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It was justthat knowing was different than seeing.

“Ex-boyfriend?”Phil asked, studying her face.

Lori couldn’tpossibly tell him the truth—not on a second date—so she accepted this as theeasiest of excuses for her reaction. “Yeah. Something like that.”

“Maybe you’lltell me about him sometime,” Phil murmured, slipping his hand around her waistas they strolled more slowly toward the galleries.

She shot him asharp look.

“I’m not blind,you know,” he explained, giving her a little smile. “You could cut theintensity between the two of you with a knife. But there’s no hurry. We havelots a time.”

Her smile up athim was genuine—made up of relief and affection. What a great guy he was.“Maybe I’ll tell you sometime.”

She thoughtshe’d gotten over the worst of the hurdles in her initial encounter with Ander.But she kept seeing him and Sarah for the rest of the evening. And Ander alwaysseemed to whispering intimately into her ear, or stroking her back, ordiscreetly holding her hand.

And the truthwas it bugged Lori. A lot. However irrational, her encounters with Ander hadfelt isolated, cocooned, cut off from the rest of the world. They’d beenspecial to her. Not because she thought they shared romance or a real emotionalconnection. But because she’d learned so much about herself and about humannature from her interactions with him. Plus, she’d just simply enjoyed it.

And seeing himat his job with another woman made the whole thing feel...tawdry.

Maybe it was.

** *

Two days later, Lori arrived atthe familiar hotel room a little later than normal. She had just enough time tobathe, shave, apply lotion, and dress before seven o’clock.

She’d seriouslyconsidered canceling. All day yesterday, she’d begun to compose an apologeticemail to Ander, saying she didn’t need his services anymore. She just wasn’tsure she could continue as they had, after being slapped in the face withreality on Saturday night.

Plus, Phil hadasked her out again. Obviously, things were just at the beginning—casual andnon-exclusive—but she felt like they had some potential and paying for sex onthe side seemed like it might not be the best way to begin a relationship.

Lori hadfinally decided to keep her engagement with Ander, mostly because she felt badabout backing out at the last minute. She genuinely liked Ander, and it feltkind of heartless to blow him off with an email, after they’d had such along-standing professional relationship. She’d give it a try. If things feltweird or uncomfortable, she just wouldn’t schedule another appointment.

She was justputting on the little cashmere cardigan—a weave so fine it was almosttransparent—over her dark blue silk lounge set when she heard the knock at thedoor.

As she swungopen the door with a smile of greeting, she was greeted to a sight that waslike a kick in the gut.

Ander stood—ascool and handsome as always in all black. On his face was a practiced smile.Urbane and sensual and so fake Lori wanted to scratch it from his skin.

Definitely nota propitious beginning.

“Hi,” she said,stepping aside to let him into the room.

Ander murmureda greeting, and she followed him to the table where he always left his case.The ubiquitous envelope of cash was lying on the table as usual.

Feeling moreawkward than she had since the first couple of engagements, Lori loweredherself into a chair. Figuring they might as well get it out in the open, shesaid, “So it was kind of weird, huh?”

Ander seatedhimself in the other chair and arched his eyebrows at her coolly. She wasn’t abig fan of that expression either.

“Seeing eachother on Saturday,” she said in response to his silent question. “Wasn’t itkind of weird?”

“I’m sorry ifit made you uncomfortable. You handled it fine.”

Lori’s jawdropped slightly as she stared at Ander. She hadn’t thought the discomfort hadonly been on her side. He was definitely acting prickly tonight. Not at alllike his normal self. “You didn’t find it a little weird too?”

Ander’s eyeswere bland and unrevealing. “No. Not really. But I’ve had years of experiencein this. I can understand why it might be awkward for you. In fact, I wonderedif you might cancel our engagement tonight.”

She swallowed,knowing how close she’d come to doing just that. It was a little unnerving tolearn that their encounter at the fundraiser hadn’t bothered Ander at all. Sheknew it had surprised him. His expression had revealed at least that, butapparently it hadn’t affected him otherwise.

She wasdetermined to not pretend anything, not add any other layer of unnaturalness toher relationship with Ander. “I thought about it. A lot. It just seemed kind of...Idon’t know. It would have made me feel shitty.”

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