ALEXANDRA yawned and looked at her watch for the third time, hoping Wilkes would get the hint. He had shown up in his limo, and the driver had taken them to meet Emma-Jane. On the way to his place, Emma-Jane sent him a text message saying she was still at the mall and would meet the two of them soon. Instead of going to Wilkes’ place, they opted for a small restaurant a few blocks from the downtown mall. That was an hour ago.

Alexandra had a mind to reschedule and return home. She also wasn’t sure if Wilkes set this whole thing up and used his little sister to execute the ‘I’m running late’ plan. Either way, she wasn’t enjoying the evening. What was worse was Wilkes wouldn’t stop talking—about Lydia.

This is why I left my house?

Crap.

“So,” Wilkes went on. “There we are in the middle of dinner in this super upscale restaurant. I’m talking five-star, haute cuisine. And Lydia throws a tantrum over black olives in her salad because she asked for green olives. Some paparazzi dude pops up out of nowhere to get it all on video. I was kind of expecting something like that to happen, so I tried to stand clear, but holy hell I was kicking myself for even asking her out at that point.” Wilkes wheezed with laughter.

Alexandra smiled tightly, trying to act like she was following along in the conversation. This had to be at least the fifth lame ass story about Lydia Daniels since they sat down to have dinner in Emma-Jane’s absence.

“Next I overhear the photographer say something like, ‘She’s such a bitch!’ Lydia piped up and said, ‘Excuse me?!’ I’m thinking she’s ready to pound on him or ask me to do the honors in her defense. She told him, ‘If you’re gonna take shots of my ass, at least have the decency to get my good side first!’ With Lydia, she’s the star, even when she’s just an extra on set.”

“Hmm,” Alexandra feigned amusement—poorly. He might’ve thought otherwise, but his attempts at painting the starlet as empty-headed and superficial didn’t exactly match up with his interest in talking incessantly about her. Then again, maybe that was what he wanted in his women.

Couldn’t be. I’m not empty-headed or superficial.

Wait, he cheated on me.

Well, that explains that.

She took another sip from her wine and tried not to look bored or let her internal dialogue take over. So far, the best thing about this dinner was the food and the laid back atmosphere. She was halfway expecting him to try to impress her with some fancy restaurant. Instead, Wilkes had picked a cozy cantina where the jeans and blazer she chose to wear didn’t look out of place. And not one person even so much as looked at them. It was a relief to be somewhere that people didn’t give a damn who they were.

Wilkes was dressed in khakis and an untucked polo shirt with boating shoes on his feet—a bit uncharacteristic for him. There was no cowboy hat or leather boots. His dark hair was parted and combed to the side, and he was wearing glasses. She didn’t even know he had glasses. He looked more like a high school teacher than a country singer. Not that he looked bad, he didn’t, but there was definitely no cowboy charm to distract her tonight—and that was perfect.

Wilkes reached across the table after his Lydia rant and soberly took her hand. “I’m really excited about the song we recorded. When you hear the final cut, you will be, too. It’s unbelievable, Lex, all that grit and emotion. You put it out there. You were amazing. Oh, and with that guitar piece…the fans will go crazy for this single.”

“I was being true to the music and the scenario in the song,” she replied lightly.

His writers had given him a love song ripe with missed chances and heartbreaking regrets. With the addition of her guitar riffs and vocals, she had helped to turn it into something more without even meaning to—another tribute to Bash. She looked at Wilkes and knew he thought she was singing some part of it for him. Mainly because of the way he was looking back at her now, his eyes half-closed in an attempt at seduction.

She held back a snort of amusement that threatened to escape. Behind his glasses, it just looked like he was having a hard time seeing. That was it. The glasses put her over the edge. She couldn’t hold back the giggles anymore. “Wilkes, what are we doing?”

It was a rhetorical question. It was clear to her now that for him, tonight was most likely about wooing her back into a relationship. He needed to know in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t happening. She decided tonight was as good a night as any to reiterate what she had told him three or four or forty times already. Her heart was with Bash.

