Page 78

My mouth practicallyitchesto ask for more on that, but I know that if Ezra finds out I was pumping his mother for information about him, I’ll never live it down.

“He’s a good lawyer,” I feel the need to tell her. “Definitely giving me a run for my money in our current case.”

Her eyes widen a fraction, her lips parting in surprise. “Oh! Dani! You’re his opposing counsel on Lorenzo and Bianca’s divorce, aren’t you?”

“Yes?” I clear my throat of the question there. “I am.”

“He spoke of you,” she says, her eyes glittering.

The way my voice hitches is embarrassing. “He did?”

“He did,” she laughs softly. “Said you’re the only person he doesn’t mind losing to.”

My breath catches, and I can only hope she doesn’t hear it. Why does knowing Ezra spoke to his mother about me make my chest feel tight? Part of me thinks I know the answer to that, but a larger part of me doesn’t want to dig too deep.

“Well…I don’t wintoooften,” I admit.

Jackie just laughs again. “I know how stubborn my son is. Winning against him at all is a feat.”

“Right.” My lips curl, but there’s an uneasiness in my stomach. Not from talking to her, but from what her words are making me feel. I avert my gaze, pointing lamely toward the door to the library. “I’d better go and find my friends. They’ll be looking for me.”

“Have fun out there,” she calls after me. I turn my head to catch her wrinkled nose. “If you can manage it.”

I laugh out loud, nodding. “I’ll do my best.”

I have to pause by the huge piano to put my shoes back on; I’m assuming it wouldn’t be a good look to stumble back into Alexander’s swanky party barefoot, and by the time I’m reaching the well-lit areas where voices are drifting from, I’m mostly ready to reenter the fray. Mostly. I guess it depends on how much longer Ezra is occupied.

Not that I’mwaitingfor him to find me. It’s just that staying here while the person who invited me is too tied up to socialize seems silly. That’s all it is.

If I repeat it enough, I might start to believe it.

I can see Vera and Nate looking for me from across the ballroom when I step back inside, and I lift my hand over my head in a half wave to get their attention. The pair of them start to slip through groups of people talking to meet me, and it isn’t until I see Vera skid to a halt, her mouth parting slightly with what appears to be shock, that I stop walking toward them. I watch Nate cock his head in confusion at her stunned expression before turning my way, his eyes shifting just over my shoulder to somethingI can’t see. I’m about to turn and see what they’re looking at when I hear him.

“Dani?”

I go still, feeling every muscle of my body lock up tight. I haven’t heard that voice in years. In fact, the last time I heard it, it was breaking my fucking heart.

I turn slowly, half hoping I’m mistaken even though I know I’m not, that he’shere—however unlikely that should be. He looks the same after all these years, his hair the color of chocolate, perfectly parted to one side, his lean form still tall enough to make me look up at him, his deep brown eyes still holding a smile that never seems to go away, one that makes you want to trust him, however foolishly.

I stand there in a stupor for far too many moments as I take in his tight smile that seems awkward, as I notice the blond woman clinging to his arm and looking at me with curious eyes. I almost choke on his name the first time, feeling it stuck in my throat for several seconds before—

“Grant?”

Nineteen

Dani

My brain isseveral seconds behind on the uptake, still scrambling to piece together what circumstances would bring Grant Fuller here.Here.To Austin. A city that five years ago, he’d been all too eager to get out of.

“Dani,” he says politely, as if he didn’t walk out of my life and leave it in pieces. “It’s so funny seeing you here.”

“Funny,” I echo blankly.

Not doing so hot in the words department.

I feel a hand at my elbow and look down to see Vera’s manicured nails curling around my arm. “Dani,” she murmurs. “Let’s go.”

“Vera,” Grant says with a nod. “Good to see you again.”