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looks at him. “Detective Sean Donovan, but you’ll have to excuse me. I’m on my way out. I need to get back to the city.”
    â€œA detective? I hope there isn’t anything wrong?” Grant says, his eyebrows rising. I see a glimmer in his eyes, a spark of what looks like defiance. Or a challenge?
    â€œNo, everything is fine.” He grits the words out and turns to leave without a backward glance.
    Grant has that same curious look in his eyes as he watches Donovan leave, but then he turns back to me, and it is gone. “Let me introduce you to some other ­people here.”
    He takes my arm and leads me through the crowd. The electricity from his touch shoots through me at the same time I’m trying to process a surge of anger and disappointment about Donovan. Why was he here, and why do I feel betrayed? It doesn’t help to realize that Grant’s touch is dangerously alluring. He idly runs his fingers down my forearm, sending faint tremors through my body. I try to subtly elude his grasp, but he holds firm.
    Across the backyard, Annalisa takes in Grant’s proprietary clasp of my arm with a frown as she climbs out of the pool. She maneuvers through the crowd, her tiny red crocheted bikini actually making my suit feel a bit matronly. We both are more than ample in the chest area, but if hers are real, I’ll hold up the white flag.
    When she is a few feet in front of me, I feel her glare before I see it. Slowly, she scrutinizes my body, from my bare toes to the tendrils of hair sticking to my temple in the heat. Her eyes narrow to slits. I meet her gaze, and, for a split second, I can almost see the daggers in her eyes, but the look disappears so fast I wonder if I imagined it as her teeth spread into a wide smile.
    â€œAdam, you didn’t tell me we had another guest,” she says, grabbing both my arms as she kisses my cheeks, releasing me from Grant’s hold. She knows exactly what she is doing. She pulls back, weaving her own arm through Grant’s. Her head only comes up to his armpits. She presses her wet body close to him, slanting a glance at me. “Adam, did you scare Gabriella’s boyfriend away? Sean seemed upset. Is something wrong?”
    Grant looks at me. “Boyfriend?”
    I ignore the question in his voice. “He had some urgent business back in the city. Important things. Cop stuff.”
    â€œOh, I know, ” Annalisa says with a small smile. “I remember those days. Good God, that was so boring, having him leave in the middle of the night because work called.”
    She hits her mark. The image of Donovan in her bed sears my brain. I take a big gulp of my wine, so she won’t see my reaction. But when I look up, I know I didn’t fool anyone.
    Grant laughs. “Annalisa, he’s another one of your conquests? Your track record never fails to amaze me.”
    Her look sours. “He wasn’t one of my conquests. He was my first true love.”
    That’s it. “Excuse me. Where’s your restroom?” I need to escape before I slap her.
    â€œ I ’M SORRY IF I upset you.” Annalisa is waiting for me outside the bathroom. “It’s hard for me to see Sean with another woman. It’s not that I don’t like you. It’s just that I’ve always assumed that one day we would get back together. I’ve always imagined us growing old together.”
    I say nothing. She looks forlorn. But I know she’s a good actress.
    â€œIf it makes you feel any better,” she says, turning to me with sad eyes, “he told me today that it would never happen.”
    I take a minute to process this. She reaches into a small bag and takes out a compact mirror and a tube of blood red lipstick.
    â€œI’m not the first woman he’s been with since you. He was married, after all.”
    â€œOh, her,” Annalisa laughs. “Teresa never was any competition for me. He would have