“We’re having dinner, catching up, doing stuff friends do,” Wilkes answered, stroking her wrist with the pad of his thumb for a second before Alexandra instinctively pulled her hand back. “Of course, I’ve been dominating the conversation. I’m sorry. You’re in a quiet mood, Lex. What do you think we’re doing?”

Not wanting to have him think at any point that she might’ve been stringing him along, she took a breath, ready to tell him the truth. “I think we’re wasting time. I’m only interested in my close friend in Arizona.”

Wilkes eased his hand off the table and leaned back in his seat with a speculative hum. “Ahhh, the neighbor guy, right? Tell me about him.”

“I care about him…a lot.”

“Come on. I gave you the dirt on Lydia. What’s your man’s worst?” He said it with a laugh, but there was an edge to his voice, begging for her to come up with something to cast Bash in a bad light.

“Oh, you wish I’d do that, don’t you?” she teased. Unlike Wilkes, Alexandra had no reason to trash-talk her man. Bash was everything she wanted.

“Well?” Wilkes prompts.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

Wilkes shrugged. “I was hoping you’d give me some dirt. After all, he did steal you from me.”

“You and I were done long before I got with Bash, Wilkes.”

“Are you two still together?” he asked, ignoring her comment.

“Wilkes.” She steepled her fingers together and glanced down. “Sebastian and I weren’t originally in that kind of relationship, all right? When I told you we were friends, that’s what we were. I never cheated on you. So, how about we change the subject? How soon will Emma-Jane be here?” He shrugged again. “She’s not coming, is she?”

He spread out his hands innocently. “I give you my word. She’s been hounding me to get time with you, and then her friend called and it’s like she forgot all about coming out. Teenagers. What can I say?”

“Well we should get going then.”

“I have a better idea, Lex.”

“What’s that?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

“I think we still have unfinished business.”

“No we don’t. Why would you think that?”

“It was all over your face when I was talking about Lydia.”

“What was all over my face?” All Alexandra could think of was her boredom.

“The pain I’ve caused you.”

Alexandra didn’t have an answer to that, but stammered out, “Most women wouldn’t want to hear a word about the other woman, Wilkes. That’s what Lydia is to me. That’s not going to ever change.”

“Well, for that I’m truly sorry. I take full responsibility…and if you have any other questions you want to ask, I can handle it. We might as well use this time for that.”

She had no questions that came to mind, but looked around the small restaurant. “Here?”

“Sure. You’ve never been one to get loud or cause a scene, Lex. Go on. Fire away.”

Alexandra was happy being with Bash now. She didn’t think there was anything more to ask Wilkes, but for some reason, one question came to the forefront. “Okay. Since you brought this up, I’ll ask. Why did you buy me an engagement ring if you knew you had some kind of weird commitment phobia? Especially considering if I had said yes back then, I wouldn’t even know what I was getting into. I mean, you presented yourself as this responsible, mild-mannered, restrained guy, and made me feel like I was some wild, raging sex addict. Then, next thing I know, you’re busted doing the most irresponsible shit possible right out in public. It didn’t even feel like it was you out there on that beach with Lydia, no self-restraint, all passion, and no regard for how it might affect me. Before that, I actually thought we had something.”

“Hold on, Lex. That’s way too many questions at once, babe.” Wilkes took a breath. Alexandra did too. She had no idea all that stuff had been lurking around deep in her psyche. “Why did I buy the ring? Because I love you. At my dumbest, I still had enough sense to know that.”

He opened his mouth as though he was going to say something else, but he may have thought better of it. Instead, Wilkes looked around the cozy restaurant as a wistful expression spread out over his face. His eyes swung back to her and he suggested, “Hey, come dance with me.”

“What?” Her eyes darted over to the lone guitarist strumming softly near the front. The seated crowd was thin as it was the middle of the week and the place wasn’t exactly a hotspot to begin with. The dance floor was empty, but who wanted to be the free spirit twirling around on an empty dance floor? Wilkes, apparently. “We’re in the middle of a conversation,” she pointed out.