“That meeting in Queenstown?” Charlotte ate a piece of sushi with grim-eyed focus before continuing. “Afterward, he made me go with him to every single jewelry store in the city to find the perfect bracelet for some woman he’s dating.”

“Oh.” Molly winced, feeling awful she’d encouraged Charlotte in that direction. Luckily, Charlotte seemed more mad than sad. “That must’ve sucked.”

“Yeah.” Charlotte stabbed at her sushi again. “Every time I pointed one out just to end the whole excruciating experience, he questioned me in that Spanish Inquisition way of his until I finally gave him my actual opinion.”

“What did you pick?”

“Here.” Charlotte pulled up an image on her phone. “I was sneaking a photo of it when he caught me.”

The bracelet was a stunning delicacy of diamonds and emeralds set in platinum, the design evocative of tiny flowers and spring leaves. It was made for someone as fine-boned as Charlotte, would accent rather than overwhelm.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” A soft sigh, hazel eyes melting before a self-satisfied smirk curved her best friend’s lips. “It also put a significant five-figure dent in his wallet.”

Laughing, Molly thought hmm and considered the fact T-Rex had bought the one piece Charlotte had truly loved. Either he was an insensitive jerk or he was displaying the cool, strategic intelligence that made him a feared opponent in the business world. Molly wanted to believe the latter for Charlotte’s sake, but it was hard to say when she’d never seen the two of them together. Still…

“Forget him,” she said and saw Charlotte’s fingers tighten on her chopsticks. “I think we both agree that Ernest is never going to be lover material, not for you”—a twist of Charlotte’s lips, followed by a reluctant nod—“but what about Derrick? Didn’t you say he sent you a flirtatious e-mail a couple of weeks ago?”

“Yes, but he didn’t follow it up in person. Figures. He’s a wimp.”

Molly’s mouth dropped open. “Charlie!” Her friend was never unkind.

 “If I can stand up to T-Rex,” Charlotte said with an adorable hint of pride, “I can’t exactly respect a man who goes off with his tail between his legs each time the boss snarls.”

“Okay, you have a point.” Even if T-Rex was an idiot who couldn’t see what was right in front of him, he was doing fantastic things for Charlotte’s confidence. That alone put him in Molly’s good graces.

“Anyway,” Charlotte said, “I’m not the one with the exciting life.” She looked pointedly at Molly’s shirt. “Funny how that helpfully covers your neck.”

Molly felt her skin heat. “It’s one of my favorite shirts.”

“Oh, please. You have a love bite, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Fox had left his mark on her and each time she thought about it, her stomach fluttered. “He’s…” She bit her lower lip. “He asked me if I wanted to change the rules.” And then he’d loved her with a tenderness that made her heart ache.

 “Do you want to?” No lingering amusement in Charlotte’s eyes.

Molly swallowed the single word she wanted to say, the declaration she wanted to make. “Where can it lead?” She put down her spoon, the soup forgotten. “He has a life on the other side of the world.” A life lived in the glare of media attention, something it made her nauseous to even consider. “Mine is here. My work is here. You’re here.”

“I love that you put me on your list.” A vivid Charlie smile. “But I can and will always visit you wherever you are.” She closed her hand over Molly’s. “The real question is—can you live with ‘what ifs’ for the rest of your life if you don’t try to see if it could somehow work?”

For such a sweet person, Charlotte had a way of asking the most difficult questions. Could she walk away from the promise of a life with Fox? If she did, Molly knew her cowardice would haunt her for the rest of her life. But how could it ever work? “Charlie, I…” Breaking off, she just stared at her friend, lost and scared and fragile with hope.

 Charlotte squeezed her hand. “Come on, let’s treat ourselves to fancy coffees, then we can discuss that scene in the book you lent me.”

Molly’s emotional equilibrium was no longer so shaky when she and a smiling Charlotte arrived at the entrance to the building where her best friend worked… just as someone else was about to stride up the steps, having appeared from the other side of the street. “Ms. Baird. Good, you’re back,” said T-Rex, his black hair lifting slightly in the breeze. “I need you with me at a meeting in ten minutes.”

Her free hand clenched by her side, Charlotte sipped silently at her frothy mochaccino as the six-feet-five stone wall dressed in a flawless Italian suit who was her boss glanced at Molly. She went to introduce herself when he said, “You must be Molly. I’m Gabriel.”

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Molly said, wondering how he knew who she was.

“Likewise.” Steel-gray eyes shifted from her to Charlotte. “You have foam on your upper lip.”

Then he was gone.

“Yes, he’s hot,” Molly said consideringly, though inside she was dancing a delirious jig. No man noticed such a tiny fleck of foam on a woman’s lip unless he was paying careful attention to those lips. “Kind of big for you though.”

It was like poking a hornet’s nest.

“Just because I’m not an Amazon doesn’t mean I can’t handle T-Rex!”

“Aha! So you admit you want to handle him?”

Charlotte growled at her, threatening to tip her drink all over Molly’s white shirt. “You’re an awful friend. Go away.”

Molly’s laugh bubbled out of her. “Do you think he’s built in proportion?”

Charlotte pinked and avoided her eyes as she said, “I have to go before he decides to fire me again today.”

“Wait,” Molly said, not taking the teasing any further because if, despite all evidence to the contrary, T-Rex wasn’t interested in Charlotte and she put herself out there, the rejection would crush her friend. “How does he know who I am?”

“Because he thinks my business is his business.” Turning at the automatic doors, her best friend held Molly’s gaze, a deep caring in her expression. “Think about what I said.”

Molly did think about it. And knew Charlotte was right—she couldn’t live with the “what ifs,” couldn’t watch Fox walk away because she was too scared to reach for him.

Her nerves were in knots by the time she returned home after work, but she wasn’t about to chicken out in her decision to talk to Fox, standing forever in place, caged by the grief and anger of the fifteen-year-old girl she’d once been. He wasn’t in the apartment, but his scent lingered in the air. Hugging a pillow to her chest for a minute, she breathed deep, then got moving; giving herself too much time to think would only ratchet up her nerves.

She was in the middle of preparing dinner when the sound of a key in the door had a smile breaking out over her face. “Thank you for the flowers,” she said and walked into his arms, the material of his black T-shirt soft against her cheek.

Duffel sliding to the floor and guitar already propped up beside the door, Fox massaged the back of her neck as he kissed her slow and deep. “I had images of you naked on a bed of petals when I picked out the roses.” He stroked his finger down the shell of her ear with that sinful confession, his lips curved. “What are we doing tonight?”

She’d intended to suggest they stay at home and talk, but all at once, that felt too confining, too claustrophobic for what she needed to say. “I thought dinner, then maybe we could drive up Mount Eden?” The volcanic cone offered sweeping views of the city, the vista breathtaking at night.

“Sounds good.”

An hour and a half later, Molly realized she shouldn’t have delayed, her nerves so frayed that Fox had watched her with careful eyes throughout dinner. However, he hadn’t said anything, and now he parked the Ferrari at the top of the mountain she’d suggested, in front of the huge, sloping crater that told of a massive explosion millennia ago.