AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’re?” Jos choked back her incredulity. She was amazed. Not only had Eden somehow got what she’d promised her and then had to basically beg Alden to forgive her for suggesting, she was actually going out and calling the shots instead of Jim or Christina, Tina or Jack.
Eden nodded, her dark hair flying all over the place she was nodding so furiously. “I’m so excited. This is exactly what I wanted. I kind of doubted that it would happen, but this is so important. So many more people are going to be aware of the ways they can help those shelters and the massive need for them and how so much more still needs to be done.”
This wasn’t the opportunity of a lifetime for Eden. No, she wasn’t going out and doing something that Jos herself really hadn’t been allowed to do. She wasn’t breaking new ground or setting a new trend or making a statement. She was so passionate about what she believed in that she didn’t even realize the crazy amount of privilege she was being given. How everyone from the camera crew to the editors, the talent finders to the producers, the executive producers and beyond, basically everybody at the whole place, was moving broadcast heaven and earth to give Eden what she wanted.
Jos braced herself for the huge wave of loathing and terrible jealously that should have hit her. She was ready for the impact of her bitter feelings to find purchase and dig in, but nothing happened. There was just a gentle swell of something in her chest. Something she might have called pride if she allowed herself to feel things like that. Which she certainly did not because feeling anything tender and soft had never gotten her very far, and in this industry, those feelings were misplaced.
When they finally got out onto the set, Jos sat down and went through everything like she was on autopilot. She did everything by routine and memory, even the interview sections. If their guest for the evening, a woman who had opened a new and trendy garden center, noticed, she never let on. Jos was too in her head to even care about the woman’s overly shiny smile and enthusiasm at being on TV, or how her garden center was probably overpriced and carried things that helped no one and really didn’t matter at all. She used to notice those things. When did she stop having those thoughts? When did she stop caring and just get on with it?
After, Jos wanted to make a fast escape out to her car and back to her house where she could let her guard down and process what had happened. Process what the heck was going on with her.
She wasn’t annoyed or even very surprised to see Eden striding across the parking lot towards her. Instead of shoving herself in her car, shutting the door, and peeling out of there like she hadn’t seen anyone, Jos found herself curling away from the very means of her freedom.
The soft spot she was quickly devel
oping for Eden had to go. She had to cut it out and bury it where she could no longer find it. Soft spots made a person weak, and weakness was not a luxury she’d ever afforded herself.
Instead of hardening herself and firming up her resolve, she found herself hesitating, then turning around. She didn’t sigh. She didn’t try to scare Eden off with a frown—not that it would have worked anyway.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Eden said, not at all breathless after powerwalking across the whole parking lot in heels.
“Thank me?” Jos stared at her. She had no idea what Eden was talking about.
“For the story. I know you probably talked whoever needed to be talked to into letting me do some of my own ideas. This means so much to me. I can’t even tell you. And I know it was all you.”
Eden was wrong about that, and Jos was going to tell her. She wanted to tell her everything, but she knew she couldn’t do that. Why not? It won’t affect your contract now. Jos swallowed hard. Her throat was doing something funny again. But she’ll hate me when she finds out that I lied to her for my own benefit.
“It wasn’t me,” Jos said. It was all she could say, and she hated that.
Eden shook her head and planted her hands on her hips. Clad in a cherry red dress and a black blazer, her raven hair glossy under the streetlights and her skin bathed golden, she took Jos’ breath away.
No one had ever stolen her breath before Eden Rutherford.
It was unnerving, what she did to Jos’ lungs. And the rest of her body.
“Let me take you out for dinner.”
Jos’ brows shot up. “It’s kind of late for that, isn’t it?” Really? That’s the best protest you can muster up?
“For a burger, then.”
Jos didn’t eat burgers. She most certainly didn’t eat fries or milkshakes or whatever else accompanied them. She knew she should say no. She should just get in her car and go home. To her empty house. To her empty rooms. To the total quiet and stillness that she often craved. “Alright.”
She wasn’t sure who was more surprised. Scratch that. Jos knew she was definitely the one who was far more floored. Eden just looked happy. “Do you want the address, or do you want to follow me there?”
“Better give me the address.”
“Okay. As a backup. And you can follow me.” Eden said it like she was afraid Jos would change her mind halfway there.
She nodded and her stomach twisted and tightened again. The heat was back between her legs, insistent and throbbing. She couldn’t ignore it and she definitely couldn’t pretend it was something else. She could insist that she was only doing this for Eden because she owed her one for the makeup thing tonight. And for lying to her. She would suck it up and pay her penance and she would eat that burger and she would get on with it.
That was the only option, wasn’t it?
Chapter 15
Eden
Eden didn’t think she stood a chance in hell at getting Jos to go for food with her, let alone a burger, but she’d extended the invitation anyway and now they were sitting across from the world’s most massive burgers.
