I hated parties.

I hadn’t always, but then again, I hadn’t always come with Kimberly, and she had a habit of putting us both on display.

Being put on display was something else I hated.

It all added up to one thing: I should definitely not be at this party with Kimberly. So why in the hell had I decided to go? I didn’t have an answer.

“Would you stop standing there and glaring at everybody?” she hissed while somehow still managing a perfect smile. She waved at somebody across the room then came to a stop beside a tuxedoed waiter and grabbed a flute of champagne. “Have one, baby. You look like you need it.”

“I don’t drink anymore,” I reminded her. I had deliberately put the thought of the night out with Cane out of my mind. I couldn’t think about him without feeling guilty, and if I was going to survive Kimberly’s claws, I needed to be focused on the here and now.

“At least carry the glass.” She gestured at the tray.

“No.”

The waiter moved off, saving me the trouble of arguing with her anymore.

“You always make us look like such sticks in the mud.” She was gritting her teeth now. I could hear the enamel grinding.

“Keep that up and you’ll get scowl lines,” I said. I wasn’t above poking at her vanity if it got her to leave me alone.

“Sometimes I wonder why I even tolerate you.” She huffed, then sipped her champagne. “Ugh. This shit is terrible. And they wonder why people complain about the parties. Listen, Glenn, you’ve been in a mood ever since Cane left. I don’t know why. He can’t do anything for your career. And he’s a bit of a jerk, really. Just—”

She fell silent as I nudged her into an empty alcove. “You don’t want to go insulting my friends, Kimberly, understand? You just don’t. And you wouldn’t understand why I’m in a mood. Friendship is clearly an idea that escapes you.”

“Please.” She rolled her eyes, not looking the least bit offended. “I don’t need a girlfriend to go shoe shopping with, and I have no desire to go sip sodas at the drug market and be seen. I’ve already been seen. I’m a star, Glenn. I’ve got bigger concerns than whether or not I have friends.”

“Of course you do. It’s all about whether or not you get the next big contract, isn’t it?” I studied her big, pretty eyes, so bright against the soft ivory of her skin. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met. She could have been carved from ice. “That’s really all that matters.”

“Like you care about anything else.” She fluffed her hair. “Not until that tramp Maya led you around by the nose, then disappeared, did you figure out what a waste real emotions are.”

Unconsciously, my hand had tightened on her arm. I forced my fingers to uncurl as I stepped back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Jackass.” She thumped her fist against my chest, and I said nothing. “I don’t why you are so touchy about her, either. She abandoned you, remember?”

Give her a chance to explain… Cane’s words rose up to haunt me, but I pushed them down, just like I had before. I couldn’t think about them, or what he could have possibly meant. I couldn’t think about Maya here.

“You don’t know the first thing about Maya and me, okay? Don’t pretend otherwise.” I eased out of the alcove and waited for her to join me. She tossed back the rest of her champagne as she sauntered out, trading her empty glass for a fresh one. If she kept it up, she’d be stumbling drunk within the hour.

I was just fine with that.

“Come on, let’s find the host you were so determined to meet.”

“I’m almost afraid to introduce you to her,” Kimberly muttered. “You’re being such an asshole. Will you behave?”

“Will it get me out of here sooner?”

“Oh…” Kimberly leaned against my arm, her breasts warm and full. But her soft curves really weren’t tempting me. We hadn’t had sex in weeks and I wasn’t about to change that now.

I had to get the only woman I’d loved out of my head before I did something humiliating—like call another woman by her name.

“Is there something in particular that’s got you in such a hurry?” She slid her fingers up my nape and tugged me down, but I evaded her attempt to kiss me. She barely noticed, murmuring in my ear things that probably would’ve done the trick a month ago.

Today, I had no interest.

After a few more seconds, I eased away and caught her hand. “Come on. Let’s find our hostess.”

She sulked along at my side, but once we found the recently transplanted French heiress, Kimberly was all smiles and charm, showing the side that the American public had fallen in love with. Too bad she couldn’t act like that twenty-four hours a day. It would’ve been so much easier to be around her.

Once we were done making nice, Kimberly thrust her arm through mine. “Man, what a bore! She comes all the way here from France and what does she want to do? Talk about how exciting it is to make movies, the marches down south and whether or not the US will be the first people to walk on the moon! Who cares?”

Clearly, since Kimberly didn’t, nobody should.

“Was there anything else you wanted to do? Anybody you wanted to…”

I came to a dead halt as somebody rounded the corner and entered the hall just ahead of us.

Kimberly was yanked to a halt as well and glared up at me. “Pay attention, Glenn!”

I was.

Just not to her.

“Maya,” I said, my throat tight.

“Maya…” She turned her head, gaze locking in on the trim woman who’d just descended a set of stairs with Florence.

What was she doing here?

“Maya?” Kimberly planted herself in front of me. “Are you telling me that’s Maya? With Florence? The Maya who up and left you? That Maya?”

I hadn’t told her that Maya had returned.

But then again, it wasn’t like Kimberly and I really talked.

Looking past her, I strained for another sight of Maya, but both she and Florence were lost in the crowd inside the main room again.

Without even thinking, I started back into the room myself.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kimberly said, yanking on my arm.

I shrugged away, single-minded focus driving me.

You need to go and see her, Glenn. Give her a chance to explain. Cane’s voice haunted me like a ghost, and I decided that the next time I saw him, I just might punch him again. Right after I apologized for punching him, to begin with. He’d just been doing what friends do, trying to set them straight or offer advice. Not that I needed the advice. I didn’t need to talk to Maya, give her a chance to explain. She’d had three years that she could have found me, talked to me.

But she hadn’t.

Still, seeing her was an ache inside me, and I couldn’t wipe away the memory of her stricken face and how she’d looked when I’d gone to see her at Florence’s.

“Are you even listening to me?” Kimberly demanded.

I moved through the crowd, her trailing along behind me. Shooting a look at her, I said, “I just need to take care of something.”

“Something to do with her?” Her face scrunched up as she tossed the word out, refusing to even say Maya’s name now. “Whatever could you have to say to her?”

I wasn’t going to say anything. I didn’t think.

Was I?

I didn’t even know, I realized.

But now that I’d seen her…

I came to a halt in the door as I caught sight of Florence and Maya being assisted into their wraps by two tuxedoed waitstaff. For a very brief second, I locked eyes with Maya.

So did Florence.

I took a step toward them.

Florence placed her body protectively in front of Maya’s.

I thought how many times Florence had been there, how bad things had been, and how she’d tried to pull me through. Now, seeing her support of Maya was a punch in the gut.

Maya had her face averted, as if she couldn’t stand the look of me.

Curling my lip, I turned back to Kimberly. I hooked a hand around her neck and hauled her in close. “You about ready to get out of here?” I asked against her lips.

“Oh…” She was all smiles now. “Absolutely.”

By the time we collected her wrap, Maya and Florence were being helped into their car.

Neither one of them looked back at us.

But I knew damn well they were both very much aware.

Yeah…so what?