Sorry,” Maxie repeats with a humorless laugh as she storms across her living room. “Well, I’m sorry too, but I’m afraid that your sorry just isn’t good enough. Not anymore. I’m tired of how things are between us. I deserve better.”

“You’re right,” Dillion Prescott says mildly as his shoulders slump. “Letting you down has become a bad habit of mine. But I promise, I’ll change. Just give me a second chance. You won’t regret it.”

Telling herself that his obvious misery isn’t her problem, Maxie savagely jerks her apartment door open. The edge of the wood bites into her palm as she holds it and points to the opening. “So you can take your sorry ass out of here and never come back. Just forget you ever met me and focus all your attention on saving the world.”

“Fine.” Temper flashes in Dillion’s dark eyes as he storms across the room toward her and the open door. “I will.”

Maxie swallows hard in a desperate attempt to hold back the tears burning her eyes.

“But before I do…” Dillion skids to a stop in front of her. “I just want to make one thing perfectly clear.”

In a blur of motion, he pulls the door from her grip and slams it shut before backing her up against a wall and covering her mouth with his in a kiss that curls her toes.

“Maxie,” he whispers, “you’re the only one for me. You’ve gotten under my skin.”

“Oh, Dillion,” Maxie moans as Dillion’s fantastic hands rove over her body. Even with the cherry red sweater between him, his touch sets her on fire.

“Maxie,” he groans against her soft, yielding lips as his fingers hook in the neck band of her sweater, tugging it down to expose the generous curve of her breast. “You’re beautiful,” he exhales, the sincerity in his voice abolishing the last of Maxie’s doubts and insecurities, making her feel like the most stunning woman in the whole world.

He trails a line of kisses along the curve of her throat, down to the gentle swell of heaving flesh he bares. His magic hands move lower, his fingers slipping between the waistband of her skirt and skin.

Maxie’s heart hammers as her knees go boneless and she relaxes into his touch. Finally, after all the misunderstandings, the blown opportunities, the badly timed emergencies, IT was finally going to happen.

She lifts her shaking hands and-

Someone pounds on the door Dillion closed. She pushes against Dillion’s chest, the move startling him so much she actually manages to knock him back a step.

The knock sounds again. “Dillion,” the same whiney female voice that often haunts Maxie’s worst dreams floats through the door.

Maxie glares daggers at Dillion. “You told her you were coming to see me.”

His eyes widen innocently and he holds his hands up, palms out. “Of course not. I don’t know how she found me. Honest!”

“Yeah. Right. She just made a lucky guess.” Maxie runs a hand down her body, restoring order to her clothing. “That sounds like a likely story.”

“It’s true,” Dillion argues as Maxie squares her shoulders and grabs the door knob. She rolls her eyes, twists the knob, and reveals the perky blonde on the other side.

“Sue.” She forces the words out through tight lips. “What an … unpleasant surprise.”

A familiar, snarky expression crosses Sue’s face and she opens her mouth.

“Lucy Higgins! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

My name shrieked at top volume startles me from the sensual image I’ve been weaving in my head. Acting instinctively, I slam the lid of the laptop closed, nearly crushing a few of my fingertips in the process, before my startled gaze clashes with the furious blue eyes of Suzie Collins. The same Suzie I used for inspiration when I needed a villain to create trouble for Maxie and Dillion, the stars of the superhero romance novel I’m writing – or trying to write, at any rate.

And my boss…

“Suzie.” I barely get her name out before she waves the cell phone in her hand at me and starts venting.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to get a hold of you?” Suzie’s face flushes bright red, an early indicator that’s she’s starting to build up a full head of steam. “I’ve been calling you for hours. How dare you not pick up your phone?”

“Suzie…” Despite the way my insides quake, I try to keep my voice placid. Long experience has taught me that showing even the faintest sign of a backbone only makes things worse, particularly when Suzie is in one of her moods, which in her case is a pretty much constant state of being. “Today’s my day off.”

