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Chapter 8
Gen snatched the phone receiver out of its cradle and hit the speed dial number she’d programmed into her phone for Abby Baxter. Her knee bounced with impatient energy, causing her heel to tap the ground as she listened to the rings sound in the earpiece.
“Come on, girl. Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she muttered under her breath.
Not only was Abby a friend from high school, but she’d recently bought the local liquor store and was in the process of turning it into an expertly-curated wine shop. Gen had brought her on as the supplier for Hearts Afire special events, and her clients had given rave reviews to Abby’s selections. Gen had a meeting set with her that was supposed to start in just twenty minutes time, and she hoped she could wrangle a last-minute change of venue.
“Valentine Bay Spirits and Wine.” The voice that rang clear in Gen’s ear was mellow, and pleasant, and unmistakably Abby’s.
“Oh, good, I’m glad I caught you.”
“Oh, hey, Gen. I was just about to leave, actually. What’s up?”
“What’s up is that I’m starving to death. Can we do a lunch meeting? I’m legit wasting away here.”
Abby laughed. Gen hadn’t been trying to be funny, but people usually took her dramatic pronouncements that way. She didn’t see them as hyperbole. She thought they were pretty damn accurate descriptions of how she actually felt. But she didn’t mind that people laughed, either. She liked making people happy, and if her style of expressing herself brought them joy, that was A-OK with her.
“I could use some lunch, too, as a matter of fact. Main Street Eats?”
“Oh, holy heck, yes. That sounds amazing. See you in ten, girl.”
“See you then.”
Gen almost didn’t hear her friend’s last reply over the grumbling of her stomach—not to mention the fact that the receiver was already halfway to the cradle by the time Abby spoke the words.
When it came to her hunger—whether it be for food, sex, or anything else—she was serious about satisfying her needs. She made it a practice not to deny herself, if possible.
Damn…that may not be working out so well. At least when it comes to the sex part. Things might be getting a little complicated.
She resolved to put Gavin out of her mind. At least for the afternoon.
Yeah, right. Good luck with that. Maybe just shoot for putting him out of your mind for the length of lunch and see where things go from there.
She gritted her teeth as she drove through town on the way to Main Street Eats. She didn’t know why she kept trying to force herself to keep Gavin out of her thoughts. She couldn’t even manage to keep him out of her bed, let alone her head.
She stepped through the door of Main Street Eats, a classic-looking diner with little woodsy touches that evoked the Oregon Coast location. She saw Abby right away and plopped herself down in the booth across from her.
“God, I’m starving!” she said before Abby had even had a chance to greet her.
Abby returned that remark with a wicked grin. “Maybe because you’ve been doing the dirty with Gavin Valentine all night, every night?”
Genevieve froze. Everything in her was suspended. At a standstill. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t process thoughts. Her entire brain was taken over with one word, repeated again and again.
How, how, how, how, HOW????
Luckily, Abby put her out of her misery before she had to go any farther down the road of mentally forming that one recurring word into a functional sentence, and then spitting that sentence out her pie hole.
“Don’t worry, Gen. It’s not like everyone knows.”
That snapped her back to the present, and her mind started working again. “God. How did you find out?”
Abby reached across the table and patted her hand. “Jenna Dorian was at the Bar and Grill the other night and heard you and Ella talking. She didn’t hear much, but enough to put it together. Sorry. I didn’t realize it was some huge secret or I wouldn’t have teased you. You looked like you’d seen a ghost.”
Gen dropped her forehead into her hands and groaned. “Damn. I knew we should’ve been more careful. Gone out to one of our cars, or at the very least lowered the freaking volume, but it’s just so dark and loud in there that it gives you a false sense of security.”
Abby leaned forward conspiratorially. “Well?”
Gen raised her head. “Well, what?”
