go back to the hotel, haul her into his arms and ask her why in hell she was marrying a pretty boy movie star who could never make her happy.
“Married,” he muttered out loud, drawing a curious look from a passing couple, dressed for clubbing, who looked like every other couple he’d passed. Saturday night in San Fran was when all the hipsters came out, and he felt entirely out of place. Although, not as out of place as he would feel in Candace’s world, now that she was engaged to one of the sexiest men alive.
Bastard.
When he’d first walked out of the ballroom to look for her, having grown concerned when she didn’t come back right away, since she’d looked on the verge of tears when she left, he hadn’t believed his eyes. Seeing Candace there, standing in the embrace of another man, he’d had a sudden certainty that he was seeing Madison. Not Candace. Not his Candace.
But the dress was the same. The hairstyle. The pale face, trembling lips, damp eyes.
It was her. He’d known that even before she’d met his stare and silently pleaded for understanding he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to offer.
The farther away from the hotel he walked, the more he tried to understand.
That she was really engaged seemed beyond doubt. She’d let that guy slide that big ugly ring on her hand. She hadn’t laughed it off as a joke or shoved him away. In fact, the two of them looked pretty comfortable and cozy together, and he had to wonder how long they’d known each other.
Probably longer than the two weeks she’d been here. But damned if he’d let anyone tell him he didn’t love her more than anyone else could. She’d become a part of him. He couldn’t fall asleep if she wasn’t in his arms, and was edgy every day until he heard her voice. She was the one he wanted to talk to about his plans for the future—maybe going back to work in a local law office, maybe getting married and having a family. Those things had seemed impossible—and he hadn’t really wanted them—until she’d crept into his life and turned it completely upside down.
She’s marrying someone else. She always planned to, and you know it. She warned you.
Yeah, she had. That first night when he’d made love to her, she’d laid down her conditions, stated her terms. He tried to remember exactly what she’d said, though his brain had been foggy with lust and he’d had a hard time thinking of anything except how much he wanted to be inside her.
She’d made a promise to someone, he remembered that much. A commitment. One that meant she and Oliver could have no more than one week, and would have to part ways, no questions asked, not seeing each other again.
He’d sort of believed she meant it. But a part of him really hadn’t. And once they’d started sleeping together, once the physical connection had wrapped them up in such strong emotional bonds, he’d had an even harder time with the idea.
He should have pressed her when she’d offered to try to explain. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been so blindsided when she turned out to have a fiancé.
She hadn’t lied. She’d answered him truthfully when he’d laid out his three deal-breaking conditions. She’d wanted him, she was an adult and she wasn’t married.
Just engaged to a freaking movie star.
“Oliver, please wait!”
He froze, spinning around and seeing a woman hurrying after him. His heart leaped as he thought for a moment it was Candace, that she’d walked away from the crazy promise she’d made to marry a man she didn’t love, and had come after him. But he noted her clothes, and realized that was impossible.
“I’m not in the mood, Madison,” he told her, striding away before she got to within ten feet.
“Oliver, wait, it’s me.”
He stopped again. This time, when he turned around, he studied her more closely, noting the full lips so recently well kissed, the faint circles under her eyes and streaks on her cheeks that said she’d been crying.
“Candace?”
She nodded and came closer, stopping about three feet away.
He clenched his hands by his sides, not reaching out for her, though he very much wanted to.
“Can we please talk?”
He looked around, seeing a few bars, but also a small coffee shop that was still open. He gestured toward it, and she nodded in agreement, walking with him across the street.
They didn’t speak while they walked,