Dawn? What are you doing?” Ace asks catching up to me, touching my shoulder as I’m about to slide my arm into my coat. I can hardly see him through the tears in my eyes as he turns me to face him.

“I have to go. This was a mistake. I…” I turn my face away for fear that I might burst out sobbing. What a horrible turn the night has taken.

“What happened? Did some jerkoff grab you?”

I turn back to stare at him, mouth agape. “You’re joking, right?”

He frowns. “No.”

He honestly thinks one of the other men at the party groped me. Jesus Christ, is he for real? “Well, that’s not what happened. Hardly. Just the opposite. I don’t want be here anymore with…”

Ace turns his head and looks up toward the stairs, where Marissa is standing. Just a glance from the corner of my eye tells me she’s got a triumphant look on her bitchy face.

“Ah. I get it. Come here,” he says and gathers me into his strong arms.

I’m still wearing my coat as he leads me out to the balcony through a set of glass doors. We’re alone out here. It’s freaking cold so there’s a little more privacy.

“Please, Ace,” I whisper, struggling against the tears that still want to fall. “Please. Just let me go. I shouldn’t be here.”

He takes me by the shoulders and turns me towards him. “Look at me, Dawn,” he commands. I lift my chin and look into his beautiful warm eyes. “I only want to be with you. If you’re really unhappy here, we can go wherever you want, but I’m not letting you leave alone. I don’t want to be here without you.”

“Seriously?”

“I don’t say things I don’t mean.” He pulls me a little closer, the fog from his breath creating a cloud between us. “And I mean it when I tell you how beautiful you are. How sexy you are. Let me guess: Marissa tried to make you feel small and worthless?”

“Yes,” I sniff.

“Because she’s small and worthless, and she wants to pull everybody down to her level. I finally woke up and saw how ridiculous she is, and she hates that.” He lets go of me, turning away with a sigh. “I have to admit, I got too caught up in image. How I look—not just physically, but on the whole. Flashy cars, flashy girlfriend, you get the idea. I don’t know how it happened, but I woke up one day. Someone in our group became HIV positive and the way he immediately became an outcast shocked me. I just know that nothing looked the same to me after that. Because guess what? Things change. I could lose everything tomorrow. I could get sick, a bus could hit me, who the hell knows. And what would I have?”

He looks at me, smiling sadly. “I can guarantee Marissa wouldn’t have stuck by me if I got hit by a bus. And all those friends of mine, and clients, would vanish over time after getting distracted by their own lives. I would be alone. With nothing to show for all the work I put into my glossy image. It’s utter bullshit.”

“So you decided to go slumming for something real. I get it. I’m not here to save your life, Ace, or to give it meaning. She hurt me. Badly. I’m not here to give your life meaning while I get knocked around, you know?”

He nods, solemn. “Thank you for your honesty. I appreciate it. And for the record, I don’t want you to get knocked around, either. Like I said, I only wanted to be with you tonight. I’m sorry Marissa had to spoil it. Were you having a good time before this?”

I was. I was actually having a terrific time, without doing much more than talking and sipping champagne. Everyone else was nice. Warm, welcoming. “I was.”

“It doesn’t have to stop. It really doesn’t, unless you want it to. Frankly, I would love nothing more than to see you have the time of your life tonight. Especially if somebody else happens to see it at the same time.” He jerks his head in the direction of the party, where Marissa is lurking around. “I would love to see you in there with your head held high, showing her how pathetic she is. How she can’t hurt you or me.”

“You’re sure you didn’t bring me here just to show her up?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“For one thing, you were there when Justin told me he had to invite her. Did it seem like I knew she’d be here?”

Oh. I forgot about that. “No, it didn’t.”

“And even if I wanted to bring you here to show her up, what does that say?” He reaches for me, pulling me closer by my waist. “It means I’m proud to be with you. I’m proud to be seen with you, because you’re a knockout. No matter what she says, no matter what anybody with a warped viewpoint says. You’re a knockout, plain and simple. From the minute I saw you last night, I wanted you with every breath in my body.”

“Really?” I might forget to breathe.

“Really. Was I not obvious enough?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “You made it pretty clear.”

“All right, then.” He leans in, smiling, and kisses me deeply. My arms wind around his neck as his slide around my waist, holding me firmly against his body.

I don’t care very much about my lipstick right now.