I need her able-bodied and alert at the office on Monday.“

“The able-bodied part’s not going to be a problem,” he said, already moving away and toward Veronica.

Buddy came in next, right behind Theo, along with Dan and Gia. Mary Fran was on their heels-without Keith. Lucy hadn’t actually seen her brother-in-law since Holden’s baptism and was starting to think that Mary Fran had killed him and disposed of his body in the crawl space of their lovely redbrick Georgian in Buckhead. She’d have to remember to ask.

Then Stephan sauntered in with Carolina Buendia and John Weaver, who looked exactly as they did on the WakeUp Miami set, and it was obvious that the party was indeed getting started.

He’d picked a hell of a time to have this epiphany, but there it was, just a few feet away in the grand ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was Lucy, breathtaking in that bare hint of a dress, and he was sure this would soon be one of the defining moments of his life. A moment that would change everything.

Theo put one foot in front of the other, his eyes on hers, and it all rushed into him-every other defining moment in his thirty-two years on the planet.

His brother’s birth had been hard on his mom. Brian Joseph Redmond was born after eighteen hours of labor, and the doctors whisked him away and came back to explain to his distraught family that the baby had Down syndrome. Theo was just sixteen, but in that instant he went from the focus of his parents’ lives to their peer, an independent and grown person they relied on for help.

He’d suddenly become his father’s friend and ally, his mother’s confidant, and a big brother to a beautiful and perplexing child.

Theo had observed how the soft-spoken doctor comforted his mom, held her hand, and gently told her the truth about Buddy. Immediately Theo knew that’s what he was meant to do with his own life. He wanted a job that was real, important, healing. He wanted that mix of human connection and hard science. He wanted to be a doctor. Theo cornered the physician in the hallway afterward, talked to him for a good half hour, and his mind was made up. Everything he did after that was done in pursuit of that goal.

Another defining moment came when the dean of the med school came for Theo in the middle of assisting with a routine appendectomy. As Theo followed him into the hallway outside the operating suite, he already felt the weight of tragedy hanging over him-he just didn’t know who was dead or how it had happened. When the dean put his hands on Theo’s shoulders and said the words, “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this…” everything changed again.

The lunch date where Jenna broke up with him was another of those moments. As she laid it all out for him, Theo saw that he’d never really known the woman sitting across from him, that he’d been so enthralled by what the eye could see-her beauty and drive and smooth elegance-that in five years he’d never dug deep enough to know the person inside. Maybe he’d done that intentionally, knowing what he’d find would not be as pretty as the outer wrapping. But there it was-the truth-and the truth was, the woman he’d been convinced was his ideal life partner was really nothing but a cold mystery to him and he wasn’t enough for her anymore.

Theo looked at Lucy again and his chest grew hot and he felt a smile spread across his face. He thought, She’s beautiful, and then scolded himself for the inadequacy of those words. Yes, she was shockingly beautiful. She was luminous and alive and damn hot in that nothing of a dress. But she was also the bravest, funniest, best woman he’d ever known.

And the kicker was, she wasn’t his Lucy anymore. She was everyone’s Lucy. Now everybody could see what he’d seen in her from the very start-that she had it all.

Theo smiled a little broader, still walking toward her, his eyes still on hers, and something primal stirred in him. It was a dark need in his psyche he could identify only as possessiveness. Maybe that’s why he’d been relieved to see Tyson leave her side just now.

It struck Theo as odd that he hadn’t been able to spit it out-that he loved her. Because he really did. That was an oversight he intended to correct immediately, as soon as he was close enough for her to hear the words. He no longer gave a rat’s ass about Palm Club policy- Ramona would just have to deal. He no longer minded the amount of gossip it would generate or that it was going to be a difficult seven years ahead of them. All that mattered was that he’d spend those years with Lucy.

And that was his epiphany-he wanted Lucy as much as he’d ever wanted anything. As much as he wanted to be a doctor.

“Hey, Theo,” Tyson greeted him on his way toward the door, stepping right in Theo’s line of vision. “You clean up real nice, bro.”

“You, too.” Theo peered around Tyson’s shoulder to find that Lucy’s family had gathered around her. Now he’d never get her alone____________________

“Theo, man, you’d better be good to that woman or I’m going to hunt you down like a dog.”

He laughed at that. “Not to worry.”

“Hey, I’m being totally serious here, OK? Listen up.” Tyson pulled Theo over to a couple small formal chairs against a wall. “Have a seat.”

Theo sat down and unbuttoned his dinner jacket. It was difficult to act suave when you were uncomfortable.

“Lucy Cunningham is completely in love with you, man. Do you realize that? She thinks you are the be-all and end-all. And that woman needs a man who can give her the works. Know what I’m saying?”

Theo tried to loosen his bow tie. It didn’t budge.

Tyson kept going. “The girl’s so good-natured it’s almost unbelievable-somehow, the world hasn’t made her a hard-ass like so many other women out there.”

Theo ran a hand through his hair.

“She needs somebody who will spoil her rotten. Somebody who has time to savor her-yeah, that’s it. Lucy needs a man to savor her, a man who has the time to enjoy her.”

Theo couldn’t stand this conversation another second. He stood up, rebuttoned his James Bond wannabe jacket, and cursed himself for renting something so ridiculous.

He cursed himself for thinking Lucy would be satisfied with what he had to give her. She hadn’t done so great in the last few weeks-how bitter would she become after a few years?

“Now, since I’m not allowed to have Lucy, I’m going to go peruse the menu. Check you later.”

Tyson strolled away, and Theo noticed his friend wasn’t heading for the hors d’ouvres table but right toward the petite brunette in a black cocktail dress whom he knew was Lucy’s assistant.

Lucy could feel it. All during dinner, as Theo sat at her side, he avoided looking her in the eye. He’d told her she looked lovely and kissed her cheek, but there was no zing! in the kiss. It almost felt as if Theo had put up an invisible zing! force field. He was all business, charming her parents right out of their seats, laughing and talking with Dan like they’d known each other forever, but it was all done in his capacity as her trainer, her business partner, nothing more.

She and Theo had been photographed and videotaped all evening, standing together, chatting, smiling at each other. All of it seemed hollow, and Lucy felt her heart sinking. Something was wrong. Something had happened since she’d seen him last at the gym, and it made her question everything she felt. It made her question her decision to tell him she loved him.

Stephan was finishing up his comments at a tasteful podium set up at the head table. She hadn’t listened to a word he’d said, and now he was introducing Carolina Buendia and John Weaver, who smiled brightly and said they had a surprise for Lucy.

Carolina leaned into the microphone and announced that WakeUp Miami had heard Lucy wanted to reward herself at the end of her yearlong program and they’d decided to pick up the tab and send her to… There was a dramatic pause…