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.A man sidled up next to her, and Ali turned, coming face-to-face with Nick Carlino.“You’re a great dancer, Ali.”“Nick, hi.” Ali kept the panic from her voice.She could only imagine what Nick was thinking.Judging by his compliment, he must have been watching her dance with Royce.“Thanks.I love it.”Nick smiled.“Do you come here often?”He made his point with the cliché pickup line, and Ali also knew that he was darn curious about her being here with Royce.“No, I’ve never actually been here before.” Ali brushed her unruly hair from her face, a gesture Nick didn’t miss.“My neighbor Royce invited me to see his friend play.He’s in the band.” She pointed, but Nick didn’t bother looking.“What are you doing here?” she asked.“I’m on a date.”“Oh, really?” Ali scanned the room but couldn’t find the woman he was with.“She’s in the back, taking care of business, I presume.There was a problem with one of her employees.”Puzzled, Ali asked.“What kind of business?”Nick grinned.“She owns the place.”Ali shook her head and smiled back at him.“I should have known.”“I like you, Ali.In fact, if Joe wasn’t in the picture—”“But Joe’s very much in the picture,” she finished for him.“Doesn’t look like it tonight.”“We don’t spend all our nights together,” Ali said in her own defense.Although since their trip to San Francisco, they had been inseparable.“And Royce is a good friend.That’s all.”“Hey, I’m not accusing you of anything.I have my eye on your friend, though, just in case.If he’d so much as made an improper gesture toward you, I’d have decked him.”“Would you?” Ali asked, not sure Nick was telling the truth.He was a charmer with a killer smile and a man used to getting his own way, yet she didn’t figure him as the brute type.“For Joe.Yeah, I would.” Nick braced his arm against the bar and looked her dead in the eyes.“Are you going to tell him about tonight?”Ali blinked.“I suppose.It’s no big deal.”“Just be sure that you do.And don’t mention you saw me here.”“Why not?”“Because then he’d be pissed at me for not telling him I saw you.” Nick winked.“He’s a good guy, Ali.Don’t trample him.He’s been there and done that once already.”“I wouldn’t hurt Joe for the world.”“Good.Just keep it that way.”Ali sipped the mojito the bartender put in front of her.“You Carlinos stick together, don’t you?”“Like glue.”Ali wished she had someone who watched her back, the way Nick just had for his brother.Most times she was on the giving end with friends and family.Both her father and mother had sought her out when they needed help, and Ali was glad to give it.But she’d never asked for the same in return.She’d grown up independent of others out of necessity.Her mother’s frivolous lifestyle hadn’t allowed for her to develop close ties.It was at this moment that Ali realized that she harbored resentment toward both her parents—maybe a childish notion, but she’d wished they watched her back and put her first, just once.Nick picked up two drinks the bartender sent his way.“Gotta go find my date.” He began to leave, then stopped and turned around, his gaze flowing over her from top to bottom, assessing her hair, her face, her breasts and all the way down to her black leather boots.“I like the look, Ali.I think Joe would, too.”Heat crawled up her neck, and she was darn glad that Nick had taken off before he saw how much his comment affected her.It was almost as if Nick had figured her out.What if he had? What if he knew the truth? He’d seen her cut loose, dancing like a maniac, drinking and laughing with another man.Did he know she was a fraud? She feared that he did and that would spell disaster.Ali knew her deception had to end.She had to call it quits and confess to Joe what she’d done.She had to hope he felt enough for her, to give his forgiveness.If she’d injured him in anyway, she’d never forgive herself.Ali was on unsure footing here.She could think of a dozen worst-case scenarios, and each of them made her cringe with regret and anguish.But one thought preyed on her sense of optimism and gave her hope.Maybe Joe would laugh it off and tell her he loved her no matter what.Somehow, she didn’t see that happening.A tremble coursed through her body, a quick shiver of impending doom.Ali couldn’t shake off the feeling that things were about to go from bad to worse.When Royce returned, she handed him his drink.“Please drink it fast,” she said to him, urgently.“I need to go home.”ElevenAli tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep.She missed having Joe beside her, listening to the sound of his breathing and waking next to him in the morning.She missed his kisses and the steady way he held her.She finally managed to get a few hours of sleep, and when sunlight beamed its way into her bedroom, Ali glanced at the clock.It was after six, and Joe would be taking his morning swim soon.Ali rose slowly, reminded of her restlessness from last night by a headache that throbbed in her skull.She rubbed her temples and padded to the kitchen to set coffee brewing.Her motions were by rote, one step in front of the other, and gradually, after she drank a cup of coffee and ate a piece of buttered toast, the ache in her head subsided.“Okay, Ali.Be brave.Pick up the phone and call Joe.”Ali waited ten more minutes, reciting in her head what she’d planned to tell him.Once she was sure he was out of the pool and dried off, according to his precise timetable, Ali picked up the phone.She was greeted with a cheerful voice.“Good morning, sweetheart.”“Joe,” she said with a sigh.Just the sound of his deep, sexy voice did things to her.“Hello.”“How was your cooking lesson?”“It went well.I think I could duplicate the dish for you one night.”“I’d like that.”“I, uh, missed you last night.”“Same here, honey.”“What did you do?” Ali, quit stalling.Tell him about last night and then ask to speak with him in person.“Tony and Rena stopped by.They entertained me for most of the night.”“That’s nice.”“It was, actually.”“How is Rena feeling these days?”“She looked great, healthy.She’s a lot of fun.She even makes Tony tolerable.”Ali didn’t respond to his little jibe.Instead, she began her explanation.“Joe, last night after Royce’s lesson, he asked me to do him a favor.”“What kind of favor?”“Just to go with him to a club.I think it’s called Rock and a Hard Place, if you can believe that
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