Chapter 2 #2
I just stare at Rosie in exasperation. I love my cousins, but they’re very one-track-minded when it comes to men and money.
Did they seriously think they would be able to catch billionaires just because Mia had fallen in love with one?
I’m not sure Mia would have even snagged one if he hadn’t been her best friend.
Not that we’d ever talked about being with rich men.
We both just wanted to find love. Neither one of us had any real expectations of them being rich.
“You do realize that Mia is dating Luke, her best friend, who you both have met multiple times. Not some random she targeted from the Forbes 500 list or anything.”
“I remember him. He’s a cutie.” Sage nods, and then a small smile crosses her face. “I wouldn’t mind giving him a—”
“He’s Mia’s.” I glare at her.
“I know. I would never go after your best friend’s man.” She pauses, and she and Rosie wink at each other. She does a little spin and a twirl. “Even though every man in the world finds it hard to resist me.”
“Ego much, Sage?”
“What? Anyway, how are you? How’s your love life?”
“There is no love life to speak of right now,” I admit, “but I’m doing okay. Work is going how work normally goes. I’m hoping that it picks up soon because business is not great right now.”
“Oh no.” Rosie leans forward. “Do you need a billionaire as well? Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Maybe we can all brainstorm and think of some ways for me to bring in new business sometime this week because I do need to increase revenue.” I frown as I realize they are no longer listening to me and staring at someone behind me.
From the way they are playing with their hair, I’m guessing it’s a man.
“Well, if it isn’t little Sage and Rosie.” The voice is masculine, teasing, and arrogant, and I know immediately who it is.
I let out a loud groan, not even bothering to stifle my annoyance when I hear Rafe’s voice.
“It’s Rafe!” Rosie says, lighting up. “Hi!”
“Hi, Rosie. Good to see you.” Rafe joins us, and I try not to look at him, but of course, I can’t ignore him, as he stands far too close to me. “And you as well, Juniper.”
“Hello, Rafe,” I say, trying not to give him the stink eye. He aggravates me just by breathing.
“Well, you look happy to see me.” He grins. “Never seen you look happier.”
“Yeah. I’m sooo happy to see you. Don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up tonight. I might have cried myself to sleep. Can you see the relief in my eyes?”
“I can tell you’re close to tears.” He smirks. “Been missing me since I last saw you? I bet you’ve been counting down the hours.”
“I must have been counting for hours and hours. But no need anymore because here you are … in the flesh. I can hardly believe it.”
“Believe it, my dear. No need to miss me any longer.”
He reaches over and rubs my shoulder, and I almost jump back from the shock I received when he touched me. Rafe Bishop has an electric touch, and I hate that my body reacts to him so acutely.
“I’ve been gone, but now I’m back.”
“Been gone where? And why would you think I cared or noticed?” I just stare at him. “And, no, of course I didn’t miss you.” My voice is sharp, and it sounds like I am being super defensive.
I can tell by the looks on Sage’s and Rosie’s faces that I am protesting too much. I don’t know what it is about Rafe, but he really irritates me, to the point of no return, and I’m starting to wonder if he makes irritating comments on purpose to rile me up.
“So, how long are you two in town for?” Rafe asks my cousins with a wide smile, and they just shrug nonchalantly.
“We’re not sure. As long as Juniper will have us.” Sage points at me and runs her fingers through her hair. “We love spending as much time as possible in Coconut Beach.”
“You know you girls are welcome to stay as long as you want.” I grin at them both, putting my arms around their shoulders. “You’re family.”
“That’s why we love you, Juni … because we get to stay in this beautiful place for free and meet hot men with lots of money who want to wine and dine us.” Sage’s eyes glow for a few moments before she looks down.
“Juniper doesn’t look too happy right now,” Rafe says loudly. “Scared they will take all the rich men away from you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not beaming with excitement to hear that your cousins may stay for an indefinite amount of time and snag all the rich men in town.”
“Really? Are you trying to annoy the shit out of me, Rafe?”
“Would I ever try to do that? I think it’s just something that naturally happens when you see me because you can’t resist me.”
