LITMIR.BIZ

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the bill when Daphne attended Rice University this fall. “Just like we both know the only reason you’re here today is because Zach told you to come.”

      Oakes smiled, looking much more like his usual good-humored self. “As much as Zach likes to believe otherwise, he’s not the boss of me. I don’t jump to do his bidding.”

      Crossing her arms, she raised her eyebrows. “No?”

      “Okay, maybe he did ask me to come,” Oakes said. “But only because he was upset he couldn’t be here himself.”

      She was proud of her brother for serving their country, but there were times she wished he’d just stayed in Houston and gotten a regular job that didn’t require permission to attend his sister’s graduation.

      But as disappointed as she’d been that Zach hadn’t been granted leave, hearing Oakes admit he was there because Zach had asked him to be was somehow worse.

      She’d worry about why that was later.

      “Yeah, well, you did your brotherly good deed,” she told him, bending down to pick up the note cards, which she just realized she’d dropped, and her mortarboard, which she placed back on her head. Then she said, “You don’t have to stay for the ceremony. I’ll be sure to tell Zach you attended.”

      She turned to walk away but Oakes caught her wrist. Tugged her back. “He asked me to come,” Oakes repeated, “but I’m here because I want to be here. Though I would have preferred if you’d invited me yourself.”

      She frowned. “You wanted me to invite you? Why?”

      “Because we’re friends.”

      Friends. She let the sound of it roll around in her brain a few times. She’d never thought of him as a friend. Yeah, they hung out a few times a year, usually with her mom as some sort of chaperone because an older guy and a teenage girl held too many creepy Dateline implications. Could it be that all this time, when he’d taken her bowling or out to dinner, when he’d asked about her school, her interests and friends, it wasn’t so he could report back to Zach, but because he was truly interested?

      “Oh” was all she could manage, and even that was tough to get past the lump in her throat.

      “Yeah. Oh.” He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. “And with everything that happened, I forgot the reason I came looking for you in the first place.” He pulled out a long, narrow box tied with red and black ribbons—her school colors. “Here.” She took the box, stared at it for so long he laughed and nudged her hand. “Open it.”

      She pulled off the ribbon and lifted the lid to reveal a gold elephant charm on a delicate chain.

      “I know you like elephants,” he said, taking the necklace from the box, “and I read once that they’re a symbol of good luck so I thought you could wear it during your speech.” He reached around her, fastening the necklace behind her neck before gently lifting her hair from the chain.

      She looked up at him, unsure of how they’d gotten so close, but not able to move back so much as an inch. He’d come to her rescue, wanted to be at her graduation and had told her she was beautiful. Plus, he’d remembered she liked elephants and he’d bought her a present. And he looked so unsure, as if he was worried she didn’t like it.

      Daphne threw her arms around him and hugged him hard.

      “Ouch,” he said with a chuckle when the pointy corner of her mortarboard jabbed his cheek.

      “Sorry,” she said against his shoulder because it felt way too good being held against his solid body to even lift her head. Especially since he was hugging her back.

      But after a few moments she knew she had to let go or things would be all sorts of awkward between them. She leaned back, meaning to smile at him, to thank him for, well...everything, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. He was close...like, really, really close. His hands were on her waist, her arms still wrapped around his neck, and their bodies pressed together.

      Her smile slipped away. Their gazes locked. Held. For one heartbeat. Then two. His fingers tightened and she had to stop herself from not delving her own fingertips into the hair at the nape of his neck. She was afraid to move, afraid to do anything that would break this fragile moment. And that’s exactly what it was. A moment. A very real, very intense one between her and Oakes Bartasavich—a man eight years older than her, who was already out of high school, college and law school. A true grown-up with a job and his own apartment and his life all mapped out.

      It was the best moment of her entire life.

      Until he blinked and stepped back, his hands falling from her waist. He grinned but it looked strained, especially with his jaw being so tight. Sweat dotted his upper lip. She wanted to say something flirtatious, something adult-sounding, but what came out was “You won’t tell Zach, will you?”

      He flinched, as if the sound of her brother’s name—of their brother’s name—was like a slap to the face. And she realized she’d just put Zach between them, between even the possibility of them.

      Yes, her list of mistakes just kept on growing.

      “About my dad, I mean,” she clarified, in case he thought she meant about their embrace—and that was how she’d think of it from this day forward. Not a simple hug between friendly acquaintances, but an embrace between a man and a woman. An almost woman, anyway. “You know, about him coming here and me, uh, emailing him. Which I won’t do anymore,” she added quickly.

      Oakes grabbed the back of his neck and she had the feeling she was about to have a firsthand experience of what a lecture from him would be like: polite, no doubt. Calmly stated and oh, so very reasonable.

      And really, her day had been crappy enough, thanks all the same. No need to add on to the pile.

      “Look,” she said, stepping toward him, only to have him take a quick step back. And wasn’t that interesting? Not to mention quite encouraging. “I promise not to have anything else to do with my father, and I hope you can promise to keep what happened here today our little secret.”

      His gaze flew to hers. “What happened here?”

      “With Michael?” Oakes stared at her blankly. “Him coming here. You almost killing him. Any of this ringing a bell?”

      He laughed. Not really a ha-ha-I’m-so-amused chuckle. More like a relieved, oh-thank-God-that’s-what-you-meant laugh. “Right. Yeah. I promise.”

      He held out his hand—always the lawyer—and she shook it, let her palm linger against his for a moment longer than necessary, just to test this new, amazing reaction to him. She felt a definite spark from the contact.

      Yep. Still there and very much real.

      The headmaster appeared out of the double glass doors down the walkway and called Daphne’s name. She’d have to think about that spark and her reaction later. For now, she had a speech to deliver and a diploma to get.

      “I’d better go,” she said. “Thanks for everything. Especially the necklace. And for coming today. It means a lot.”

      He smiled and her heart fluttered. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

      She kept her own smile easy and light, gave a little finger wave then turned and practically skipped toward the door. Her mother was wrong. Good guys weren’t too good to be true. And they didn’t come any better than Oakes Bartasavich. There’d been a very real, very heated and adult connection between her and Oakes. A shared moment where everything between them had changed.

      A moment where she’d fallen in love with him.

       CHAPTER ONE

      Six years later

      OAKES BARTASAVICH CONSIDERED himself a lucky man. He was healthy,

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