Page 49 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Maybe he won’t even care.”

“It’s Hermes, of course he will.”

“I mean, he offered to potentially house her brother. He might be about to see more of her than any of us.”

Massima furrowed her brow and looked at Piper like she was being ridiculous. “There’s no way she’s going to spend more time hanging out with her brother and Hermes than she does with you.”

“Why not? She and Ford are close.”

“You’re so oblivious it hurts sometimes.”

Piper threw the balled-up tissue back at her. “Rude.”

“Required.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “If you say so.”

Piper wandered into the kitchen. Massima’s insistence still poked in her mind because, when she glanced into her own room, she was reminded of lying on the bed with August. But she’d shared a bed with plenty of her friends over the years, and she’d sat on beds with even more of them. It didn’t mean anything.

She and August were helping each other get dates withotherpeople. They wouldn’t be doing that if there was anything between them. She’dknowif there was something between them.

She took a deep breath and moved to put the kettle on. Her friends were messing with her head. That was all it was. Simply because she usually met people and never saw them again. One time she stayed in touch with someone and everyone’s brain went straight to dating.

Perhaps that was fair when they had, technically, met via a dating app.

???

When she woke up the next morning, Piper hated Massima’s line of questioning even more than she had the night before.

After the initial quizzing, they’d settled in and had a perfectly lovely evening together—punctuated by Hermes being a little jealous that Massima had met August first and demanding that, next time, they all get to meet her. As if Piper was going to send an emergency text to their friend group the second August stepped into the apartment so they could all descend upon her. She had, however, appreciated her friends being so excited about August and meeting her.

That appreciation, though, had also waned in the night.

Her dreams had been filled with August. Flirting with her, touching her, kissing her…

Somehow, Massima and Hermes had gotten so into Piper’s head over the whole thing that she was now making things supremely awkward by dreaming about August—intimately.

She wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to face the woman now without feeling incredibly guilty. She’d dreamed of her friends before but never quite like that. What did you even say to someone when your brain had been providing its interpretation of what they looked like naked?

She’d mostly been hoping to just forget about it. Then, Massima walked into the kitchen while Piper was in there.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?” she asked, perfectly normally and innocently, and, instead of reacting like a normal person, Piper had inhaled her coffee.

“Yes,” she said eventually, still choking.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She looked Piper over with concern, her hands reaching towards her helplessly, knowing there was nothing she could do.

Piper waved her off. “You didn’t. I just, uh, accidentally inhaled my coffee.”

“Sounds unhealthy.”

“Feels unhealthy too, honestly.”

“I can imagine.” She shook her head. “Just… lost in your own world?”

“Apparently,” Piper said, glad that choking had likely made her red in the face because she was certain she must be blushing.

She’d been pushing the dreams out of her mind with so much force, she hadn’t even heard Massima approaching. But, when Massima asked how she’d slept, her brain had functioned like a rubber band snapping and had catapulted all the memories she was trying to forget front and center in her mind. Crystal clear, high-definition memories that she absolutely had no interest in sharing with Massima. They felt so vivid she was certain Massima could see them too—even if she knew that was physically impossible. Knowing Massima, the fear was that she’d take one look at Piper and justknow.

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