Willow: June by Brandy Walker

what you do to me. Have you not been paying attention to our relationship over the years?”
    “I have.”
    “Then what kind do you think we have?”
    “Friendship.” At least that’s how he saw it. They joked around with each other and poked fun. There were never any hard feelings. Not on his part anyway. He had never taken the time to think or ask how she felt.
    “I’m not sure you know what that word means.” Her brows furrowed in confusion.
    “Yes, I do. I have a lot of friends. We hang out. Do shit. Talk shit. Have each other’s back when needed.”
    “We don’t do any of that.”
    Shit, now he was confused. “What do you do with your friends?”
    She did a one-shoulder shrug and looked away. Her gaze landed somewhere on the passing traffic. “Go out to eat. Hang out at each other’s house. Go shopping and talk. We get manis and pedis. Girl stuff, I guess.”
    “So, the same thing.”
    “Basically, but we,” she motioned between them. “Don’t do that. You joke around with your friends, and I end up being the butt of a joke or a horrible, cringe-worthy date. Your friends did have your back that day. They sat behind you and laughed at my expense.”
    That was news to him but, now that he was forced to think about it, he did recall laughter behind him at the time. He figured it was about something else. None of them said anything to him at the time. He also wouldn’t have listened since he was trying to talk to Willow.
    “I’m sorry they laughed. I didn’t realize it was about you. Do you want me to kick their asses?”
    “I don’t think that’s how friendship works.”
    “Sure it is. We’re guys. We’re allowed to beat each other up, and when we’re done, we’ll sit down and drink a beer.”
    “Men are strange. My whole point, though, was that I’m not your girlfriend, and you could have set up a date with the hostess if you’d wanted.”
    “I didn’t want to.”
    “But you could have.”
    “And yet, I still don’t want to. I’m on a date with the woman I want to be with.”
    “For now, until you get whatever has you all screwed up inside thinking you want to be with me out of your system.”
    “Won’t happen.” He picked up her hand and kissed her palm.
    “We’ll see,” she said, doubt creeping into her voice. Her hand drifted up to the moonstone. He didn’t think she knew she was doing it.
    Their server reappeared and set their food down in front of them. With a nod and a thank you, Cedric dismissed him.
    Willow dug into her salad, mixing it up. A companionable silence fell over them.
    “For the record, Aaron has nothing on you when it comes to kissing.”
    Cedric whipped his head in her direction. She had a slight, close-lipped smile on her face and teasing light to her eyes. He sat up a little straighter, his chest puffed out a bit, and his ego was duly stroked.

    A fter lunch , Cedric dropped Willow off at home. It went against everything in him to leave her standing on her front porch. He wanted to invite himself in and find a way to coax her to her bedroom. But part of a semi-slow seduction was waiting for the right time, and that certainly wasn’t at the moment. He kissed her goodbye and left once again.
    He also had other places to be, and a business partner to talk to. Joel had received a call from the local newspaper wanting to do a story on Callisto’s . They needed to decide if it was time to introduce Cedric, taking him out of the silent partner sphere.

Chapter Nine
Jun 9th – Tuesday
    W illow scrambled for her purse and the ringing cell phone inside. She wrapped her fingers around it right when it stopped.
    “That’s what I get for leaving it in there,” she mumbled, flipping the phone over so she could see who had called. It was the number for the firehouse.
    She tapped on the missed number and let it ring. Wondering if something had gone wrong and they needed to arrange for a backup.
    “Firehouse 15, this is Aaron.”
    “Oh hey, Aaron, this is