Page 11 of Her Marine
“I have one,” Alijah spoke. “Or well, two, I guess. Where did you get those pastries from?” she asked, pointing to the tray.
Journee smiled at her. “There’s a confection shop called,Melts in Your Mouth. It’s arguably the best in the city.” She wasn’t being biased just because her best friend owned it; Journee was telling the truth.
“Do they make wedding cakes? If so, I’d love to try to schedule a tasting with them.”
“They do. I can give you the address if you want to swing by.”
Alijah glanced over at Kieran’s watch. “We don’t have time. We need to get back to Denver. He has a meeting at two, and lunch traffic won’t be kind.”
Journee looked over at her clock and saw it was after eleven thirty. Time had flown by.
“I can email the details to you. That way, you could give them a call.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Alijah told her, standing. “I’ll get this back to you before the end of the next week.”
“Do you prefer cash or check?” Kieran questioned as he stood, and Journee wondered if he really walked around with that much cash on him. Not that she was expensive, but if they chose her highest package, he had to carry at least six thousand dollars.
“Neither at the moment. You don’t pay me until the contract is signed.”
He nodded at her, and Alijah held out her hand for Journee to shake, and she got a good look at the ring that was blinding her now and then. She wondered how her finger hadn’t broken holding it up.
“It was nice to meet you,” Alijah told her as they shook hands.
“Nice to meet you both as well,” Journee responded. She followed them out of her office and watched them leave.
She smiled to herself as she went over to her desk. She contemplated calling Kaydence and telling her to be expecting a call. However, she didn’t want to tell her, and Alijah end up not calling. So, instead, she would allow it to be a surprise for her best friend.
«-•-•-•-•-•-•-»
Killian sprayed his Tom Ford cologne on before grabbing his watch and securing it around his wrist. Axel had called him a few hours ago and told him that Kaydence would be taking Journee bowling, and they were going to “bump” into them there. Axel had asked him whether or not it was too short of notice, to which Killian had to remind him that his main reason for extending his vacation was to get to know the woman he knew was attempting to convince herself that she wasn’t attracted to him. So, there was no such thing as too short notice.
Killian knew he could have allowed Axel to pick him up from the hotel, but he always liked being prepared. That meant if he got Journee back to his room, he didn’t want Axel to take them. His friend had already told him Kaydence would drive herself and Journee. That was fine with Killian. He preferred that actually because she wouldn’t be able to make some excuse to leave abruptly.
Killian put the address he’d gotten from Axel into the GPS once in his car and followed the directions there. They would arrive about half an hour after the women had, and he would meet Axel at the front door.
When he pulled into the parking lot, Killian found a spot and stepped out of the vehicle. He was walking to the front door when he saw Axel pull in.
“Just to let you know, if Journee runs out of here screaming, I’m blaming you and Kaydence,” Axel told him in lieu of greeting as he approached.
Killian shrugged at him. “I’ll definitely have her screaming, but in a completely different way,” he countered with a smirk.
Axel shook his head at him as he chuckled, and the two walked into the building. There weren’t too many people bowling, but Killian figured there wouldn’t be for a Wednesday night unless some special event was happening.
It didn’t take long to spot the two women at the back of the alley, considering there were only four other groups besides them that were currently bowling. While others were in line for food, at the tables eating, or playing arcade games. Axel had informed him that this particular place had great food and that often people would stop in just for that and not to bowl. Killian hadn’t believed that a bowling alley could have good food, but from the people eating like it was their last meal, he seemed to have been wrong.
As Axel walked up behind Kaydence, Killian focused his attention on Journee as she pretended to find the bowling shoes she wore far more interesting than anything else in the world. He didn’t hear the conversation between Axel and Kaydence, only tuning back in when he heard his name.
“Hey, Killian.”
“Hey, Kaydence,” he responded briefly, taking his eyes off Journee to avoid being rude before they migrated right back. “Journee,” he then greeted. To which he received a light wave of her hand.
“What are the two of you doing here?” Kaydence questioned, and she almost sounded believably curious.
“We came for the food,” Axel informed her, and it wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Well, do the two of you want to join us?”
At Kaydence’s question, Journee snapped her head up so fast that Killian wondered if he should ask her if that hurt. Even with the amusement he was feeling. Clearly, she hadn’t been expecting her friend to extend the invitation to them, but Killian wondered what she thought would happen. Axel and Kaydence were dating. It would be odd if they were in the same room and didn’t converse.
