I looked up at the sky and laughed when I realized it was Josh walking toward me. Was this my punishment for being so happy? What next? A phone call to tell me my apartment had burned to the ground?

“What are you laughing about?” he asked as he approached.

We were out of sight of the house, which was at least a relief. I didn’t need anybody spying on us, thinking we were sneaking around together. Like I would sneak around with Josh if he paid me in gold bars and designer shoes.

“Nothing worth talking about,” I replied with a slight frown. I did not want to encourage him to hang around me out here.

He glanced back in the direction of the house, probably wondering as I had whether we were out of sight. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” he said, his eyes shifting toward the house every so often as he spoke. Right then, he looked what he was. A slimy creep.

“There’s nothing I want to talk with you about, Josh. We’ve already said all there is to say.”

I tried to walk around him, but he stepped in front of me. I went the other way, and he blocked me again. Finally, gathering my courage, I stepped up and laying both my hands on his chest, pushed him away as hard as I could. Instead of backing off, he grabbed me by the arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked furiously. I tried to wrestle my way out of his grasp, but he was too strong.

“Would you stop fighting me, damn it? I’m not trying to hurt you. I just wanted to tell you I was wrong. I made a big mistake.”

“Oh, get off it, Josh. Let me go.”

“Not until you listen to what I have to say.”

“Say it, fast, then never touch me again.” I glared at him, ready to spit in his face.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Oh, try me. I wish you would.”

His face fell. “I know you’re angry with me. You can’t be angrier with me than I am.”

I sighed with exasperation. “Get to the point please.”

“Don’t you get what I’m trying to tell you? I made the biggest mistake of my life when I let you go. I want you back.”

I was so stunned, I stopped pulling away. My mouth fell open. Just when I thought I’d heard it all he comes with this. Where does this man get off?

“Were you dropped on your head when you were a baby?” I gasped when I got my voice and the ability to use it back.

“What?” His eyes searched my face desperately. “Mimi, I know you’re pissed with me, but you can’t pretend you don’t feel what’s still there between us.”

“I’m not pretending,” I said through clenched teeth. “There is no ‘us’, Josh. There never was. You were never honest with me, and if I didn’t have to work with you, I’d happily never see your cheating face again.” I yanked my arms away from him, pushing him again for good measure. “And don’t ever lay your hands on me again. Ever.”

“I love you, Mimi.”

I was just about told him to go straight to hell when a tall, dark blur broke into my line of vision and shoved Josh away much more forcefully than I ever could have. I gasped when I saw Max standing in front of me, hands curled into fists.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a low, deadly tone. I was actually afraid for Josh just then.

“This isn’t any of your business. She was my girlfriend first,” Josh spat when he got his balance back.

Max’s right fist cocked back just a split second before it pistoned out, catching Josh’s mouth. He fell to the ground, hand flying up to the lip Max had just split.

“Are you insane?” Josh asked, his words muffled.

Max took a step toward him, making him scramble backward like a terrified little animal. “No. You are if you ever touch her again,” Max replied in that same deadly tone of voice. He pointed up toward the house. “You’re so damn lucky we’re here and not out on the street somewhere—it would be in your best interest to not cross my path again after this weekend. And if you’re smart, you’ll go back indoors and tell them you tripped in the woods and hit your lip on some rocks. Unless you want your in-laws and your boss to find out about you manhandling Mimi and trying to dump your pregnant fiancée. I used to think you weren’t good enough for Mimi. Now I know you’re not even good enough for Lillian.”

If there was ever a time I wanted to jump the man and promise to have his babies while ripping his clothes off, that was it. He took my hand without saying a word and led me back to the house. I heard him breathing hard and fast through his flared nostrils, like an animal on the verge of attack.

“Thank you for that,” I breathed.

“He won’t do it again,” he muttered. “He fucking better not, or I’ll break his damn jaw.”

“I think he got the message loud and clear,” I said softly.

“Is your hand okay?” He looked at me with the expression of a man who couldn’t believe he’d heard what he just did, so I guess that meant he was all right.

It was the like the weekend of things I’d never done. Visiting the Hamptons. Sex in the shower. And now, two men had fought over me. One had even punched the other. Megan would shit a brick when I told her.