Either she doesn’t hear me, or she doesn’t understand my words. “There’s so much work that needs to be done. Work that you’re paid to do, and yet are you working? No! You’re sitting here loafing around, just like always.”

In my mind’s eye, I see myself leaping to my feet and getting right in Suzie’s face and telling her that not only is it my day off – but that I’m not at her beck and call. And for that matter as far as I’m concerned, she can take her horrible bridezilla attitude and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

That’s what my imaginary self does.

The flesh and blood me stares at the table top instead, and takes long, deep, steadying breaths while I wait for Suzie to get to the point of her tirade.

It’s been almost a year since Suzie blew into my life like a Category Five Hurricane. I quickly learned that the words “day off” and “not at your beck and call” were beyond her comprehension. Saying them only made things worse. My best course of action is sitting quietly until she finally winds down and tells me what she actually wants me to do. If I’m lucky, it’ll be something simple that’s quickly completed so that I can get back to Maxie and Dillion’s torrid affair.

“There are a million and one things that need to be done before next weekend,” Suzie continues screeching, her voice rapidly approaching a glass-breaking decibel. “And they’re not going to resolve themselves now, are they? And instead of helping me, like you’re paid to do, you’re sitting here with your nose glued to a computer!”

Suzie reaches out, extending her French tipped manicure toward my laptop. I quickly cover it with my forearms, wrapping my own fingers protectively around the edge. The one thing I will never do is let Suzie get her paws on my computer. If she ever saw exactly what I’m writing, a superhero romance novel … my life would be truly over.

Suzie’s hand falls back to her side, but a sneer twists her lips. “Oh, like I can’t figure out why your nose is always glued to that damned screen all the time.”

I break out in a cold sweat. I thought I’ve managed to keep my secret obsession, well, a secret – but maybe Suzie found out. It’s not like I can keep an eye on my computer twenty-four seven. It’s password protected, but passwords only go so far. If Suzie wanted to, she could crack mine. Besides, she’s nosey enough that I wouldn’t put it past her. And if she has …

“You’re trying to find a date—” Suzie’s strident voice breaks through my thoughts, with a triumphant edge to it now, “—and you’ve resorted to online dating.”

If I’d been drinking something, I’d have choked on it. Between Suzie’s never-ending list of demands and my actual work responsibilities, I barely have time to write, much less engage in anything as time consuming as dating.

“And really, you need to get with the times,” Suzie continues. “Online dating sites are so yesterday. Today, everyone is logged onto Tinder.” She lifts the hand that’s permanently wrapped around her phone and wiggles the slim device back and forth. “They use their smartphones.”

I drop my eyes to the table top and don’t say a word.

Maybe, just maybe, if I stay silent long enough, Suzie will tell me what she needs from me and then disappear so that I can return to writing about Maxie and Dillion – whose imaginary love lives are far more exciting than mine has ever been.

Suzie rocks back on her heels and studies me. “Though, I suppose you probably started out with Tinder and everyone in the surrounding hundred miles has already swiped left, forcing you to explore other avenues.”

A twinge of self-consciousness stabs through me. I lift my hand, instinctively covering the starburst-shaped scar that covers my left cheek.

Even without the scar, I’d never have been able to hold a candle next to Suzie’s blond, perfectly curvy, all-American looks. I’ve always been a realist about my appearance, pretty in a girl next door way, a little bit curvy, but apparently not the kind of girl who inspires men to fantasize about her. Normally, I’m okay with that, but each time Suzie makes a crack about my looks, it eats away at my confidence.

I stare at my closed laptop and try to let Suzie’s words wash over me. Luckily, she has the attention span of a gnat and soon transitions back to her original tirade.

“I don’t understand how you can be sitting here, sipping coffee and taking up space while everyone else is running around like crazy trying to make sure everything is just perfect.” Somehow, she manages to get the sentence out without taking a single breath.

“What would you like me to do, Suzie?” I say mildly as I resign myself to spending the rest of my day off returning to Suzie’s beck and call.

