The girl who'd gotten Alix all tied up in knots had been gone for like two weeks, but he still looked like shit. I knew Erik was worried about his cousin, and any other time, I would've been right there with him. Hell, I knew I should've been with him and Reb when it came to trying to cheer up our friend, but another part of me wanted to side with Alix, to tell him it was okay to brood.

I'd been so sure I was in the right that when I stormed into Abel Updike's office, I'd been all righteous anger. I hadn't thought twice about threatening that smarmy little man with a lawsuit if he didn't immediately take Savannah off the story and assign it to someone else. I didn't want her anywhere near me or my show.

Except when I'd stepped outside the office and she'd been there, all of the anger inside me had burned away, and I'd known that if I looked at her even once, I'd have been lost. Because deep down in my gut, I knew I hadn't been fair to her.

"Jace." Reb elbowed me right before I walked into a wall. "Pay attention."

"Sorry." I scrubbed my hand over my face. "Long day."

I needed tonight with my friends as much as Alix did. We'd chosen a restaurant over a club, but a beer – or three – was definitely in my future.

And then I heard a familiar laugh. For a moment, I froze, sure I had to have been mistaken. But then I saw her out of the corner of my eye and wondered how in the world I could have not seen that she and my masked woman were the same. I'd know her anywhere, no matter how painful it was.

And seeing a tall, attractive man with his arm around her was definitely more painful than it should have been.

I forced myself not to look directly at her, but I couldn't stop myself from sneaking a peek as we walked by. She was with two other women as well, but it was the guy who had my attention.

I didn't like him.

"You're not looking so hot," Alix said as he plopped down in the seat next to me.

"Right back at you," I snapped. "I'm in the mood for something harder than a beer. What about you?"

"Talisker," he ordered the moment the waiter appeared. "A lot of it."

"So..." Erik launched into some story that I didn't particularly care about, and wasn't nearly distracting enough.

She was laughing again. Dammit. I couldn't do this. I sighed, then leaned back so that I could actually see her.

That blond douche had his hand in her hair, raking his fingers through silky curls before tracing a finger along her jaw. It wasn't just that he was touching her that irked me. It was the fact that he seemed so relaxed about it. Like it was his fucking right.

It wasn't that I wanted to touch her, of course. Just that I didn't think she'd appreciate being manhandled in public.

I was only looking out for her.

Except that didn't explain why my hands kept clenching, or the churning in my stomach.

Or why I couldn't stop myself from looking over at her constantly, needing to see what she was doing, if she was smiling. That was what I didn't understand. How could she be smiling after what happened? I'd gone off on her, then sabotaged her career. Hell, I'd be seriously pissed if she done something like that to me. But she seemed to barely care. Did that mean she didn't care about her job? That didn't really mesh with the woman I met, but now I wondered if anything about her had been real at all.

"What the hell's up with you?" Reb asked as he motioned for the waiter to bring us another round. "You look constipated."

"Shut up, jackass." I punched his shoulder harder than I probably should have. "You're one to talk. You look like shit."

He gave me a one-shouldered shrug. "Yeah, well...bite me."

"Eloquent, Reb. Really."

As he picked up his now-full glass, he used his free hand to flip me off.

"Jay, sweetheart!"

Dammit. This seriously couldn't be happening.

I hadn't seen her at all in four years, and now I couldn't get away from her.

Just as I opened my mouth to tell her that I was busy with my friends, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me instantly do a one-eighty.

Savannah was watching.

I used my foot to push out the empty chair next to me and watched as Bianca artfully draped herself in it. As always, every move was made to draw as much attention as possible. I wasn't particularly interested, but I made myself look at her legs as she crossed them, at her breasts as she folded her arms in a way that pushed up her cleavage.

"Ready to admit how much you missed me?" The toe of her shoe ran up the inside of my calf.

I raised an eyebrow and ignored Reb muttering unflattering things under his breath. My friends hadn't liked Bianca any more than we'd liked Reb's ex. That was okay though. I wasn't inviting her to become a part of my life again, just letting her distract me. I didn't care much how she did it.

Before the main meal arrived, she was sitting as close as possible to me, her thigh pressed against mine, her arm across the back of my chair. Her fingers raked through the back of my hair, nails scratching my scalp hard enough to sting. I knew what she was trying to do, but it wasn't working. I could appreciate that she was beautiful, but I felt no attraction to her. Hell, my cock didn't even twitch when she put her lips against my ear.

Her words, however, made the rest of me sit up and pay attention.

"So, is that woman over there, the one you can't take your eyes off of, the reporter I'm supposed to watch out for?"