed. “So being inquisitive by nature—”
Frankie stacked plates on the counter. “By which she means incurably nosy.”
“Inquisitive,” Eva said firmly. “I rushed into the living room and peered out of the window through a crack in the blinds. I saw him kiss you. Great kiss by the way. Loved the way he hauled your mouth to his. Masterful and romantic at the same time. Very, very hot.”
“You saw that?”
“It was my lucky night. If I can’t watch romantic movies or have sex in my own life, I have to live through you vicariously. It’s your duty to allow me to peek. What are friends for? It was your lucky night, too, from the look of it. Jake is obviously as good at kissing as he is at other things.”
Paige slid down in her chair. “Is it weird?”
“You and Jake? You tell us, but from where I was standing it looked hot, not weird.”
“I meant, weird because he’s part of our group. Friends and sex don’t mix, do they?”
“They can.” Eva shrugged. “There are loads of instances where friends become lovers. When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite movies.”
“Life isn’t a movie, Eva. But that isn’t why it’s weird.” Frankie reached for Matt’s empty mug. “It’s weird because the two of you have been swiping at each other for most of your lives. And after that kiss in the elevator you thought he wasn’t interested.”
Paige put her spoon down. “Turned out he was interested, but he was protecting me.”
“From what?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Eva popped a berry into her mouth. “He was protecting her from himself. He doesn’t want to hurt Paige. That’s so romantic.”
Paige wondered why Eva had been so quick to spot something she hadn’t. “It’s not romantic. It’s super irritating. I thought he was the one person who didn’t protect me, and it turns out he’s been protecting me all along. I would rather have known.”
“No you wouldn’t. Because then you would have been angry. You’re stubborn about people helping you. Not that I don’t understand,” Eva said quickly, “but it’s true.”
“I’m not stubborn.” Paige looked at Frankie. “Am I stubborn?”
Frankie put the yogurt back into the fridge. “Yeah, you are. You’d fall on your face rather than take help. Makes you difficult to help sometimes.”
“I don’t want help!”
“Everyone needs help, Paige! That’s what life is all about. Reaching out and supporting the people around you. You can’t do it on your own. There is a difference between being overprotected and being helped. If we hadn’t forced you to go to Jake, last night wouldn’t have happened.”
“Maybe it would have been better if it hadn’t.”
“I was talking about the event,” Frankie said slowly, and Paige felt her face heat.
“Oh. Well, we still don’t know if that has worked. The phone hasn’t rung yet.”
“It will. And networking is part of business.”
“Great. I’ll network as part of business.”
“And what about the rest of it? What happens now?” Frankie pushed the fridge door shut. “How does this play out?”
