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I called Marie, hoping she was nearby

"Help!" I said with , and I’ratulations!"

"But I have nothing to wear"

"Honey, that’s a problerab some lunch before we hit the stores?"

"Absolutely Thank you" After days with techies and suits, I needed girl time

The Vine was a beautiful little Mediterranean open air restaurant tucked in the basement floor of a brownstone on Newbury Street, one of thedistricts in the city Not surprisingly, it was only a few short blocks away from the new apartment Marie and I sipped iced tea and shared calaht up

"So tellhow to bring her up to speed on everything Blake had thrown at uy I literally ran into at the restaurant the other night?" Butterflies danced inwith Blake

She stilled, and her beautiful brown eyes widened "You’re kidding el invest" I skipped the part about hiMarie wasn’t et protective at tiht up your alley"

"Hardly He’s so out of "

"I don’t suppose a busy guy like that would spend tihed I wished I knehat Blake was thinking, but he had uess not It’s been a bit of a ind so I don’t really knohat to think" I poked at ht now"

"That’s how love goes, baby" She shook her head with a smile

Love? Leave it to Marie, the hopeless ronificent distraction, but that had nothing to do with love

I e at the mention of the word and asked about her new beau, Richard She quickly changed course, filling me in the details of their last date I had no rooht now

I slipped into the sexy, overpriced cocktail dress Marie had helpedthe tulip hearhetti straps and light layers of chiffon I paired the outfit with sos, and I pinned my hair up in a loose bun We would see what Blake had to say about all this, I thought I touched up ray eye shadow With or without Blake, I felt like a ht Alli would be proud

Sid was rued fro loudly across the floor I stopped at the breakfast bar to wait for Blake Sid turned and saw me, his eyes wide

"What?" I said, suddenly concerned that I didn’t look nearly as good as I thought I did

"Uh--" He averted his eyes "Nothing" He bolted back to his bedroom, which required about three strides since he was so incredibly tall, and shut the door behind hi Sid to dinner, but a fine dining experience would be lost on hilad I hadn’t, since apparently he couldn’t be in the same room with me in this outfit

Blake let hireet hias, with a freshly pressed white shirt A bit of stubble offset the for like hell to stay steady onthe look of pure carnal appreciation that swept his face

"Hey," I said