Josie’s chest—that remarkable, lovely chest—rose sharply. “This is not really happening,” she said. “This is not seriously happening right now.”
“Whoa.” Colin raised his hands. “I don’t know what you think is going on here, but it’s not.”
“It’s not?” I laughed, the sound biting and harsh as I told myself to stop and walk away.
“Colin, you don’t need to respond to any of that,” Josie said, cheeks pink. “Seth can be delusional—”
“Look, delusional or not, I don’t have a death wish,” Colin said, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to get with what’s yours.”
“Yours?” Josie repeated slowly. “His?”
“Good to hear,” I said smugly.
Colin lowered his hands to his knees. “I think she’s a pretty cool girl, and I like talking to her.” He looked over at her. “I like talking with you and this has been great—”
“Oh my God.” Josie squeezed her eyes shut. “This really cannot be happening.”
“I mean, I want to hang out with you and—”
“You should’ve stopped talking while you were ahead,” I advised, stepping toward him. The toes of my boots brushed his. “Because, you see, I don’t like—”
“Colin doesn’t care what you like.” Josie shot to her feet, dumping the sweater to the ground. “And I don’t even know what you’re doing here. Did you follow me in here?”
Well . . .
I turned to her. Our eyes locked, and damn, it was like a punch right through my chest wall.
Colin rose and stepped aside. “Obviously, you two need to talk.” He paused. “I’ll see you later, Josie.”
Much to my amusement, she barely acknowledged the guy with a nod. Her gaze was on me, and while she was angry, pissed really, she couldn’t look away. Neither could I.
“Did you follow me in here?” she repeated, and when I didn’t answer, she slowly shook her head. “You did, didn’t you? Have you been following me since—?”
“It’s not what you think.” I stepped back.
Josie blinked rapidly. “You don’t know what I think! I just want you to answer—”
“You need to be more careful,” I interrupted.
“More careful of what?”
I gestured to where Colin had walked off. “Of trusting random people. You were telling him about Apollo.” Okay. My reasoning sounded lame to my own ears, but in for a penny . . . “And you were talking about your mother—”
“Oh my God! You were totally eavesdropping on us. What the hell, Seth?” Anger tightened her features, and because there was obviously something wrong with me, I hardened. A pissed Josie was a very hot Josie. “You ended things with me without even telling me why. I haven’t seen you in days, and yet, here you are, listening to me talk to another guy?”
“I wasn’t listening,” I said, and immediately I realized how stupid that stance was going to be. “Not for the reasons you’re getting at.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s bullshit, Seth, and you know it.”
“This is stupid.” Mainly, I was stupid. I took another step back. “I don’t even know what I was thinking.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking either. God, I wish I did, but I do know what you’re feeling.” She raised her hand and pointed at me. “You’re jealous.”
“Jealous?” I laughed. “Of him?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Of him. Because why else would you be hiding in the garden listening to us?”
Shit.
I really didn’t have a good response to that.
“I shouldn’t have been,” I said after a moment. Bending down, I picked up her sweater and held it out to her. “I should’ve just left you guys alone.”
Her lips parted, drawing my attention. It took no amount of effort to remember how they felt. Tasted.
I was getting harder.
She drew in a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes. “You treated Colin like crap and he didn’t deserve that. That wasn’t cool, but I’m . . . I’m glad you are here, right now.”
“Come again?”
Josie’s fingers found the end of her ponytail. She started twisting the length. “I don’t want to argue with you. Can we . . . can we talk? I mean, I want to talk to you. I think it would be good if we did and—”
“It won’t be good.”
Her brows knitted. “It can’t be any worse than this.” Her voice cracked on the last word and she quickly looked away, dipping her chin. “I . . . I miss you, Seth. I really miss you, and I lo— I just miss you so much.”
My hand tightened around her sweater. The words I miss you too burned through my tongue, scalded my entire body.
Her glistening gaze drifted back to mine. “Nothing?” she whispered, and then she let out a shaky laugh. “I just . . . want to understand what I—” Her voice shook. “I just want to know what I did wrong.”
What she did wrong? Shocked into silence, I could only stare at her. She thought she’d done something wrong? That this was on her? She hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. She was an angel.
Thick lashes lowered. “Okay. All right.” When she reopened her eyes, she was looking down. “I . . . Um, I have to go . . .” Josie’s voice trailed off and then she was hurrying away, rushing down the walkway and disappearing behind the vine-covered statues.