Free Ravensong by ML Hamilton

an
absent nod. She filled her own bowl and took a seat at the
table.
    “ What happened that night?”
Kate leaned an elbow on the table, her eyes narrowing with
interest.
    Elena reached for the salad
dressing, unscrewing the top. “Nothing.”
    “ Nothing? Hell, this is
like pulling teeth. You didn’t have your car, Ellie. How did you
get to work the next day?”
    Elena recapped the bottle,
licking a drop of dressing off her index finger. “Joshua drove
me.”
    Kate pursed her lips. “He
came and picked you up the next morning?”
    “ Not exactly,” said Elena,
plunging her fork into the salad.
    Kate glared at her friend,
reaching out and stopping her hand from lifting the fork. “Spill
it.”
    Elena drew a deep breath
and put her fork down, reaching for her glass of wine. She took a
sip, then replaced the glass. “It was very late, so Joshua spent
the night...”
    Kate gasped.
    “ On the couch,” Elena added
quickly.
    Kate looked disappointed.
“Nothing happened then?”
    “ No,” said Elena, picking
up her fork again. “Well…”
    Immediately Kate moved
forward. “Well?”
    “ He did kiss
me.”
    Kate’s eyes widened. “He
kissed you and you weren’t going to tell me.”
    “ No, I wasn’t. It was a
horrible mistake. I should never have let him do it. When I asked
him to stop...well, we said some very cruel things to each
other.”
    Kate shook her head sadly.
“I told you he wanted you. Why’d you go and ruin it by fighting
with him?”
    “ Because it was a mistake,
Katie. I’m engaged...”
    “ To an old fart you don’t
love.”
    Elena sighed. “That is a problem,” she
admitted. “I didn’t realize how little I felt for John until
Joshua...well, let’s say I almost didn’t stop him.”
    “ Then you enjoyed
it?”
    Elena looked down at the
table. “I guess I did.”
    “ What was it like? I mean
you think these stars are really, you know, fantastic, but then you
meet them and they aren’t that great.”
    “ He’s great. I’ve never
been kissed like that, Katie. For a minute I forgot everything. He
really knows what he’s doing...too well. Afterwards I realized he’s
had a lot of experience with women. I don’t think I want to get
tangled up with that, you know?”
    “ Yeah,” said Kate,
surprising Elena.
    “ You agree with
me?”
    “ Hell, Ellie, I wasn’t
suggesting you marry the guy, I just suggested you have a fling.
Even more so I was hoping you’d forget about John. Look, Joshua
Ravensong isn’t the man for you. He’s got too many hang-ups. You
think I’d wish that on my best friend. But he’s so damn cute. A
little fling would be harmless fun, if you’re careful.”
    Elena stuck her fork into
her salad again. “I don’t know. Anyway, what am I going to do about
John? How can I marry a man I don’t want to sleep with?”
    Kate shook her head. “I
don’t know. A lifetime is awfully long and he really isn’t that
old. Just think about it, Ellie, he could live to be one
hundred.”
    Elena laughed. “Yeah, but
I’ll be seventy-nine. I don’t think it’ll matter much
then.”
    “ Then think about the fact
that his oldest daughter is four years younger than you are. He
isn’t going to want to have kids. Don’t you want a family
someday?”
    Elena considered the
question a moment. She did want a family. “Yeah, I’ve always
thought I’d have kids someday, I just didn’t think they’d be old
enough to drink by the time I got them.”
    They both laughed. Elena
returned to her salad, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her
future life with John. She’d never given it much thought until the
other morning with Joshua. And why did Joshua keep popping into her
mind? She’d told herself over and over that she didn’t want
anything to do with him. He was trouble, and yet, she kept reliving
their kiss.
    * * *
    Elena walked down the
hallway of Avalanche toward the elevators and home. It was late again, another
boring day spent purging files for Julian, and