Wade stayed for the day, probably to keep him sane. He fielded the phone calls from pushy reporters and the one from Pace’s father calling to ask how Pace could have been so stupid as to get involved in a drug scandal. That was fun. They had to ring the cops twice to chase away the paps hanging around outside. When Pace’s physical therapist came by, Wade worked out while Pace got tortured, a process which left him a shaky, sweaty wreck. Wade stayed and watched TV with him, and they ate some more. It was early evening when the doorbell rang. Wade got the door, raising a brow at the gorgeous, elegant, sophisticated creature wearing a satiny royal blue evening gown cut up to her thigh. “Pace,” Wade said slowly, staring at Samantha as if stunned. “Did you call for a stripper?”

“Funny.” Pissy, Sam breezed in past him, carrying a garment bag.

Pace felt as stunned as Wade looked. “Holy cow, Sam. You look amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She turned to Wade. “Okay, strip down, big boy. You’re this stripper’s date.”

Wade blinked. “What? Me?”

“Did I stutter?”

Wade whipped his head toward Pace with a what-the- fuck expression, but Pace merely lifted his good shoulder. Wade and Sam had been growling at each other ever since their single, disastrous night together.

“You don’t want to go anywhere with me,” Wade told Sam. “You can’t even look at me.”

“No shit, Sherlock. But I don’t have a choice.”

“Are you sure?” Wade was sounding a little pissy himself. “Because there’s got to be someone else, anyone else, that you can get drunk and take advantage of this time.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, let’s be clear on who the ho is in this room, Wade O’Riley. And it is not me.”

Wade opened his mouth, but Pace shook his head at him. “Okay, kids, let’s all just try to get along—”

Sam put a hand in his face to shut him up.

“Fine,” Wade said to Sam. “You want me again? Suits me. Let’s go, Princess.”

“Oh, I am so not your Princess.” Sam unzipped the garment bag, revealing a tux. “Pace was supposed to go to this auction gala with me as the guest of honor, but now that’s out of the question. I can’t go dateless, Jeremy’s going to be there with some hot, famous Brazilian model, my father will blow a gasket if I show up alone.” She lifted her head and smiled grimly at Wade. “So I’m stuck with you.”

Pace looked at the tux and grinned. “Ha.”

Sam glanced at him. “You’re not going to be smiling when you read these.” She dropped some newspapers on his table. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have brought them to you, but Gage insisted that you were a big boy.”