Page 74 of Love Among Vines

“So,” Tom said the second they sat down in the truck. “Why are you just fake dating her, mate? She seems great.”

Rett sighed. Why did they have to talk about this? Couldn’t Tom just be happy that his best friend had stumbled into a friends-with-benefits situationship with a smoking hot artist?

“She’s only here for two weeks,” he said. “I can’t get involved.”

Tom tsked. “You’re already involved.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

JADE

“Thanks for being cool with everything,”Jade said. She took a swig of wine, then glanced at the bottle. One of Rett’s. Of course.

Cindy peered into the oven, then shut the door. “I will admit, I am disappointed that this wasn’t real. He’s been alone for so long. But Rett’s a grown man. He can do whatever he wants. Even be an idiot.”

Jade smiled. “He really came through for me. I’m just trying to return the favor.”

Cindy slid onto a barstool and picked up her wineglass. She took a long sip. “So there are really no feelings involved in this…entanglement? Only Rett answered before.”

Jade plopped her glass down on the island and hitched herself onto the stool next to Cindy. “Just a warning, I’m about to be very frank.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Cheers.” Cindy held her glass out, and they clinked.

“So it’s the weirdest thing. We set up a friends-with-benefits agreement while I’m here. No feelings, just fun. But he also won’t sleep with me.”

“Huh?” Cindy’s face scrunched up.

“I know. He wants to wait until our next date and keeps saying I ‘deserve more.’ And then he’s doing all this stuff for me, like driving me places and giving me budgeting advice and setting up an outdoor studio. It’s very mixed messaging.”

Cindy sighed. “Honestly, that sounds like him. He thinks he has to take responsibility for everything and always tries to prop his friends up for success. He helped Elena study for her NCLEX and played prosecution for Gemma. He even let me excise some of his moles for practice.”

“Oh.”

So he wasn’t doing this for her out of interest. It was just a force of habit.

There was a knock at the door.

Cindy hopped up. “That’ll be Gemma and Elena.”

Cindy ran for the front door, and Jade followed hesitantly behind her.

“Hey, Gem.”

A buxom redhead bustled inside, laden with shopping bags. She couldn’t have been more than five two. “I’m so glad we’re doing this tonight. I had the worst day in court.”

“Let me guess.” Cindy collected two grocery bags from Gemma. “That douche nozzle Damian Jones.”

“That suit-wearing fuck tried to sneak in evidence that wasn’t provided in discovery. Again. I cannot for the life of me figure out why he thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Even the judge was annoyed. Who’s this?”

Gemma seemed to have suddenly realized that there was an unfamiliar person in the foyer.

“This is Jade. Rett’s Jade,” Cindy said.

Gemma’s eyes grew wide. “Holy shit. I never thought I’d live to see the day.” She reached out one hand.

Jade shook it and fought the urge to wince. Gemma had a grip like a pair of pliers.

“To be fair,” she said, “you still haven’t seen the day. I’m just helping Rett distract his parents from matchmaking.”

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