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Marcus Delaney.

Why is he calling me?

Then again, maybe this is my chance to ask him the question that’s been rattling around in my head. Can we still date? … Not date. Definitely not date. Fake date? … Pretend to be a couple? I’m still workshopping the phrasing.

I answer the call, instinctively rising from my desk and walking toward the front door of the Hearthstone offices.

Loretta watches me. “Everything okay, sugar?”

I hold a finger up and nod. “I just have to take this call.”

“Is it that new boyfriend of yours?”

She has no idea.

“I’ll be right back,” I say in lieu of an answer.

“Marcus Delaney,” I say as a greeting once the door is shut behind me.

“Carter,” he drawls.

“You can call me Cass. And speaking of what to call me, why are you calling me?”

“I need to talk to you about something,” he says.

He needs to talk to me about something? What could he need to talk to me about?

Seventeen Cherry Hill? No. He’d call Coleman.

The wedding? Probably not. Winona and Declan aren’t getting married until February.

I’m stumped. And I don’t love surprises when they come from someone I can’t trust.

“I need to talk to you too,” I say, taking the reins.

“Okay,” he says, “You first.”

“No. You go ahead. You called me. You go first.”

“You know I’m a southern boy through and through. Ladies first.”

He’s. So. Stubborn.

I don’t say a word. Am I also being stubborn?

Yes. Okay. I am. He brings out this streak in me.

“Alright then,” he says, slow and smooth. Then a sigh. Silence. Another sigh.

“Delaney?” I say.

“Yeah. Yeah. Okay … So, Kate … The thing is …” Another heavy sigh.

“Kate?”

“Yeah. The whole thing between us on the dance floor? People liked it. They thought we were into one another.”

“I know.”