Scarlet invaded Andin's face. Her eyes widened, then her lids dropped, hiding her expression. She moved quickly into the kitchen and without thinking picked up ice cream from the fridge. She carried it into the sitting room and placed it on a mat in the center of the table. Damon was finding bowls while Tanner was looking for cutleries. In less than five minutes, the ice cream was served.

"No comment, then?" Damon asked at last.

"Your imagination runs riot," Andin said without looking at him or Tanner.

"Darling, just because you yourself have never noticed your sensitivity to Sebastian Freaking Summers it does not mean you have learned to hide it from everyone else," Damon told her frankly. "I knew the first time I saw you together. You admitted years ago that he liked you."

"I did not say that!' Andin denied.

"You said he wanted to date you," Damon said flatly.

"He was only asking me to go out with him for a dinner once upon a time. Back when I had only been working for him for a month or two," argued Andin as she began to take a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and had to hold back to avoid brain freeze.

"I am not sure why you keep on denying this." Damon heavily sighed. "Don't forget, I have seen him look at you the other night. He makes no secret of the way he feels."

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Andin said frustratedly. "Sebastian flirts with every woman he meets. Trust me, I know. I have seen him in action every day. How many beautiful women do you think he has been to bed with? I doubt if even he can remember. Do you think I am going to be a forgotten name in his contact, one of the never-ending list who fell for him, those who could not resist him?" Her voice rose, bitterness threaded through it.

Damon exchanged a look with Tanner one more time, then simply looked at her with a strange expression. "So you made up your mind to be the one girl he can not forget, the one who got away?" he asked shrewdly.

For a moment Andin looked stunned then a weary smile crossed her lips. "Something like that," she admitted huskily.

Damon made a face. "I hope you get away with it," he said, beginning to eat his ice cream. "Oh, this is a dream." He took one spoonful and put it in front of Tanner. "Come on, babe. I know you do not like sweet stuff because you are trying to save your figure before the wedding but let me assure you that I love you even if you look horrible in our wedding photos so go for it."

Tanner rolled his eyes but succumbed to the temptation and savored the ice cream.

"What do you mean," Andin pursued, 'you hope I get away with it, Dee?"

Damon swallowed his mouthful and then licked his bottom lip. "You are walking a tightrope, Andin mia Bella," he said gently.

"But I do not like Sebastian," Andin protested, staring at her friend. "I really do not." Although she had said so, she knew deep down inside that she had feelings for her boss. Yet she simply could not bring herself to admit it out in the open.

"Okay, maybe you do not," Damon conceded. "But I know you, darling, and I can tell that you are very attracted to him — far more than you would like to admit. When you are with Sebastian you are on edge the whole time, as tense as a bowstring. If he touches you, you jump. And I can tell during the entire evening when we were at his party that no matter what you were doing, talking or dancing with me, you could always tell where he was. You always paid attention to him more than you would care to admit, even to yourself. I would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see how aware you are of him."

The accusation left Andin completely speechless. She pushed her bowl away, her ice cream did not look as appetizing any longer. After a pause, she said lamely, "So, about your wedding?"

Damon and Tanner picked up the change of topic and started talking about their wedding, who would be there, and how the arrangements would be. Damon was so excited in telling Andin that he was also hiring Jackie for their wedding.

Andin stared at her best friend. Damon was untidy, impulsive, and short-tempered but he had a quick wit, intelligence, and warmth, and Andin dared not ignore his remarks.

Was there some truth in what Damon had said?

She admitted to herself that she had always been aware of her own reluctant attraction to her boss. Sebastian had made no secret of his appreciation of her, either, his dark blue eyes bluntly approving her looks. She had always felt as if the ground between them was mined. An unwary step might precipitate an explosion. But physical awareness was no basis for a serious. relationship. She refused to enter into the sort of brief liaison Sebastian always had with women. The idea disgusted her. It had seemed only common sense to avoid him altogether.

She only had to bear it for the next two months and a half. Soon she would no longer work at Summers Entertainment. Soon, she did not have to see Sebastian every day for five days a week. She only had to deal with the wedding this weekend, and the upcoming trip to Las Vegas.

It should be easy peasy. After all, what could possibly change in two and a half months?

* * * * * * *

SEBASTIAN

Thornton swept into Sebastian's office for their usual Friday morning conference, hoping his little brother was ready to discuss the expansion that he had been working on, only to be faced with incontrovertible evidence that Sebastian was still obsessed with something other than their business expansion plan.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded in exasperation. His eyes pointedly judging the small thread and fuller on Sebastian's desk.

His brother lifted a belligerently determined face. "I am going to find the measurement."

"What measurement?" Thornton lifted one eyebrow. He was one hundred percent sure that what they were scheduled to discuss had nothing to do with measurement. At least, not one using a ruler and thread. Perhaps calculator.

