“Yep. Everything is taken care of. All you have to do is say yes.” He held out his hand.
Saying yes to this man wasn’t difficult. And she was afraid that was going to be a problem. But she didn’t even hesitate a second before taking his hand and saying, “Yes.”
There was a collective happy sigh in the room, and Josie rolled her eyes at Grant even though she was smiling.
“I’ll bring her back safe and sound,” Grant said to the room at large.
“When?” Zoe asked, her tone teasing.
Grant looked down at Josie. “I think I’ll keep her as long as she’ll let me.”
Ugh. See? That was romantic.
It was fake, of course. For the sake of their audience—who gave another collective sigh—but it still sounded good. And he was also referring to their trip. Not to their marriage—that no one else in the room even knew was on the horizon. Not even to their relationship. Just this trip.
Still, even Josie fell for it. For a second.
She kind of wished Jane was here. Zoe had never been a huge romantic before Aiden, but she was getting soft. Jane was still more practical, even with the love of her life, Dax around. She was softer around the edges too, but she wasn’t the swoony-sigh type.
“Well, let’s see what you’ve got, Mr. Lorre,” she said, trying to sound flirtatious and not like she was torn between melting into a puddle of goo and crying because this wasn’t even real.
“Oh, I’ve got a lot.” He started tugging her toward the front of the bakery, not even realizing how what he’d just said sounded.
Josie giggled and looked over her shoulder. “Uh, see you?”
“Have fun!” Zoe waved at her, actually beaming.
Her friend and partner was so happy for her. It actually made Josie’s heart twinge a little knowing that this was all made up because she needed her stupid gall bladder taken out.
The most un-romantic thing ever.
12
“I can’t believe they all showed up,” she said, tripping after Grant as he strode through the bakery toward the front door.
He lifted a hand to George and Phil as he looked down at her. “They all love you.”
She nodded. “Yes. But… Zoe has to love me a lot to put up with Paige in the kitchen and Kelsey and Aspen together. The chances of them making it a couple of hours in a confined space without fighting are very slim.”
Grant chuckled. “You’ll have to tell me more about Paige.”
“Okay.” She smiled. She’d love to know more about his family too.
It looked like they were about to have a lot of together time. She supposed they could spend some of it talking. They were going to be married after all.
“Hey, Josie!” George called.
She looked back as Grant held the front door open for her. “Yes?”
“Maybe take your apron off.”
She looked down. Sure enough she was still wearing her frilly yellow Buttered Up apron. She grinned and looked up at Grant. “Grant likes me in aprons though.”
He gave a little growl. “Well, when you’re in only an apron.” He said it low enough for her ears only.
Though the looks George and Phil were giving her when she looked back at the older men told her they had an inkling about what Grant had said. Well, they’d both been married for a very long time before losing their wives within a few months of one another.
She giggled. “Maybe I’ll just… bring it along.” She reached behind her back and untied it.
“Good idea,” Grant said.
“Very good,” George agreed with a nod.
She blushed and giggled again. Maybe this wouldn’t be all bad. It was already kind of fun.
She, of course, couldn’t get used to being whisked off, well, anywhere. The kind of guy she was likely to end up with long term would be like her dad and grandpa. A salt of the earth, blue-collar guy who worked hard and was sweet and romantic but could only get her as close to Paris as a movie screen. But that would be enough. Because love was the most important thing, and knowing that he would be giving her as much as he possibly could would mean more than a guy like Grant dropping a few thousand dollars on a weekend getaway. Those few thousand dollars were like pocket change, and weekend getaways were as common for him as going to the movies was for her parents.
She had to remember that.
But when he escorted her onto the private plane waiting for them