In a millisecond I register that he’s kissing me. And his is the wrong mouth, the wrong feel, the wrong everything. It’s…gross.

I move to shove him away but he steps back.

“That was—” he starts. His mouth turns down. Obviously he didn’t like it either. Idiot.

I let out a long breath and put my hand on his arm, ready to tell him it’s his brother who’s mine. “Look, Gavin—”

“The wedding is off, you monumental prick!”

I jerk my hand off his arm and swing toward the kitchen entry.

“Lacey. You’re early,” Gavin says. He sounds dumbstruck.

But I barely hear him. Because standing in the entry next to Lacey, and an older couple, her parents, I think, is Will.

The look on Will’s face—my heart starts to gallop at that look.

His eyes are full of self-mockery and understanding of what he thinks I’ve done. His jaw clenches, his lips flatten, and his eyes that were so full of warmth last night leach back to cold.

“We didn’t, it’s not…it’s not what it looks like,” I say, and then I almost let out a hysterical giggle at how cliché, how stupid that sounded.

“As you were lip-locked in an embrace,” says Lacey’s father, “I’d say it’s exactly what it looked like.” He turns to Will. “The merger’s off. You’ll hear from my lawyers.”

“Lacey,” Gavin says. He starts toward her.

She holds up her hand. “Don’t.” Her face drains of color. She’s in a gray sheath dress and trench coat. She looks smart and stylish and completely heartbroken.

Gavin stops in front of her. “Let me explain.”

A tear trails down her cheek and she angrily wipes it away. She looks from Gavin to me and back at Gavin. I feel ill with shame. I may not have wanted this to happen this morning, but until yesterday I was actively trying to make it happen. I look at the hurt, confusion and pain in Lacey’s face and I realize that I was selfish and pigheaded and plain wrong in my pursuit of Gavin. Of a soul mate. I was wrong. My actions hurt other people.

“I love…loved you,” Lacey says. “I was going to marry you.”

“Please. You don’t understand—” I say.

“She’s my soul mate,” Gavin interrupts.

The words fall like a bomb into the room. I’m stunned into silence. Lacey lets out a strangled laugh. Then she marches over to the counter and picks up the two glasses of orange juice. She flings one in Gavin’s face. He flinches as the juice hits him. Then she dumps the other juice over my head. I gasp as the cold liquid runs through my hair and onto my face.

Lacey sets down the glasses on the counter and wipes her hands.