“I’m not dumb,” she said. “Maybe a little drunk.”

“Hypothetically, no. I wouldn’t. And you better get back to your date.”

“He’s an idiot,” she said.

“We’ll just keep that to ourselves,” Nicholas replied.

I wasn’t surprised by Zoey’s antics, but I was still angry. I walked into the room glaring at her. “Let’s get out of here,” I said to Nicholas.

Zoey was either too drunk or too dumb to realize that I’d been listening. “Bye, Elise,” she said.

I didn’t answer her. I was fuming.

Nicholas took my arm. “Let’s go home.”

I didn’t say much on the way back to my apartment. Nicholas must have known how I was feeling because he didn’t pry. It had started snowing, and the BMW’s windshield wipers kept beat to the Christmas songs on the radio. The cheerful tunes were completely incongruent with the thoughts running through my head, which were definitely not peace on earth goodwill to men.

Outside my apartment door Nicholas asked, “Are you okay?”

I blew up. “I can’t believe she hit on you.”

“Yes you can,” he said calmly. “She was drunk.”

“She would have done it anyway.”

“Maybe.”

“Why are you defending her?”

“I’m not. But don’t go too hard on her. If she was happy with her life, she wouldn’t have come after me. And she’d been drinking.”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t have to like her.”

“No. But you do have to work with her. So you might as well keep things civil.”

“Civil,” I said angrily. “I want to pluck her eyelashes.”

Nicholas laughed. “Promise me you won’t do that. Or anything else. Just let it go.”

“But she’s a—”

He put a finger to my lips. “This is for your good,” he said. “Trust me. Promise me.”

Honestly, I liked that he was touching my lips. “All right,” I finally said. “Why do you have to be so rational?”

“It’s a habit.”

After a moment I said, “May I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“If it wasn’t for the contract, would you have hooked up with her?”

“No.”

“Why not? Everyone else wants to.”

“She’s not my type.”

“What’s your type?”

He just smiled. “Let me know when you figure that out.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Good night, Elise. I enjoyed being with you.” He started to walk away, then stopped and turned back. “Oh, do you know what today is?”

“No.”

“It’s our midpoint. We’re halfway through our contract.” He turned and walked away.

I watched him walk out to his car before going inside. His final words hurt my heart even more than Zoey’s betrayal.

Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER

Eighteen

Everyone has a dark and light side. How much we see of either is usually less a matter of the moon’s position than where we’re standing.