“Do you need to check in with anyone before we leave?” I asked, grabbing my clutch and making sure my phone was still inside.

“Reina and Morgan have other clients, and Annie’s off the clock and enjoying herself on the dance floor, where no one thinks she’s having a seizure. We’re good.”

I nudged him with my elbow as he enjoyed his own joke with a laugh. Then we said our goodbyes to Chase and Zoe, and she insisted on getting up to hug me. “I am going to look you up and I’ll be calling you!” she said.

“Sounds good!” I responded. I hoped she would. I genuinely liked her.

Then she told Noah, “You’ve got a good one there.”

He smiled, a real smile, and said, “I know.”

I didn’t bother protesting this time. Everybody seemed pretty set on their own interpretation of what was happening. Although my cheeks did flush slightly, and I hoped no one noticed.

“Let me just text Ray so he can meet us out front. Okay. Done. Shall we go?” he asked as he slid his phone into his pants pocket. Then he did the most adorable thing. He offered me his arm while his hands were still in his pockets. It was such an old-fashioned and sweet gesture it made my heart swoon. I wondered if he’d learned it when he did that remake of Pride and Prejudice. He’d been the absolute best Mr. Darcy.

I slid my arm through his, and as we walked out of the party, I was back to that upscale-zoo feeling. Flashes going off, people looking at us and whispering. “Everyone’s staring at us,” I told him.

“Are they?”

“Yes. And every last one of them is wondering if you lost a bet.”

That got me a real, full-throated laugh again that still felt thrilling, and another part of my defenses melted.

“Not true. They’re all wondering how I got so lucky.”

I let out a grunt of disbelief. I had always been comfortable in my own skin and with my appearance. Sure, there were times I wished my thighs were a little smaller or my boobs a little bigger or that I could tan in the sun instead of frying like a lobster, but for the most part I was okay with me.

But I didn’t have any delusions that I was on the same level with the typical women he dated, because I was not the double-D, fluorescent-white teeth, hair extensions, and fake eyelashes kind of girl. The kind that filled this room.

“More like they wondered how you got lucky when you had that Hannah person as your date.”

“Hannah? That was a setup by my publicist.”

I blinked in surprise. Shelby had called that one, too. “Do you do everything your publicist tells you to do?”