Page 65 of Forking the Billionaire

“I’ll take two,” Morgan said. “One for my bestie who is getting married on Thursday, and one for me.”

Again I missed the next words that were exchanged. Juno said something, and so did Norma and Morgan.

But all I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears. Awareness spread all over my skin. Everywhere he’d touched when I’d pressed against him in the water burned for his touch once more. Everywhere he hadn’t touched burned hotter.

I ripped my arm out of Jasper’s grasp like he’d seared me.

“A friend of mine does card and crystal ball readings not too far from here,” I said a little too loud and a little too fast. “If you guys want to check that out next.”

“I’m in,” Juno said.

“Me, too,” Morgan agreed.

I walked calmly down the rest of the street with Morgan and Juno at my sides. We turned the corner and stopped at a tiny open-air shop on the right. It was more tent than storefront, with the perfect vibes for a fortune teller on the beach. Sage had this whole thing nailed.

We stepped through the open front curtains and found Sage sitting at a small table. An ethereal glow surrounded her, enhanced by sparkles all around the room. Velvety fabrics were draped everywhere, and honestly, I should have come for a real reading sooner because this was awesome.

So far, she’d read my aura at the bar, but most of our fun came from her unsolicited readings of the patrons.

She rose up from her seat and reached across the table for me. “Esme!”

I took her hands, and she kissed both my cheeks, scratching my temple with the corner of her huge glasses.

“Hi, Sage, I brought customers,” I said.

“Since you’re with my good friend, I’ll give you a discount,” Sage said, “and I’ll only call the good spirits.”

Juno went a little pale.

“What do you do for most people?” Morgan asked.

“A little of this, a little of that,” Sage said, with a wave of her hand. “Come, sit.”

Morgan took a seat across from Sage. There was another chair, but Juno eyed it like it might come to life and trap her in its grasp.

“You need the ball,” Sage told Morgan.

“That’s what he said,” I whispered.

Juno’s lips quirked up a bit.

“What would you like to know?” Sage asked Morgan.

“Uhh.” Morgan looked blankly at her. “I have no idea. I’ve recently gotten my dream job and I’m eng?—”

“Shh.” Sage put her finger to Morgan’s lips. “Don’t give me any information that will sway my reading. Only questions.”

Morgan pulled away, sitting as far back in her chair as possible. She blinked. “Okay.”

Sage set up her crystal ball on the table. Lights and smoke flared within what looked like a glorified snow globe.

“Okay,” Morgan said again, this time with a lick of her lips and a look of fierce concentration on her face. “What can I do to anticipate the next disaster at work before it happens?”

“You’re already doing it,” Sage said.

Morgan chewed her lip. “But if some dingle decides he doesn’t like green and everything in his wardrobe is green, if I know what to do in advance, I can save myself future headaches.”

“There are two answers I can give you for this,” Sage said. “One—this exact issue has already happened, and will not happen again. Two—you already have adapted for future repeats of this issue by creating options with greater color variance.”

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