“Is there anything you wanted from us, or would you like to get a drink and then move on and hang out with your friends?”
“I actually said I was here to hang out with you guys.”
“I didn’t invite you to come and hang out with us, so I don’t know why—”
“Mia asked if I wanted to come. She and Luke will be joining,” he says matter-of-factly. “You know, Mia, your best friend, also known as my sister.”
“And what is Luke? Your new best friend now too?” I stare at him, and he just laughs at me. “I didn’t think so.”
“Juniper, one of these days, we’re going to have a conversation so we can figure out why you’re always so annoyed and angry with me.”
I stare at him in disbelief because he and I both know where our friendship/relationship went wrong, and it’s certainly not a moment I want to relive.
I didn’t think he would want to either. I can still remember standing there in my oversize T-shirt, with one shoulder exposed, gazing up at him with pouted lips.
My stomach curls as I cringe at the memory.
Don’t relive it, Juniper, I lecture myself.
I don’t want to think about the kiss or the way I held on to him. Or the way he pressed himself into me. I don’t want to think about how my heart leaped. How I thought this was going to be the beginning of forever. Guess I’ve always been a fool.
“Really?” I stare at him. “You really want us to have a conversation about why we don’t get along?”
“It can’t be about what happened at your fifteenth birthday party,” he says, staring at me. “Or can it?”
“What do you think?” I ask him. “And it wasn’t my fifteenth. It was my eighteenth.” I am seething now. Does he even remember that we kissed? Or what he said to me afterward?
“Oh, was it? It was a long time ago. I forget the details.”
“It wasn’t that long ago.”
“Do you want us to go back and relive that night?” he says softly, whispering in my ear. “Have me make a different decision, and then maybe we can move past—”
“Oh, hell no. I’m not interested in you like that anymore. I was young, and I was dumb, and—” I am ready to go off.
How dare he tease me and treat that night so casually, like it was nothing?! Like I can’t still feel my skin burning.
“Let’s do karaoke!” Rosie rushes up to me and grabs my hand. I don’t know if she’s doing it to prevent a fight or not, but I am grateful for the interruption. “You want to sing ‘Summer Nights’ from Grease with us?”
I stare at her and wrinkle my nose as Rafe just stands there with a cocky smirk on his face. “Not particularly.”
“Or would you rather stay there, arguing with Rafe?” she whispers and gives me a look that says she knows exactly what she’s doing.
“I guess ‘Summer Nights.’ ” I stare at her, wrinkling my nose before plastering my best fake smile on my face, and offer Rafe a goodbye wave. “Sorry, but I’m here to have fun tonight. Not waste my time entertaining you. You enjoy doing you.”
“We will need to figure this out at some point. You know that, right, Juniper? We can’t keep arguing and being standoffish with each other just because, once upon a time, you had a small crush on me and I told you it wasn’t going to happen.”
He folds his arms and raises an eyebrow at me, and I blush a deep red because I am mortified at his words.
“I seem to remember it went down slightly differently from what you seem to recall,” I say. “But like I said before, I don’t care, and I certainly don’t need to have a conversation with you about what happened. So, have a nice life.”
“Have a nice life?” He raises a single eyebrow. “Is that your way of saying—”
“That’s my way of saying nothing.” I run away from him and head up to the stage with Rosie and Sage.
I don’t know why I let him get to me like this. I don’t know why I give him the power to make me feel all the things I felt when I was younger. But I suppose I never really resolved my feelings. It’s not like I could tell Mia that her brother rejected me.
I’d had the biggest crush on Rafe Bishop.
There was one point in my life where I thought he’d be my future husband.
There was one point where I thought he’d be my everything, and the saddest point was when I actually thought he felt the same.
Just because of one birthday kiss, which meant nothing to him.
I’d just been a delusional teenage girl in love, and he let me know in no uncertain terms that nothing was ever going to happen between the two of us.
He let me know he saw me only as his little sister’s best friend and that he would never cross that line.
His words still sting, especially the fact that he thinks I’m still into him or that I still even think about him. I can’t believe his ego is so large. I am not interested in him like that anymore, and I am never going to let him embarrass me again.