they were both excruciatingly good-looking or if it was just a happy coincidence.
Speaking of best friends… I stared down at my cell phone and pulled up my text conversation with Lily.
Josephine: Are you awake?
I hadn’t talked to her in two days and I knew she was probably going stir crazy back in Texas. Or maybe I was the one going stir crazy without her?
Josephine: Wake up. Wake up.
She wasn’t texting me back, the whore. Then, finally, my phone buzzed in my hand.
Lily: Are you kidding me?! Are. You. Kidding. Me? You’re an hour ahead of me and it’s ungodly early, even for NYC!!
Josephine: Lil, I was just watching the sunrise over the Hudson and it reminded me of how beautiful you are.
Lily: Enough with your false flattery, Slutilda. If you keep texting me, I will straight up kill you. LET ME SLEEP.
Josephine: Last night was fun.
Lily: Last night? It still IS night. Don’t care. Don’t care. ZZZZZzzzzzzz…
I rolled my eyes.
Lily: Fine… Did you bang your boss or are you guys still pretending to be friends?
I narrowed my eyes at her text message. I hadn’t told her much about Julian. I mean, I’d had her google him so she knew what I was forced to sit across from every day, but I hadn’t told her that I had an itty bitty crush on him. Really, it was just a silly schoolgirl thing. I had no intentions of acting on it.
Josephine: There’s no pretending. We ARE friends.
Lily: All right, then I’m going back to sleep.
“Waking the whole city up?” a voice asked from the corner of the street. “Y’know some people actually enjoy sleeping in.”
I glanced up to find Julian strolling toward me with two cups of coffee, one clutched in each hand. Friends. Yup, just friends all right. He was dressed down in Nikes, workout shorts, and an old college t-shirt. I smiled at the sight; I’d won the bet with myself (the one where I’d put a million dollars on the fact that Julian would look sexy in anything).
I glanced over his legs. They were toned, long, and tan with the same dark hair that was sprinkled on his chest.
Just friends.
“Josephine?”
“Oh!” I glanced away. “Yeah. I thought it was only fair that I wake up my friend in Texas too.”
He reached my spot on the sidewalk and I stood up to greet him.
“Coffee?” I asked, hopeful.
He nodded and handed it over. The cup was warm against my palm and the steam rising up around it smelled divine.
“The first shop I went to didn’t have almond milk,” he said. The morning light played up his hazel eyes and for a moment I was caught in his allure. The dark brows, the dark hair, the tan skin. A weaker woman would have thrown herself at him a long time ago. Me? I had goals. Goals that didn’t include seducing Julian Lefray, my one and only friend in New York City.
“That’s okay, I drink it black sometimes,” I said before taking my first sip. I’d prepared myself for the bitter taste, but was surprised to find the coffee slightly sweetened.
“I found it somewhere else,” he clarified with a little smile.
Warmth spread from my belly, up around my chest, holding my heart in a tight grip. He’d gone to that much trouble for me?
“Is this the building?” he asked, peering over my shoulder.
“Yes! Just look at it!” I exclaimed, waving my hand toward the storefront.
He stepped closer, peering through the glass and studying the square footage just as I’d done a few minutes earlier. The tree-lined sidewalk was already getting busier as the rest of the city woke up. People were trickling out of their apartments, heading out for breakfast. I knew that by midmorning, it’d be a lively street. Perfect for a clothing shop.
“The location is great,” Julian nodded, pulling his face away from the glass.
I nodded.
“We could build out the front of the space for Lorena’s shop and then keep that entire back section open for offices,” I said, pointing toward the rear. Without the lights on, it was hard to see into the distance, but it seemed like there was plenty of space.
“I like it a lot,” he affirmed. “How’d you find it?”
“I was on a morning jog and I happened to wander by.”
Julian arched a brow. “You’ve never mentioned you’re a runner.”
I smiled. “‘Runner’ is a strong word. On occasion, I’ve been known to move slightly faster than a walking pace, but it’s not very often.”