Page 50 of The Wrong Date Deal

But, no. She simply watched Piper with concern and nobody mentioned anything about illicit dreams. Nobody mentioned anything about August naked, or how she kissed, or how Piper had insisted they were just friends right before she spent all night dreaming of the woman.

She was never telling her friends about anyone ever again. All she’d done was make a platonic friend and now she was having sex dreams? The whole thing was ridiculous.

“Hermes is coming over tonight,” Massima said once she was certain Piper was physically okay. “So, you know, if you wanted to bring August over again, that’d be cool.”

That wasn’t happening.

Piper cleared her throat. “I’m pretty sure she said she was busy tonight.”

“Oh.” She frowned slightly. “With what?”

“A date.”

“Oh.”

August had said nothing of the sort, but Piper could alreadyfeelthe tension that would be August back here, potentially in Piper’s room at some point, with both Massima and Hermes watching them for any sign there was something romantic between them, making little comments… That was not Piper’s idea of a good time.

Massima made her coffee and some breakfast, a small crease between her brows the entire time. Finally, when she was done, she sat at the table with Piper and said, “Well, you should invite her over later this week.”

“I’m sure she’s busy with work.”

“But you don’t know that she is. You can at least ask.”

“Must I?” Piper muttered, mostly for herself.

“Yes.” Massima nodded decisively. “She might need a night with friends. She might be waiting for you to ask.”

“She doesn’t know you. That’s not a night with friends. That’s a night with strangers. And strangers who have repeatedly accused her of being interested in the one friend she does have in the group.”

“Oh, my god. We’re not going to say those things to her face.” She shook her head. “And, if you say you’re just friends, I believe you.”

Piper narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t believe me last night.”

“I know,” she sighed. “And that was unfair. I’m sorry. I thought I saw something between you and I wanted good things for you. But that was unfair of me. If you say you’re not interested and the two of you are just friends, I believe you.”

Piper bit back her emotions. How nice of Massima to come around after she’d wreaked havoc on Piper’s brain, sleep, and peace.

She did appreciate the apology, though.

She sipped her coffee again and nodded. “Okay. Well, I guess I can invite her over at some point.”

“Do it now.”

“I’m not inviting her over at this time in the morning.”

Massima looked at her deadpan. “Not like that. Invite her over tomorrow, but send the invite now.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It totally is. She’s your friend, we’re your friends, and we want to integrate her into the group.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to integrate.”

“Sure she does. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have come over here. I’m assuming she knows we live together, so she had to have known there was a chance we’d meet.”

“That was more of a… weather thing. It was snowing, this place was here.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just invite her over.”

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