Page 51 of Hate On
“I’m not surewhy,” Julianna said, shaking her head.
“It’s just this…idea that I have. It could involve you and Roman.”
“Would you keep your voice down?” Julianna rolled her eyes. “It’s not exactly public knowledge that Roman and I are together.”
“Is that a fact?” Moira cocked her head, then she lowered her gaze, studying Julianna’s neck. “Maybe you should have thought about that before wearing a pretty Montrose locket around your neck for the whole world to see.”
For a second, those words made absolutely no sense.
Then, panicked, Julianna clasped a hand over the hollow of her throat. The locket was warm against her skin, the engravings on it pressing against Julianna’s hand.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered, her eyes going wide. Her gaze shot to her mother.
Janice had her head bent toward Abigail’s, unaware of her daughter’s attention.
“Your mom doesn’t know either, does she?”
“Are youkiddingme?” Julianna demanded, panic welling inside her. “She’d freakout…oh, hell.” She recalled the way her mother’s expression had frozen and changed mid-conversation. “Mom saw my locket. Do you think she recognized it?”
“That design is pretty iconic,” Moira said wryly. “You might as well have his name tattooed on your ass. Actually, an ass tattoo would be more discreet.”
“Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” Covering her eyes with her hand, Julianna sucked in a breath.
“I think you need to chill out, babe,” Moira said.
Julianna dared to shoot a look at Moira. “My momknows.”
“I know.” Moira made big eyes at Julianna, clearly mimicking her. Then she waved a dismissive hand. “I also know your mother. She loves you. She wants you happy. And youare. I’ll be honest…I kind of figured there was a guy when we were talking on the phone. Then you saunter in here wearing that locket—”
“Thatis how you figured it out?” Julianna demanded.
Moira grinned at her. “I know, right?” At Julianna’s groan, Moira just laughed. “Hey, it’s not like I didn’t have insider knowledge. You twowereat the gala together. I kept waiting to hear how that thing went, but you never mentioned him again, which got me to wondering. Then you come in here wearing his necklace. And I knew. Things went and got serious…didn’t they?”
Julianna met Moira’s eyes. Unable to do anything but be honest, she nodded.
“How serious?” Moira asked gently.
“Pretty serious,” Julianna admitted. She resisted the urge to shoot another look at her mother, just as she resisted the urge to take the locket off. She wasn’t going to hide the token that Roman had given her.
She wasn’t fifteen and sneaking around with the bad boy from the opposite side of the tracks for crying out loud.
Okay, fine… she was sneaking around. But, she was a grown woman, involved in a committed relationship…with agoodguy.
“Focus, Julianna. I need your attention here,” Moira said, wiggling her fingers at Julianna.
Groaning, Julianna reached for her glass of wine. She had the urge to gulp it all down, but took just a sip. “Okay. What?”
“So…things are serious with you two,” Moira said, shrugging. “Originally, I was just going to talk to you about this, but you came in here wearing his necklace…”
As Moira trailed off, Julianna asked, “Talk to me aboutwhat?” It couldn’t just be trying to press for info about the sale. Not if she was curious about Roman, too.
“It’s just an idea I have.” Moira’s eyes glittered with excitement, though, making it clear she had more thanjust an idea. “Can the three of us talk? As in…tonight?”
Julianna thought about the dinner plans she had with Roman, then she shrugged. “I’ll text him.”
If anybody would understand something relating to the business, it would be him.
20