“Right.” Suzie punches a button on her smart phone and starts typing almost as soon as the screen lights up. “I want you to run over to the bakery and check on my cake, and while you’re there, would you tell her I also want to order a hundred and fifty cupcakes.”

“A hundred and fifty?” I repeat her words, not quite believing I’ve heard correctly. “Why do you need so many?”

As far as I know, Suzie hasn’t touched anything with sugar in it ever since she convinced Eli DeLeon to pop the question nine months ago.

Suzie rolls her eyes. “For the reception, of course. I want them to be the same flavor as my wedding cake.”

“Your reception is tonight,” I remind her.

“I know.” Her eyes brighten – and I wince. The only time Suzie looks like that is when she has what she thinks is a good idea. As a rule, they turn out to be a nightmare. “In fact, I’d love it if she could make them into little miniatures of my wedding cake.”

This gets my attention. “Your cake is five layers.”

Suzie shrugs. “So?”

“When was the last time you saw five-layer cupcakes?” Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention.

The tall lanky guy who looks vaguely familiar is getting up, probably to leave. Maybe even scared away by Suzie’s antics. A shame. When he walked into the coffee shop half an hour earlier, I immediately thought that with his good looks, he’d be a great source of inspiration for my next romance novel. Or maybe, I’d add him to the one I was currently working on, use his good looks as the inspiration for a character who’ll shake things up, maybe form one side of a love triangle with Dillion and Maxie.

Wouldn’t that be fun to write!

“If she doesn’t think she’s capable of making multi-layer cupcakes,” Suzie continues, completely oblivious to the fact that my attention has strayed, “then maybe she can divide the cupcakes up so that each group represents a layer.”

The guy pulls his black windbreaker on and his car keys out of his pocket. The fact that her latest source of inspiration is leaving causes my internal muse to wail and moan.

Oh…” Suzie is already warming to the idea. “And you can run to the mall and pick up one of those display things that caterers use, get one with five layers, and we’ll set up the cupcakes so that they look like my wedding cake.”

The words “The Mall” have my attention snapping back to the curvy blonde.

“It takes over an hour to get to the mall, and it’s already nearly three in the afternoon,” I protest.

Suzie crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “Not my problem. You’re the one who decided to spend her time here, playing on your computer, rather than answering my calls.”

Impotent anger twists my stomach. I’d give just about anything to stand up to her, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ve fought that losing battle too many times before to want to rehash it again now. “Fine,” I mutter, imagining a hundred different ways to roast Suzie’s feet over an open fire.

“While you’re there, you’d better stop in at Delicious Diva’s. They have a new line of mascara that sounds amazing, so you should plan on picking up a tube of that as well. And you need to call that D.J. I booked for the wedding and confirm my wedding playlist. Then make sure that—”

“Excuse me.” A deep voice cuts into Suzie’s long list of demands.

Before I have time to react to the interruption, a pair of strong hands reach down and wrap around my upper arms, drawing me up and out of my chair.

Startled, I tip my head back and find myself staring into a pair of the bluest eyes I’ve ever encountered. They shine warmly at me as the very man I’d just been watching a few seconds earlier draws me into his warm, hard body.

“Hello sweetheart,” he murmurs in a deep voice that unexpectedly sends goosebumps racing along my skin. “I’ve missed you.”

He slides one hand down my arm until he’s lightly holding my fingers. His eyes sparkle like the Caribbean Ocean on a sunny afternoon as he lifts my hand and brushes a kiss across the back of it. The touch is feather light, and should barely be enough to register, yet it sends a strange tingling sensation ricocheting up my arm.

Startled, I yank my hand free. The corners of his mouth lift in a small, self-satisfied smile. He shifts his weight, sidling up close to me until his breath, smelling of cinnamon and coffee, fans my cheek.

“I’ve been waiting all day to see you again,” he whispers in his dark velvet voice. “It seems like an eternity since I last tasted you.”

Before I can tell him that he’s obviously mistaken me for someone else, he lowers his head and kisses me.