LITMIR.BIZ

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straight toward her.

      * * *

      ROXIE COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. She must be seeing things. Was that really Pete with a girl on his arm? The same man who had been all over Roxie just two weeks ago on Isla de la Blanca and claimed he couldn’t wait to see her when they got back to Virginia?

      She ought to give him a piece of her mind since she hadn’t heard a word from him since. Straightening her back, she took a step forward and stopped abruptly. He hadn’t seen her yet. Maybe she should just play it cool and act like she didn’t care.

      Because that was the truth. She didn’t care what he did or with whom he did it. She was in a relationship. A long-distance one, but still a relationship. Even though she hadn’t heard from Jim in over a week, she was still unavailable to Pete. Besides, he was obviously a playboy who collected women like some people collected coins.

      Except it looked as if the “coins” he gathered in the form of women were casually tossed into a fountain when he got bored with them.

      She was just glad she’d kept things between them casual, a harmless flirtation. She didn’t need to be another one of his easy conquests.

      “Isn’t that Pete?” Amber approached Roxie from behind, peering over her shoulder.

      Roxie shrugged, acting as if she didn’t care. “So what if it is?”

      “Sorry. I’m just stating the obvious.” Amber moved to stand next to Roxie. “Did you see who arrived with him?” She motioned with her head.

      Roxie turned her head slightly, not terribly surprised to see that Nick had come in behind Pete. The woman was clinging to Pete as if she might lose him forever if she let go. Just two weeks ago, Roxie had been the one who’d had his complete attention.

      Well, good for him.

      Amber spoke again. “Uh-oh. Bree just saw Nick and she doesn’t look pleased.”

      Roxie narrowed her eyes at Amber. “Do you think something happened between those two?”

      Amber shrugged. “Not that I know of, but she doesn’t look happy with him. And not a casual-friends kind of unhappy, either.”

      “You’re right about that. She practically has steam coming out of her ears.”

      Amber grabbed Roxie’s elbow and pulled her toward Bree, who was headed in Nick and Pete’s direction. “Let’s get closer so we can find out what’s going on.”

      Roxie went willingly, wondering why Bree and Nick hadn’t connected before now if something had gone down between them. They’d been home from their vacations for two weeks. And it had also been plenty of time for Bree to mention to her best friends if something had happened between Nick and her.

      Amber stopped several feet away from the pair, causing Roxie to almost run into her. “Stay right here,” Amber instructed. “We don’t want to be too obvious.”

      There were too many other people around for them to hear the conversation. “We need to move closer,” Roxie said. “I can’t tell what they’re saying.”

      “Watch their mouths,” Amber said. “They’re so focused on their conversation that they don’t even know anyone else is around. Intense.” Amber squinted and spoke out of the side of her mouth. “Nick is saying ‘I wasn’t lying to you.’ Now Bree says, ‘You lied by omission.’” Amber turned to Roxie. “What do you suppose that means?”

      Roxie shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe he’s married and he forgot to tell her?” She used finger quotes to make her point.

      Out of the corner of her eye, Roxie saw Pete with his chick du jour. She was determined to act nonchalant, no matter how much she wanted to walk over to him and demand an explanation for why he hadn’t contacted her. But when it came right down to it, he had nothing to explain. He was free to do whatever he pleased.

      And so was she.

      Amber was reading lips again. “Something about living in DC and she’s shaking her head.” Amber looked at Roxie. “Did they talk at all back on the island?”

      Roxie had had enough. She grabbed Amber’s elbow and pulled her away. “This is crazy. All we have to do is ask Bree what’s going on. I’m sure she’ll tell us.”

      Amber gave her a look that said she was definitely unconvinced. “Just like how she told us what happened between them on the island? Because you don’t argue with a guy like that unless there’s something more than just a casual friendship going on.”

      * * *

      NICK WATCHED AS Bree spun around and walked away from him, her anger evident from not only her words and attitude but her abrupt end to the conversation, not letting him explain.

      “Wait a minute.” He took a few steps forward to follow her. “Wait a minute!” he repeated, and his command had her turning to face him.

      “What?” Her question dripped with insolence.

      “That’s it? You find out we live within twenty minutes of each other and you get mad and walk away?”

      “What am I supposed to say? You lied to me.” She lowered her voice. “And now I understand why.”

      What did she understand that he didn’t? They’d never talked about where they lived. He only knew she lived here because Pete had checked out her company online. “Go ahead, tell me why you think I lied, even if I didn’t.”

      She kept her voice quiet. “You figured if I didn’t know where you lived, then after we slept together I wouldn’t expect anything from you. DC is a big place. What were the odds that we’d run into each other?”

      “You couldn’t be further from the truth,” he told her. “You never asked me where I lived and I only knew you lived outside of DC because one of your friends mentioned your company’s name to Pete. Besides, back on the island, you acted like you never wanted to see me again. So what difference does it make where I live? We had never run into each other before the island, so I assumed we’d never run into each other in the future.”

      Her eyes widened. “Assumed?” Her loud exclamation had heads turning their way. “Assumed?” she repeated softly. “You’ve got to be kidding.” With that, she spun around again and walked away.

      Damn, if she didn’t look good enough to eat, wearing that emerald-green formfitting dress. Even angry, she was hot.

      He shook his head to clear it of thoughts he shouldn’t be having.

      How exactly had they ended up at the same place tonight? What were the odds? He glanced around, considering those people in the restaurant who might have arranged their accidental meeting.

      His mother was speaking with the chef—Pinar, he believed was her name. His mother had given him the ticket, supposedly a friendly gesture from Pinar. And as far as he knew, his mother had never met Bree. Besides, she had insinuated that she was inviting Pete to introduce him to Pinar. As if Nick had been more of an afterthought in the invitation.

      At least, that was what he’d thought until right this moment. Pete hadn’t seemed especially excited about coming tonight, but maybe he was just acting his part. Had Pete planned this reunion with Bree all along so Nick could ask her for financial help? His mother could have just been a pawn in Pete’s plan.

      The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that he’d been tricked into coming. He ought to leave right now, if not for the fact that he was starving. He also liked to keep up with local food trends. Not to mention that he didn’t want to leave things so badly with Bree.

      “Hi, Nick.”

      A hand touched his arm and he turned to see a familiar petite blonde looking up at him. “Hey, Hannah. How are you?” He hoped he’d gotten her name right. For some reason he had trouble keeping Bree’s friends’ names straight.

      She smiled

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