Coleen Kwan

In her living room he steered her to the couch, where she sank down, the fight suddenly out of her. The bottle slipped from her hands and rolled over the carpet. On the coffee table sat an empty wine bottle and a used wineglass, smudged around the rim. Using his toe, he nudged the fallen bottle under the couch before sitting down beside her.

“How much have you had already?” He touched her shoulder tentatively.

“Just a couple. Honest.” She blinked up at him, her eyes huge and hollow in her pallid face. She screwed up her forehead. “Don’t look at me like that,” she muttered.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m some wino you stumbled across.” She pulled herself forward, resting her elbows on the knees of her jeans so she could press her forehead into her hands. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“I was just out for a late-night meal.”

“Huh. Don’t let me stop you.”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving until you tell me why you feel the need to get drunk on your own.”

“Has anyone ever told you how pushy you are?”

“All the time.” He tried to keep his voice light and level. “So why are you feeling so down? Is it because of my buying this building? You should know I’ve got no intention of changing anything. You can carry on renting—”

Stiffening, she lifted her head to glare at him. “I’m good for the rent,” she told him coldly. “I’m making big changes to the store. You’ll see; I’ll pay Mr. Cummings every last cent I owe him. And I’ll pay your rent on time, every month.”

He nodded placatingly. “Okay, so—”

“Did Seth ask you to keep me sweet?” Her eyes grew even harder, her mouth compressing to a thin line. “Is that why you’ve come snooping round here? He didn’t believe me when I said I wouldn’t blab to his fiancée?”

“Seth’s been to see you?” He felt his eyebrows draw together into a tight knot.

“Oh, yes. This afternoon. Didn’t he tell you? He dropped in just to say hello and, oh, by the way, would I mind not saying a word about us to Paige because the poor woman doesn’t know a thing about it.”

Nate clenched his hand on his knee. “I didn’t realize he was down here this weekend.”

She peered closer at him. “Interesting. So you already know that Paige is blissfully unaware of me and the past engagement.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve tried to convince him it’s best he tell her before she finds out from someone else, but he won’t listen to me.” Damn Seth! How deluded and insensitive could the guy get? He had half a mind to tell Paige himself but knew he wouldn’t. He’d interfered in Seth’s love life once; he wasn’t prepared to do it again. He studied Ally’s smudged face and his heart dipped. Had she been crying over Seth? Why did that bother him so much?

I don’t want to go home because I want to spend more time with Nate. The brain flash curdled her stomach. She didn’t get along with Nate, but there was something about him that triggered…a spark. A spark, just like Nate had mentioned. The spark that had been completely missing with Paul, but with Nate it was there all the time, simmering just beneath the surface, threatening to flare up, and it was exciting, stimulating. Yeah, like a roller coaster, a voice at the back of her mind jeered. And we all know what happens to you after a roller-coaster ride. You wobble all over the place, and then you throw up.

Ally shook her head, trying to dislodge the disturbing thought.

“You look different tonight,” Nate said. “I’ve never seen you so glammed up, with the makeup and heels and that dress.” His quick glance rippled over her, lingering on her bare knees.

Suddenly self-conscious, she tried to stretch the hem of her dress over her knees. What madness had induced her to borrow one of Tyler’s dresses and let her friend doll her up for the evening? “Yeah, I look ridiculous. If you must know, tonight I wanted to look different, act different, but it’s not so easy to change who you are on the inside.”

“I didn’t say you looked ridiculous,” he swiftly replied. “Far from it. Even without the dress and the heels and the makeup, you look terrific.”

“Oh, yeah?” She arched a skeptical brow. “Bet you hardly noticed I had legs before I put on this dress.”

He grinned. “Maybe, but now I can’t get them out of my head.”