Page 76 of If We Never Met

"Is there anything we can do to fight the lies that woman is telling about you?" Chloe asked. "I'm not usually on social media, but I could get on there and post something."

"We all could," Gianna said.

"No. I don't want any of you to do anything. It will blow over eventually, and the people I care about know the lies aren't true. I didn't break up Nikki and Dante, and I only met Nikki once a long time ago. I didn't betray my girlfriend."

"Of course you didn't. You would never do that," Gianna declared. "The three of us know that better than anyone."

She looked around her circle of friends and smiled, thinking of how many years they'd known each other, loved each other, supported each other. These women would always have her back, and she would have theirs. "Thanks," she said. "To be totally honest, though, there is something between Dante and me. There's an attraction, a chemistry."

"Really?" Gianna asked, a new light in her eyes.

"But," she added hastily, "it's not going anywhere. Dante is only in town for another two weeks. We're just going to be…friends."

"Kissing friends?" Hannah asked.

"Maybe," she conceded. "Let's not make a big thing about it. We're just going to have fun and that's it. And now that you know that, I hope you will not act weird around him when he comes on the boat with us later. I invited him. I hope that's okay."

"It's more than okay," Gianna said. "And we'll be good."

"I know you and Chloe will be good…" She gave Hannah a pointed look.

"I'll be good, too," Hannah said dryly.

"And I'm afraid I won't be there, so I'm going to expect a full report at some point," Chloe said. "I also want to say, Keira, that you should have some fun. Even when you think a relationship might last forever, it doesn't always make it." She cleared her throat. "Sorry, I took that a little too dark."

"I vote for fun, too," Gianna said. "I spent way too much time trying to figure out Mr. Right, even accepting a few engagement rings along the way because I kept thinking I just wanted to get married. But all those guys were wrong. When I saw Zach again, I knew that I'd been trying to force something that wasn't there."

"I have no words of wisdom," Hannah put in. "I just think Dante is hot and you're hot and you could be really hot together."

She grinned. "I can always trust you to keep it simple."

"Maybe he could be your plus one for the wedding," Hannah added, a sparkle in her eyes.

"Stop obsessing over my plus one," she ordered. "But I'll think about it. I don't know where things are going to go with us."

"I know," Hannah said.

She made a face at Hannah. "You don't know everything."

"I know this. Dante is walking toward us."

She whirled around in surprise, seeing Dante make his way down the right-field line. After what he'd told her the night before, she hadn't expected to see him before the boat trip. But here he was, looking incredibly sexy in faded jeans and a dark-orange T-shirt, his thick brown hair blowing in the warm breeze. Her heart flip-flopped in her chest, her mind flashing back to the beautiful memories they'd made the night before.

She moved away from her friends to greet him. "I can't believe you're here," she said. "I thought you were going to meet us at the boat."

He smiled as he gazed into her eyes. "I didn't want to waste time that I could spend with you."

Her heart sped up at his husky words. "What about the baseball?"

"I think I can handle it. As long as you're here."

"I'm here," she said.

"I want to kiss you. But…"

She sucked in a quick breath. "But?" she echoed.

"There are a lot of people looking at us."

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