Page 56 of Hate to Crave You

“Thatis how you figured it out?” Julianna demanded.

Moira grinned at her. “I know, right?” At Julianna’s groan, Moira just laughed. “Hey, it’s not like I didn’t have insider knowledge. You twowereat the gala together. I kept waiting to hear how that thing went, but you never mentioned him again, which got me to wondering. Then you come in here wearing his necklace. And I knew. Things went and got serious…didn’t they?”

Julianna met Moira’s eyes. Unable to do anything but be honest, she nodded.

“How serious?” Moira asked gently.

“Pretty serious,” Julianna admitted. She resisted the urge to shoot another look at her mother, just as she resisted the urge to take the locket off. She wasn’t going to hide the token that Roman had given her.

She wasn’t fifteen and sneaking around with the bad boy from the opposite side of the tracks for crying out loud.

Okay, fine… she was sneaking around. But, she was a grown woman, involved in a committed relationship…with agoodguy.

“Focus, Julianna. I need your attention here,” Moira said, wiggling her fingers at Julianna.

Groaning, Julianna reached for her glass of wine. She had the urge to gulp it all down, but took just a sip. “Okay. What?”

“So…things are serious with you two,” Moira said, shrugging. “Originally, I was just going to talk to you about this, but you came in here wearing his necklace…”

As Moira trailed off, Julianna asked, “Talk to me aboutwhat?” It couldn’t just be trying to press for info about the sale. Not if she was curious about Roman, too.

“It’s just an idea I have.” Moira’s eyes glittered with excitement, though, making it clear she had more thanjust an idea. “Can the three of us talk? As in…tonight?”

Julianna thought about the dinner plans she had with Roman, then she shrugged. “I’ll text him.”

If anybody would understand something relating to the business, it would be him.