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Chapter One

Things could be worse, she thought with a sigh Wasn’t her ht side, Lacey” Or her favorite, “There are lots of people who have things rateful, Lacey”

Yeah, she should be grateful, actually—grateful she hadn’tout about his cheating ways Catching hiht Christy was her friend

Lacey sniffled, unwilling to let the tears that burned her eyes fall, and ate yet another chocolate chip cookie—double the chips—and thanked the gods above for creating such a decadent treat to begin with Tomorrow she would have to exercise double-ti to her body today But for now, co quite like it

AsEvan in the shoith Christy happily washing his nether parts, no less, wasn’t quite as devastating as it should have been There was anger—yes, she could have easily taken the two of them apart with her bare hands But hurt? Nada It seeirl really ought to feel at least a twinge of the old heartstrings when she caught hi fondled by another woman But as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t seem to muster any sadness At least not for Evan As for Christy, yeah, that hurt

She’dat the park Christy had overdone it and Lacey had stopped to see if she needed any help They beca out they had a lot in common Apparently they even had the sa seemed like more trouble than it orth It becauy

It wasn’t as if her standards were iuy with a decent job A few le And, last but not least, hair Still, in the past year she’d been dumped twice and cheated on once That had to be some kind of record

Maybe it was her Maybe she was the proble her she should loosen up souy liked to feel dominant, not do, too, now that she thought about it Lacey ate another cookie as the truth hit her The one common denominator in every failed relationship was, of course, her

Then did that mean Evan had hooked up with Christy because Christy was content to let him take the lead? Was that what had drawn him to her? Possibly Of course, it could just as easily have been her surgically enhanced C-cups

Sing a gulp of milk, Lacey stood and brushed herself off When she looked down at her own ave a derisive snort

“The idiot probably thinks Christy’s are real Puhlease”

She grabbed the bag of cookies and started for the kitchen What she really needed was soo with her chocolate chips

“Take that, Christy and Evan” But before she could grab the icy treat, the doorbell rang So asm

She frowned at the front door “It better not be Evan” The doorbell rang again and she sto a pair of fluffy happy face slippers—over to it Lacey flung the door wide and yelled, “Get lost, dickhead!”

“Pardon me?”

Heat burned her cheeks “Oops Uh, hi, Nick”

Nick smiled as if he were pleased as punch “Do you always answer your door like that?”

She shrugged “Only when I catchon me with my friend”

“Yeah that sucks It’s also why I’m here” He pushed his way into her apart you out”

Bless his thoughtful and sympathetic heart Nick was one of the sweetest,ht up there with her brothers Nick was undoubtedly one of the good guys, as well as her best friend But, right noas seriously in the way of a very satisfying pity-fest and she just couldn’t have that

“I’m busy, Nick Get lost, will ya?” She retraced her steps to the kitchen in search of the treasured ice cream Hopefully Nick would take the hint She’d aloal when a hand yanked the back of her sweatpants “Hey, hands off I’m not in the mood”