“Told you. Before our first beer is served,” Juniper teases.
“Is something wrong?” I ask Sage.
She throws her arms in the air. “Is something wrong, Rickie?” I cock an eyebrow at Juniper in the hope she can help me navigate this conversation, but she just shrugs. “Of course, something’s wrong. I bet you wouldn’t convince Juniper Berry to go on a date with you for another week. Another week! You’re costing me money.”
“Sage,” Juniper growls. “You can’t yell at Mav because you underestimated his ability to learn facts about the fennec fox.”
“Fennec fox? What are you talking about?” She leans close to whisper, “Is this some new sex game?” She winks at me. “I guess I’ll forgive you after all, Rickie.” She saunters off without another word.
Moon arrives and sets two beers on our table. “Sorry. I couldn’t catch her in time.”
Juniper waves away the apology. “It’s fine. Rickie is having a baptism by fire. It’ll be good for him.”
“You’re mean.” Moon giggles before asking what we want to eat. We order and she departs still giggling.
“Why is she laughing? What’s funny?”
“You don’t—”
Her words are cut off when Petal plops her purse down on our table. “I cannot believe you, Juniper Berry West. You’re exploring new sex games and you didn’t tell me! Where’s the love? I had the candles picked out for you already.”
She opens her bags and sets two candles down on the table before snapping her bag closed. “On the house, sugar.” She winks at me before waving to someone across the room and walking off.
I pick up the first candle. Juniper bats it out of my grasp. “Don’t encourage them.”
“What’d I do? It’s just a candle. What’s the big deal?”
“It’s not a candle.”
I peer closer at it. “It sure looks like a candle.”
Juniper squirms in her seat and my attention rivets on her. Why is she squirming and what can I do to make her squirm some more?
“It’s a sex candle.” I remain silent as I’m having too much fun watching her blush and squirm. Juniper rushes to fill the silence. “You use it for candle play. You know – drip hot wax on your body.”
I don’t get a chance to tell her I know exactly how hot wax play works – I starred in a movie with a heavy BDSM theme after all – when Moon arrives at our table.
“You’re safe. I’ve kicked all the gossip gals out.”
“How the hell did you manage it?” Juniper asks.
Moon smirks. “I told them I spotted Rowan and Ashlyn making out in the alley.”
“You are mean. And Ashlyn’s going to kick your butt.”
“Then, she shouldn’t have kept the gossip about you and Rickie here to herself.”
I sit back and enjoy their banter. I missed this when I was sneaking around town thinking no one knew who I was; thinking spending time with Juniper alone was all we needed. I was wrong. We need this, too. To be part of her community.
And now I’ve had a glimpse of how good it feels to be included, there’s no way I’m not going to do everything in my power to win Juniper back. She glances across the table at me and smiles. All of her smiles will be mine in the future.