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getting married in a few weeks and, if you can believe this, he invited me.”

      “That’s very...”

      “Movie-of-the-week, I know. I don’t think he did it to be vindictive or to rub my nose in it, though.” She chewed on the inside of her lower lip thoughtfully. “I mean, he said all the right things, about how he knew it might be awkward, but that he still cared about me and hoped we could be friends and still be a part of each other’s lives...”

      “You don’t believe him?”

      “I believe he believes it. The only logical conclusion I could come up with was that Jenny—his fiancée—thinks Ricky and I need the closure that my witnessing their wedding to him would provide.”

      Oakes grinned. “Glad that psychology degree is paying off.”

      “Hey, if I can’t psychoanalyze ex-fiancés, what’s the point?”

      “You’re not going to his wedding, are you?” Oakes asked.

      “I don’t want to,” she admitted. Fact was, she’d rather pour hot sauce in her eyes than attend. “But I’m afraid if I don’t, Jenny—or worse, Ricky—will think I’m not attending out of spite. Or because I’m still in love with him.”

      Oakes studied her, his gaze intense and searching. “Are you?” he asked quietly.

      “Of course not.”

      “All I’m saying is it’s only been six months since he broke things off—”

      “Us splitting up was for the best,” she said, realizing she sounded like a jilted lover trying to act as if she was fine and dandy with being dumped. Guilt pricked her about not clarifying who, exactly, had done the breaking up, but she couldn’t tell Oakes the truth about her and Ricky. Not without giving too much away. “We weren’t meant to be. It happens.”

      Oakes took her hand in his, held it lightly. “No one would blame you if you still had feelings for him.”

      “Oakes, I said that I’m over him. I’m twenty-three years old—old enough to know my own feelings.”

      That Oakes thought she didn’t was another blow to her ego and one of the reasons she couldn’t admit to her feelings for him. He’d never believe her. Would think this was a continuation of the crush she’d developed on him as a teenager or that he was some kind of rebound.

      “Seems to me you said the same thing when you got engaged.”

      Her face heated. No fair throwing her own words back at her. “I loved Ricky—at the time—and thought marrying him was the right thing to do. Turns out I was wrong.”

      “I hate to say I told you so—”

      “Not as much as I hate to hear it,” she said in a faux sweet tone.

      “But I did suggest you might be rushing things with him. You were too young to make such a huge commitment.”

      “I wasn’t too young. But I did let it happen too fast.” She and Ricky had met at the end of her junior year at Rice, where he’d been a teaching assistant. Being with him had been easy. Maybe too easy. Too...comfortable. When he’d proposed on Valentine’s Day she’d thought it cheesy and romantic and had let herself get swept away with the idea of being in love.

      And she had loved Ricky. Just not enough. And not in the way a woman should love the man she’d agreed to marry. When he’d accepted a position at a small, private college in Dallas and asked her to move there with him, she’d realized her mistake. She’d broken off their engagement but had told everyone he was the one who’d ended things between them.

      It had seemed the lesser of two evils at the time. Her family and friends were all very supportive, very sympathetic. But she hadn’t fibbed to get sympathy. She’d done it to protect herself.

      If the truth came out, she’d have to explain why she broke up with Ricky. And it wasn’t as simple as her making a mistake in accepting his proposal in the first place.

      She’d done it for Oakes.

      She’d realized that if she went with Ricky to Dallas, if she let herself get swept along with wedding plans and building a future with him, she’d have to give up her dreams of being with Oakes.

      She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let Oakes go. Not without knowing, for sure, whether or not they were meant to be.

      She squeezed Oakes’s hand then slid free of his grasp. She didn’t need his pity, even if Ricky had moved on rather quickly. “Not that I don’t appreciate your advice—”

      He snorted. “You don’t appreciate my advice.”

      “True. Mainly because I don’t need it. What I need is a favor.”

      “Why am I suddenly nervous?”

      “Don’t be such a baby. I’m not asking for a kidney. I came up with the perfect solution to my problem. In order to stem any gossip or speculation, I attend the wedding...”

      “That’s your perfect solution?” he asked after a moment. “I have to tell you, I really thought you’d come up with something a bit more...inspired. Or at least interesting.”

      “You didn’t let me finish.”

      “You stopped talking.”

      “I was pausing for dramatic effect.”

      He leaned back, waved a hand. “Then by all means. Continue.”

      “As I was saying, I go to the wedding...”

      “You want me to do a drumroll?”

      “No need. I’m imagining one in my head. Anyway, my point is, I go with you as my date.” She lifted her arms in a gesture of ta da!

      “You want me to take you to your ex-boyfriend’s—”

      “Ex-fiancé.”

      “—wedding?”

      Men. So clueless. “Yes. If I go alone, I’m either the humiliated, sad, pathetic ex, there to weep over the loss of the groom, or I’m there to win him back. Neither option is appealing. But if I show up on the arm of one of Houston’s most eligible bachelors—”

      “I thought we agreed to never mention that again,” he muttered.

      And he was blushing. Gorgeous, smart and humble? He really was a dream come true.

      “It’s not like I’d bring along copies of the article or anything.” Last winter a local magazine had run a piece on the city’s hottest bachelors under thirty-five. Oakes, to his chagrin, had come in at number two. “Though I might bring it up in conversation. Only if there’s an opening.”

      “Daphne,” he said in warning.

      “I’m kidding.” Sort of. “Look, if you go with me, it helps me save face and gives both Ricky and me closure.”

      No one would ever doubt she was over her ex if she showed up with Oakes. Including Ricky and Jenny.

      But more importantly, it would be a great chance for her and Oakes to spend some quality time together.

      He studied her, as if trying to sense any hidden meaning behind her request. She kept her gaze on him, her expression open. Hopeful.

      “If you think it will help,” he said, “then sure. I’d love to take you to your ex’s wedding.”

      She gave a soft whoop of delight. “Hooray! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you have a good time.”

      “I don’t doubt that.” He began clearing the bar. “And I’ll do my best to play attentive date. Just tell me when and where to show up.”

      “The ceremony and reception are both taking place at

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