Weston waved his hand in the air. “Don’t listen to him, Audrey. He’s a bitter divorced old man.”
“Bitter, yes. Divorced, thank God. Old…” Dylan scanned the faces of his companions. “Well, maybe that’s true in the present company. It doesn’t mean I’m wrong. In fact, by default, I’m the wisest one here, experience points and all, and I’m telling you: love’s not real. It’s a card trick. It’s a marketing ploy. It’s a term we use to pretty up a rather dull and worn out social system built entirely on the tradition of coupling off. Weston’s fake relationship is probably the smartest arrangement I’ve seen in a long time. That’s about as true as it gets, kid. Enjoy it for what it is and stop trying to figure out the mess. There’s nothing to figure out. It’s messy because it’s fiction. And for some insane reason, modern western civilization has decided that the messier the story, the better the tale.”
Audrey finished off her wine and set down her glass. “That was really sad.”
Sad but probably wise, I thought. I was already twenty-seven years old and had never come close to finding a relationship that I would have called the real deal. Donovan had been the closest I’d come, and that was only because he’d been the first man to force me to be honest sexually. We hadn’t had a chance to get any further than that. Maybe there wasn’t any further to go.
“Wow Dylan,” Weston said, setting down his napkin. “That was a major downer. You’re not getting enough pussy, man. Should we talk about your Tinder options across the pond?”
Dylan glared at Weston. “Perhaps this isn’t the most polite conversation for our dinner guests.”
Weston glared right on back. “And trampling all over America’s number one reason for living is?”
“You know what?” I turned to Weston. “You’re whipped.” He wouldn’t have defended romantic relationships a month before. Elizabeth Dyson had gotten under his skin.
He shook his head. “You’re on his side. Of course.”
I wanted to disagree, for Audrey’s sake. Say I still believed in the happily ever after. Our parents were dead. I was her example of what adulthood should be. I didn’t want her to grow up to be a cynic.
But after everything tonight and the last few weeks, I didn’t know if I believed in happily ever after anymore.
And she was already grown up.
“I’m not on anyone’s side,” I said. “I’m on my own side.”
Dylan raised his wine glass toward me in a toast. “Thatta girl.”
We’d finished our meal by then. Weston charged the bill to a company account, then stood and helped me with my chair.
“Go on ahead,” I said to the men. “I need to use the restroom before we leave. Audrey?”
“I’m good.” More like she didn’t want to miss a single second with Dylan. I wanted to attribute her fun and flirty nature to her age, but I had never been that easy with people. It made me jealous sometimes.
But also, good for her.
“We’ll meet you by the elevators?” Weston asked. “We’ll get your coat.”
“Be right there.”
On my way back from the restrooms, I took a different pathway through the restaurant than I had on the way there. I hadn’t planned it. I’d just gotten my directions mixed up and suddenly I was walking past the table that Donovan always used when he ate at the restaurant. It was a total accident.
At least, I told myself it was an accident.
It was definitely an accident that I happened to catch the eye of the woman dining there as I passed by.
“Sun?” I’d only met her once, but her face was unforgettable. She was a model who Donovan used to sleep with. “What a surprise.”
She smiled in greeting, her eyes darting from me to the companion across from her.
I turned to follow her gaze and found myself face-to-face with Donovan Kincaid.
Chapter 3
The ground beneath me suddenly felt unsteady, as though the floor had been yanked away. My mouth gaped, but nothing came out. No words. No sounds.
He was here.
With fucking Sun, the most gorgeous woman on the planet.
All I could do was stare.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Donovan said quickly. The long blink of his eyes afterward and the quiet curse under his breath told me he understood how trite and canned he sounded.
At least he was ruffled too.
It made it possible for me to speak. “It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It doesn’t matter what it actually is. I don’t even care.” And then, just to prove how catty I was, I said, “Weston’s waiting for me. So if you’ll excuse me. Nice to see you again, Sun.”
I left before he could say anything else. Before he could touch me. Before he could look at me another second with those fucking green-brown eyes that saw everything inside me. Those eyes made me confess secrets I never wanted to share. Those eyes made me be and feel and try, and how the fuck could he see all that he’d seen and still be able to look away so goddamn easily?
“Sabrina!”
My legs almost gave out when he called after me. Even now, even after this, there was a part of me that wanted to go to him. Just to talk. To show him that running wasn’t the way to handle conflict.
But I didn’t look back.
Because I didn’t want to do this here.
And I’d turned around too many times for him before.
I realized a second later that walking away was going to be a short-lived victory. As soon as I got to the front of the restaurant, I’d have to wait for the elevator. He’d catch me there.
He’d also catch Weston and Dylan, though. Maybe they could distract him. Or keep me from causing a scene.
But somehow I got lucky.
The elevator opened as I approached. Weston caught my eye, and I nodded for him to go ahead and hold it. Then I slipped in and turned around in time to see Donovan’s face just as the doors were closing.
“Was that…?” Weston asked when the car started to move.
“Yep.” I was shaking so bad, even that one word sounded tremulous.
“That was Donovan?” Apparently Dylan had seen him too. “I thought I was seeing things.”
“Donovan was here? Your Donovan?”
I glared at Audrey. “He’s not my Donovan.” Especially not now. “He was with someone else.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, helping me on with my coat. “That must have been a shock.”
“I didn’t even know he was in the States.” I looked down at my trembling hands. I hugged myself to still them.
“Uh,” Weston said, already sounding guilty. “I probably should have told you…”
My head snapped up. “You knew he was here?”
“When he called earlier he said he’d just landed. I told him your sister was visiting. I didn’t know he was going to be at Gaston’s. Hell, at that point, I didn’t even know we were going to be at Gaston’s.”
I stared at him incredulously. “Why didn’t you say he was here?”
“He told me not to. Remember?” A simple reminder that he’d betrayed Donovan to tell me about the phone call at all.