"For the ring."

Now Thornton was confused. "What ring?"

"The engagement ring."

"What for?"

"For my secretary."

"Can't you just ask her?"

"I don't think she will tell me."

"Okay. Then just how do you propose to do—" he pointed at the ruler and thread then clicked his tongue, "all of that?"

"I've held her hands before. I just have to remember." He glowered dangerously. "And I also need to find her a dress. I decided you wouldn't mind lending me your secretary for a while this morning. She would probably know where women usually do their—"

"You can't use Eliza for personal jobs." Thornton's lips set to a grim line.

One black eyebrow lifted in challenge. 'Can't I?"

"This is ridiculous!" Thornton expostulated. "Why do you suddenly need to buy an engagement ring and a dress for your secretary?" Then as if the thought had finally dawned on him, his eyes widened in surprise. "Don't tell me you are going to marry her?!"

"Relax. I am not going to marry anyone. I just need the ring and dress in order to help her," Sebastian said stubbornly.

"Why? And help her with what?"

"She is going to attend her ex's wedding. I pretended to be her fiancé the other day so it should be fine."

"Which ex? The one she came to your birthday last weekend?"

"No, the other ex. But that's the ex who is going to get married tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! How did the guy even get engaged and married in a week?!"

Now that Thornton had said it aloud, Sebastian could not help but think how odd the whole situation was. He had been so mad on Andin's behalf that he had brushed off the details. He did not know how long it would take to prepare a wedding but surely Demon would need more than a week to find a willing lady to marry. Unless Demon had been having an affair behind Andin's back when they were still dating. This pissed him off even further.

"I don't know. Maybe he was cheating on her with this girl he's going to marry." Sebastian shrugged.

Thornton shook his head. "This secretary of yours surely has gotten around way too much. Just how many exes does she have?" His jaw tightened disapprovingly then he added, "more importantly, why on earth would you help her? That's her personal matter. Stay out of it, Sebastian."

"Because I want to. Because it will mean something."

Thornton expelled a long breath. His brother was definitely out of his mind. He lifted his hands in a plea for sanity. "She is your secretary, Sebastian. She's your employee. Nothing more. Outside work, she is not your responsibility."

"But she just turned into something more."

"Okay, she was beautiful. She turned you on. Everyone with eyes could see it the other night when you two were on the dance floor. But you don't even know the woman, Sebastian. Just by hearing you talk about her many exes—"

"There are only two exes!" protested Sebastian. Somehow he felt rather protective of Andin. "That Demon guy and the other guy at the cafe."

"Two that you know of," warned Thornton which silenced Sebastian's remaining argument. "She might not be a good girl. She might—"

"Well, I don't care who she is!" Sebastian had enough. His hand slammed down on the desk as he stood up. "I want to feel that again. I have to know. And I will know." He paced around the office, clearly disturbed, his hands moving in agitated gestures. "When I kissed her—"

"Goodness! You kissed your secretary?! You could face a lawsuit! What were you thinking?"

Ignoring his brother, Sebastian kept on talking, "I have never experienced anything like it in my life before. She's different, Tony."

"Different does not mean it is good for you," commented Thornton with a sigh. "Just let it go, brother."

That perfectly rational point earned a flash of impatience that said he didn't understand, didn't have the experience to understand.

"I can't let it go," came the steely resolve.

Thornton looked at his brother's face twisted with frustration then heavily sighed. Something was clearly wrong with his little brother. Sebastian had never acted like this before, he had always been carefree and enjoyed switching partners every now and then. Now he seemed to be living in some sort of fantasy land, dreaming and wasting time thinking about ways to please his secretary. Fantasy and reality didn't mix. Expectations could never be met and it was a stupid waste of time to go chasing them. "One day you will have to."

Sebastian grimaced and muttered, "Maybe. But not now when I still have the chance to help her. You may think that helping her is a waste of time."

Dead right, thought Thornton.

"But it is not. You may think it is crazy but helping her actually makes me happy. I am going to look for the dress on the internet. I am sure there's a website where I can purchase it."

The desperate hope in Sebastian's voice told Thornton that his brother needed help fast or very little work was going to get done on the business expansion they had been working on for months now. He instantly revised his opinion. The sooner hopes and expectations were blasted, the better. All he had to do was help Sebastian with his stupid crush. Once his brother realized that the whole thing was pointless, he would come back to his senses.

"No need to go to that trouble, Sebastian," he soothed.

"I will go to any lengths,' came the punchy retort, his eyes flashing unshakable determination. "I have to help her."

"Then let me help you," offered Thornton with a small smile. "You know how well Ava dressed, right? I will contact her and ask her to help you find the dress for your secretary."

"Are you really going to help?" asked Sebastian a little unsure.

Thornton pulled out his cell phone and dialed his wife's number. "I am calling my wife, aren't I?"