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Husband, too. Something his dumbass fiancée obviously hadn t realized. It wasn t nice to think ill of
the dead, but Zoe hadn t known the woman, so it didn t count.
That s what they all say, she said, stumbling a little on purpose.
His arm instantly slid around her waist, anchoring her securely to his side. Hmm& maybe there
were benefits to being a helpless female after all.
Haven t you had a guy look after you before?
I don t need looking after, she said, wondering when her usual independent spiel had become so
tired and old.
For the longest time, she hadn t wanted a long-term relationship. As for marriage, she d never
wanted to participate in the whole initial grand passion fading to like and ultimately dislike that it
entailed. She d attributed her apathy over the years to her parents warped marriage, but it was more
than that.
She just couldn t imagine loving one guy enough to want to be tied to him for life.
She d been in love a few times: college infatuations mostly, which had fizzled out. But nothing
earth-shattering. And never anything that lasted beyond a few months. Her breakups had been swift
and clean. Which signaled that she d never been fully emotionally invested in the first place.
It hadn t bothered her, and as the years had passed, while girlfriends settled down to domestic bliss
and babies, she continued to live life on her terms: fast and furious. It suited her.
Until that last one-night stand when she d taken a stand.
When a badass like her bawled after having reasonably good sex resulting in orgasm, there had to
be something wrong. Maybe she d had one too many casual encounters. Maybe she kept hanging out
with the wrong kind of guy. But whatever had snapped inside her that night, she d taken it as a sign to
change.
She wasn t on the lookout for a husband; far from it. She d just wanted to take a break from the
meaningless one-nighters and focus on doing a kick-ass job for AW. A plan that had been working
fine, until she d met Dom.
You don t believe in marriage?
I ve never met anyone worth loving enough to spend the rest of my life with.
The simple truth made her sound harsh and judgmental and picky. He d probably think she was a
heartless bitch. His opinion of her shouldn t matter, but it did. Stupid, considering she d never see
him again after tomorrow.
I understand, he said, so softly she barely heard it. It s important to have standards.
Great, now he was picturing her as some kind of saint. If he only knew. This saint s halo had
slipped to her ankles a long time ago.
It s also important to live life to the fullest, and that s what I ve done. Did that sound as shallow
to him as it did to her?
But now?
Trust Mr. Intuitive to home in on what she hadn t said rather than what she d said.
Now I m looking for something more. Uh-oh. Where the hell had that come from?
He didn t respond, but she could hear his soft breathing in the night silence, as she silently cursed
for opening up like that.
She could blame the surrealism of the situation, but she knew better. Dom was easy to talk to. He
was a good listener who seemed genuinely interested in her and who asked the right questions. If she
were ever foolish enough to give her heart to any guy, she d want someone like him.
Open your eyes, he said, his arm tightening around her waist.
Her eyelids fluttered open, and she gasped.
The scene before her was like something out of a romantic movie: a private, natural lagoon fringed
by a lemon grove, moonlight glinting off the water s surface, with a picnic laid out on the water s
edge. Tea light candles rimmed the picnic blanket, their flames flickering softly on the still night.
Do you like it?
Zoe couldn t breathe. And her damn eyes burned with the sting of unshed tears.
This was too thoughtful, too nice, too much.
It s beautiful, she said, not surprised when her voice quavered. Thank you.
As if sensing how overwhelmed she was, he didn t say anything more and led her to the blanket.
Before she could sit, he captured her face in his hands.
We may have come together in the oddest of ways, but I wanted tonight to be about us. About
enjoying each other s company. No expectations. No regrets.
The perfect speech to go with the perfect picnic. So why did Zoe have more than her fair share of
regrets now that their time together was coming to an end? And those damn regrets had nothing to do
with business.
No regrets, she echoed, a second before his lips brushed hers in a soft butterfly kiss that melted
her heart.
She wanted to deepen the kiss, wanted to obliterate the uncharacteristic glut of feelings clogging
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