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He shrugged, stepping forward "Kelsey invited me"

"Oh" It took a second for those words to sink in "Oh! So you and herI uys?" She paused, brow furrowed "What happened to Fred?"

"It’s nothing like that," he said, shaking his head "I’m not interested in her"

"You’re not?" Guys were always interested in Kelsey

"Nope"

"Why not?"

"I don’t know I guess my interests are elsewhere"

"Where?" she asked He cocked an eyebrow at her playfully, and a warhed, turning fro "It’s nice"

"Thank you," she said, relaxing a bit as she gazed at it too "What do you see?"

He was quiet, studying it, before a smirk lifted the corner of his lips "Spark"

Nailed it right away

The Gala carried on as Haven was showered with praise She basked in it, sipping seltzer water and hanging out with Gavin, laughing and chatting the night away Kelsey appeared at so her to say hello, but Haven barely noticed a soshe had poured her soul into, and by the ti down she felt as if she were floating on air

It was toward the end of the evening when Gavin’s phone rang, interrupting the tranquility He pulled it out, silencing it "I have to get going Work stuff"

She frowned "Thank you for coenuinely "It was nice seeing you again"

"You, too"

S, he reached over and caressed her flushed cheek "See you around, Haven"

Before she could come up with any words, he walked away It wasn’t until after he passed through the door that what he had said struck her It sounded so natural coht it at all

Haven

Coldness washed through her so fast she visibly trelued to the exit he had disappeared through as her mind frantically worked Could she be mistaken? Had she misheard? Maybe he misspoke and didn’t really know at all She had never told hiine where he would have heard her real na to squelch her panic, she walked over to the guest book and flipped back through it, reading the countless names until she came to his: Gavin Amaro

Her stoht for the door Bursting out to the sidewalk, she took a deep breath of the fresh night air, her heart beating like wildfire in her chest

She felt it then, the current running across her skin, jolting her spine and warning her Intuition Terror coated her like ice as she let out a shaky exhale, swinging around abruptly to face whoever was there

And in an instant, she nearly lost her balance in her high heels as she stared at a startlingly familiar face, so close she could reach out and touch it She didn’t, though She couldn’t move She just stood there, completely still, as she whispered his name "Dr DeMarco?"

"Hello there"

Vincent’s greeting hung in the warm air around theaped at hihost, as she stood in the h heels "Dr DeMarco?"

He let out an aard chuckle when she said his name for the second time "Yes"

She shook her head in disbelief, cautiously surveying their surroundings as she took a step toward hi happen?"

"No," he said, anxiously rubbing the back of his stiff neck as soaze, turning slightly so he was angled away until they disappeared down the street

Paranoid, ood reason to be

"Are you okay?" she asked, taking yet another step toward hiuessed when she trailed off

"More like nervous," she replied

Nervous That was putting ither a s it would ease her concerns "Do you think we can go solanced briefly behind her at the art gallery before starting toward hi off her shoes and carrying the sheepishly, as they started down the street They walked in silence, her eyes darting to him periodically as if still in disbelief, while he kept his head down, s

It only took a few minutes for them to reach their destination Haven pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the front door of an apart for an invitation, and exhaled with relief once he was safely away from the public street

"This is your place?" he asked, glancing around the one-bedroom apartment he’d stepped into This is the place Corrado set her up in? "It’s kind of ser than the horse stall I grew up in"

Touché

"So was there so you wanted to talk about?" she asked, nervously sitting in a chair in the living room "Why are you here?"

Vincent strolled over, taking a seat in the center of her couch "I was actually hoping you would tell "

As if by so?"