"I'm complimenting your professional appearance."
"Of course you are."
"Your very professional shoulders."
"Luke."
"And extremely business-appropriate collarbones."
I'm laughing now, the last of my nervousness about Derek fading away."You're ridiculous."
"I'm efficient," he corrects, his normally glacier-like eyes warm."I'm efficiently noticing all your professional attributes at once."
We're almost to the door when I see the crowd of attendees just inside the gleaming lobby.
Seattle's elite.All designer gowns and charity smiles.
I take a breath, squaring my shoulders.
"Ready to be aggressively efficient?"Luke asks.
"The most efficient," I confirm.
And then I see him.
Derek.
Standing just inside the entrance in a tuxedo that Erica probably picked out, his arm around a woman in a dress that costs more than my monthly mortgage.
His hair is perfectly styled in that way I used to find attractive but now looks like he stuck his finger in a socket.
He's laughing at something the mayor's wife is saying, that practiced laugh he uses at networking events.
The one that sounds like success and smells like betrayal.
My feet stop moving so suddenly that Luke has to catch my elbow to keep me steady.
"Sage?"His voice sounds very far away."What's wrong?"
But I can't answer.
Because Derek is turning, his scan of the room casual until his eyes land on me.His expression shifts from polite interest to shock to something that might be regret but is probably just gas.
And standing next to him, in a dress that definitely came from the children's section, is Erica.
FootPrincess2000 herself.
Her left hand sports a diamond the size of a small planet, and she's clutching Derek's arm like he might float away.
Which, given his history, is probably smart.
"Is that—?"Luke starts to ask.
But Derek is already moving toward us, dragging Erica along like a designer handbag.
"Sage?"Derek's voice hasn't changed—still that calculated tone that made me feel like a business acquisition rather than a fiancée."What are you doing here?"
My mouth opens, but no words come out.
