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“Nothing, I’m just being an idiot.” And she definitely felt like one, crying over something as silly as a guy she wasn’t even dating. It wasn’t as if she’d never been rejected before.

Except with Blake, you fooled yourself into thinking there was something between you.

“Come on, tell me what is going on.” Nicki gave Hannah a big hug, rubbing her back. “Seriously, whose ass do I need to kick?”

Hannah laughed. “I just saw that guy I like, Blake, and he’s here with another girl.”

“Oh, babe, I’m sorry. Wanna grab our food and go?”

“Do you mind?” Hannah asked. “I’m kind of a mess.”

“Nah, let’s do it. And maybe we can stop by a Redbox and grab a couple of movies to watch. After you tell me all about this mystery man.”

“Sure, sounds good.”

“I’m going to change our reservation to a to-go order. Come on out when you feel up to it.”

“Thanks, Nic.”

“Hey, best friends are the people you can be a total crazy mess around and who love you anyway. Don’t sweat it.”

Hannah laughed, rubbing at her eyes as Nicki left the bathroom. She turned to look at herself in the mirror, dabbing at her puffy eyes when the door opened again and the pretty brunette Blake had been cozy with walked in. She caught Hannah’s gaze in the mirror briefly.

“Hey,” she said casually.

“Hi.” Hannah’s voice came out as more of a croak, and she suddenly wanted to get the hell out of there.

She left the bathroom and headed toward the bar, where she found Nicki nursing a margarita. When her friend noticed her, she held the straw out to her. “Want some? It’s going to take about twenty minutes for food, so I figured why not have a drink while we wait.”

“No, thanks.” She didn’t want to look around in case Blake was close and noticed her.

“Do you want to go out to the car and wait? I can hang here—”

“Hey, Hannah.”

Blake’s voice came from behind her and sent a quiver of awareness down her back. She turned around and gave him a tentative smile. “Hi, Blake. This is Nicki. Nicki, this is Blake.”

Blake shook Nicki’s hand and turned that knee-jellifying smile back her way. “What brings you ladies out today?”

“We were shopping all day and decided to swing by and grab food on our way back home,” Nicki said.

She could feel Blake’s gaze on her, but she avoided his eyes, afraid he’d be able to tell that she’d been crying.

“Cool, what were you shopping for?” he asked.

Hannah gave Nicki a panicked look, silently pleading for Nicki to make up something else, anything other than the truth, but her friend ignored her.

“We’re going to a single ladies’ ball, so we were buying our dresses and accessories.”

God, Hannah wanted to sink into the floor and die. It was bad enough that Blake could probably tell she’d been crying, but just saying their plans for Valentine’s Day out loud made her want to crawl under the counter and hide. Two grown women getting dressed up like princesses to attend a singles event?

He probably thought they were both pathetic.

“A single ladies’ ball? The one at the Hilton?” he asked.

Hannah’s head jerked up at his question. “Yeah. Why?”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Because Alpha Dog is putting it on.”