were both the very last places he'd wanted to be. He'd even pushed her to return to her own world despite his obvious belief that she wouldn't come back to him, back to the farm. All because he loved her, and wanted the best for her, rather than himself.
"We were on a break," Victor protested. "You could have slept with someone else if you wanted to."
"Funny," she said, though there wasn't even a trace of humor in her voice, "I wonder how many other breaks we had that I never knew about? And I'm assuming that's also what you told Gloria when you took her to bed? Did you also tell her she was a better dancer than I am? And was she stupid enough to believe your lies the way I always did?"
She watched his face carefully as she spoke. Now that she was no longer desperate to convince him to love her the way she'd thought she loved him, she could finally see her ex for what he was. A handsome, charismatic, underhanded snake. Right now, she guessed, he was trying to decide between hurling insults or turning on the charm. When she saw his half-scowl turn to a smile, she knew he'd decided on charm.
Grayson may have been short on charm, she thought with a secret smile, but at least she could always count on him to be honest. He would never say he loved her just to get her back into bed. And he was no slouch in the handsome department, either. If the two men were to stand side by side, Victor would look like a glossy, pint-sized poser compared to Grayson, who had earned every one of his muscles, every glorious inch of tanned skin, from good, honest work beneath the sun.
"I made a mistake, baby. I got caught up in the heat of the moment during rehearsals."
Lori knew all about heat now, about how strong a pull another person could have on your life. That when you were meant to be together, no amount of common sense, no attempts at self-control, made any difference.
Grayson had told her that she forgave too easily, but she couldn't imagine going through life holding onto grudges that would eat away at her. Even when someone clearly deserved the grudge.
"I forgive you," she said, and relief immediately moved across Victor's features. He was opening up his arms for her as she said, "Now, get out of my way."
He stood there, his arms still reaching toward her, a stunned look on his face, but she was done with him now, so she simply sat down and started to go through the paperwork laid out across the table.
Just as quickly as he'd put on the charm, her ex stripped it away. "You're the one who walked out on the show, not me," he sneered. "Instead of admitting it was too big a production for you to handle, you ran off crying like a little girl who got her feelings hurt in the sandbox. No one thinks you're good enough to manage a show this size. And no one wants you back."
Without acknowledging anything he'd said, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the show's producer. "Neil? Hi, it's Lori Sullivan. Yes, I really am sorry for leaving so suddenly, and I promise I'll make it up to you, but now that I'm back, I just wanted to do a quick check-in with you about firing V - " When she was cut off, she listened for a moment, then said, "Yes, I'll take care of it now and then I'll see you backstage tonight after the show."
She disconnected. "Looks like it's time for you to take another break," she told her ex, then really did completely put him out of her head as she started calling her dancers one by one to let them know about the emergency rehearsal she was scheduling for that afternoon.
Now that the nearly two-year break she had taken from clear and rational thinking was finally over, Lori Sullivan was back.
And she was going to be better than ever.
* * *
Ten hours later...
God, she missed Grayson so much.
Lori had wanted to call him all day, but it had been one thing after another. When she realized that everything really had gone off the rails on her show, she'd known she had to spend as much time with her dancers as possible, both to reassure them and to get them excited again about their performance. And