Page 2 of The Hero + Vegas = No Regrets

Jules guides us to our seats. We all have place cards. Now, I like the fact that our group of six is expanding to include the women who have fallen for my best friends. Things are bound to shift and change, and I’m okay with that too. I also really like Efa and Jules. But place cards? Next we’ll be wearing tuxedos for brunch.

I scan the place settings and find my name next to Sophia’s. Okay, so maybe place cards aren’t such a bad thing. Fisher sits down on her other side—which is when Jules and Efa’s excited chatter about setting up Sophia with Fisher comes back to me.

Sophia is meant for Fisher. Not me.

A dull kernel of disappointment lodges in my gut, and I try to shake it off as everyone takes their seats around the table. How can I be disappointed? Fisher is a great guy. I love him like a brother. He’s the life and soul of the party, creative but with a business brain. In personality, he’s almost my exact opposite. Jules is Sophia’s best friend. If Jules thinks Fisher is a good fit for her, she must be right.

This is fine. This is how it’s meant to be. Fisher and Sophia.Perfect.

I pull in a breath and sit. I try to tune Sophia out as she sits next to me. I leave her to talk to Fisher and half listen to the chatter around the table. Mostly, I look out across the Manhattan skyline, thinking about the meetings I have coming up this week. There will be a lot of them, because I just found out the property developer who I invested in to convert an old hotel on Ninth Street into an apartment block has disappeared. With a chunk of my money.

Investing in people is my job, and that always comes with a degree of risk. But I’m surprised by this guy. Ninth Street has a lot of potential. In the end, I won’t be too much out of pocket—I own the building and he sacrifices his shares in the project because he’s disappeared and stolen money. Trouble is, I can’t really put a price tag on the time it’s going to take to figure out a new plan. I have enough on my plate.

“Worth?” a voice calls, and I’m brought back to the moment.

I turn to find Sophia looking right at me, blue eyes sparkling and impossibly bright, impossibly beguiling. She glances between my eyes and my mouth, then smiles wide when she realizes I don’t know what she’s asked. “Please could you pass the butter?”

“Butter,” is all I can say, but I don’t move. I can’t help it. It’s like her stare has me turned to stone.

She laughs, and it’s such a sweet sound, I can’t help but smile. “Butter,” I say again, and force myself to look away long enough to locate the little dish. I slide it next to her plate, not daring to look at her again.

Fisherand Sophia.

But this time I can’t zone out. This time, I’m aware of every movement and sound she makes. It’s like I’m tuned into her frequency and can’t do anything about it because my dial is broken. I’m completely aware of everything about the woman sitting next to me.

“Are you really going to wait two years for that rooftop to be ready to marry your fiancée?” Sophia asks Leo.

“Good point,” I say. “I vote Leo will do anything Jules wants.”

Sophia laughs again, and I want to pull out my phone and record the sound, ready to replay it over and over when I’m back at the brownstone tonight.

“Sounds like a sensible man,” Bennett says.

Jules and Leo talk wedding plans. I’m so happy for them. They’re both really good people who are meant for each other, better together than they are apart. I glance at Fisher and Sophia. Will I say the same about them? The idea grates like I’ve put the wrong key in a lock.

Sophia turns to me. “So, what’s your story, Worth? You the strong and silent type?”

I frown slightly. Is this my chance to impress the woman next to me? Or should I say something so she hates me and focuses on Fisher—the man her best friend thinks she’s best suited to? “I’m not sure what type I am,” I say, choosing neutrality over either strategy. “I think I should know all the options before I commit.”

“Oh,” she says. “A commitment-phobe, then,” she says.

She’d never think that if she knew the thoughts I’d been having about her since I laid eyes on her.

“So far we have Strong and Silent and Commitment-phobe,” I reply. “What are my other choices?” A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth and her cheeks pink.

“I’m being rude,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “NowI’msorry if that’s how I made you feel. The last thing I’d want to do is make you feel like you’re being anything but… perfect.” The word steals my breath from my lungs and my attention circles the word.Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.“I was trying to draw this conversation out for as long as possible. I thought if I didn’t answer your question right away, you’d talk to me a little longer.”

Her smile blooms and she lifts her chin slightly. “That’s a nice thing to say.”

I nod. “It’s the truth.”

“Worth always tells the truth,” Leo says from across the table. The seemingly intimate conversation we were having disintegrates.

“Always?” Sophia narrows her eyes in challenge.

“No,” I confess.

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