Page 44 of Forever Only Once

However, her family had phenomenal taste.

“Cross Brady does exquisite work,” I said, “but you’re not going to whore me out to get it.”

“Brady?” Myra asked. “His last name is Brady?”

I frowned. “Yeah. Didn’t I mention that?”

Myra shrugged, a different cool composure sliding over her face. What the hell was that about?

“I just hadn’t put two and two together. I mean, I know his art, but I always thought of Chris and Cross, not Cross Brady. Anyway, you skimmed over the fact that you haven’t slept with him yet. But you’re going to, right? And not for furniture. I’ll buy my own. I’ll even get Paris a knickknack or something. However, tell us, are you going to sleep with him?”

I wanted to ask what Myra was thinking because she was definitely thinking something, but I didn’t. Like I said before, we all had our secrets, and our own odd ways.

But it did kind of worry me that she had gone so pale at the mention of Cross’s last name.

“I don’t know if I’m going to sleep with him yet,” I said.

“Are you going to tell us exactly how long it’s been?” Paris asked, and I flipped her off. She just laughed, and Dakota put her hands over her face, while Myra rolled her eyes.

“Long enough that I actually said yes to this pact. And when and if I sleep with Cross, that’ll be my business. I just don’t know. We’re taking it really slow. And I kind of like that.”

They all looked at me, soft smiles on their faces.

“You sound different when you talk about him.”

I frowned at Dakota. “I don’t even really know him.”

“You met him under weird circumstances, you still talk with him, and you’re talking about him now. You just sound…different. And I’m not putting any pressure on you to do anything with or about him, but just know that I like you looking happy. We all need that, and I’m glad that you were the first to start finding that kind of happiness.”

I looked at them as they continued talking to me about Cross, and I wondered what they saw. Was I happy? I didn’t know. I enjoyed spending time with him, liked thinking about him. But it still made me nervous. I didn’t know what I wanted out of this pact, out of what I had with Cross. But I was enjoying the journey.

At least, I thought so.

I’d thought I was happy before, and I had been so wrong.

I really didn’t want to be wrong again.

We brunched, talked a bit more about Cross, and then work and our daily lives. Joshua came in to eat with us, and we chatted about school and friends and girls. He giggled because his best friend was a girl, and Dakota put her hands in front of her face and groaned.

Children were fun, but I was really glad that I didn’t have any yet.

I went home soon after we finished because I had been honest when I’d said that I should have been grading.

I had my empty plate with me because even though the pastry had been store-bought, everything else had been homemade, and we had finished every single tart. I was full, probably a little bloated, and on a sugar high.

It was going to be fun working until I crashed.

I did my normal security routine when I got home, locked the doors, checked the windows, looked at my feed, and then slid off my shoes. I got a nice glass of water and a cup of tea and then went to see how long it would take me to get grading.

The text came about twenty minutes later, and I froze.

Had Thomas known I hadn’t been home this whole time? Or was it just coincidence?

Unknown: I miss you.

Those words. Cross had said them in a text once, even though it had been a joke between us because we had just talked. And I hadn’t felt like this.

The girls said those words all the time, and it didn’t feel like this.