n P

as I followed Grace away from the main crowd.

ace said, glancing back at me.

practiced smile. "Ju

nd let my eyes sweep over the

the voices, the clinking of glasses

back was to me, but the curve of her waist, the way her golden hair f

of the champagne flute so hard I

aze. "What is it? S

ndpaper. It couldn't be her. Boston was

lt the weight of my st

ction of an inch in my

ai

innocence was gone, replaced by a sharp, guarded elegance. Bu

ver my reasons had been, I was the one who had disappeared from her life and left her with six years of

of hockey tape and PR scandals viole

heard, then laughed so hard she snorted when I claimed the snort meant it had worked. Her knee brushed mine beneath the bar and stayed there. Later, in that hotel room, her fingers twisted in my shirt as I backed her against the

eft on the nightst

e hospital telling me my mother was seizing. After that, my life became a blur of

ire had given me a way to reach her

tanding right

d, I saw her eye

er. Maybe she would march over

skin turned a sickly, ash white. Her eyes widened,

ngry. She wa

en believed I deserved it. But I had never imagined that seeing me again would frighten her. Wha

half-step

rm of the woman standing next to her-a brunette w

finding me. Her face instantly tw

actically dragged the brunette toward the glass doors of the house, h

as ru

t I had done that made her look at me that way. More than anything, I needed to know whether she

down on a passing waiter'

d to

lking toward the house, my eyes fixed on the s