After probably the twentieth time of overthinking whether or not Jesse and I should appear together in public as each other's date to a large event, Haley had talked me into going ahead and attending the fundraiser with him. Relieving my stress somewhat was the fact that Haley would be there, too, which I hadn't known until practically the last minute when she told me that several employees of Columbia University Medical Center would be in attendance, many of them being donors to Boston Children's Hospital and St. Jude.

Jesse had been unable to pick me up for the event since he was one of the sponsors of the fundraiser and had been tasked with several last minute chores to complete the setup. Last I'd heard from him, he was meeting with some big wigs from Satisfaction Magazine, the company providing the luxury vacations in exchange for the largest donations.

I hoped he wouldn't be kept too busy. I understood that he would have to mingle throughout the evening and make a small speech at some point during the dinner, but I wondered how much time I'd actually get to spend with him. After all, he was my date.

When Haley and I walked into the ballroom of the Marriott Marquis, we were in awe of the beautiful décor and white linen covered tables framed by a limitless panoramic view of the neighboring buildings. Times Square was only about a minute's walk away. With the sunset in the distance, there was a reddish glow cascading over the skyline and adding a unique tint to the entire room. It made the white tablecloths appear pinkish.

Everywhere I looked there were intricate crystal glasses surrounding big blooming centerpieces of tulips, tiger lilies, and daisies. The colorful combination was perfect for summer.

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked Haley awkwardly as I scanned the room for Jesse, Erica, or anyone with a familiar face.

Haley quizzed a passing waiter and we were quickly escorted to our respective tables. She had been seated with some of her coworkers from the medical center and I had been seated at Jesse and Erica's table. When we parted ways and I reached table 39, there was only one other person there. I recognized her as the Latina with jet black hair who Erica had mentioned as being a close friend. She was one of the girls in the photo in Erica's office.

"Hi," I greeted her with a smile, locating my name tag on the table. "I'm Vanessa."

We'd been seated right next to each other. I'd never been super comfortable mingling with people I didn't know, but I was thankful to have someone to talk to while I waited for Jesse rather than awkwardly sitting alone.

"Nice to meet you," the woman flashed a bright white smile. "I'm Selena. I work for Satisfaction Magazine. Are you here with Advantage Republic?"

"Yes. We're a sponsor," I nodded, sliding into the chair.

Selena's smile seemed to be never ending. She was even more beautiful in person than in the photo. I wouldn't have been surprised if she was a model for the magazine. If Emeraude Toubia and Penelope Cruz had a love child, it would be Selena.

"How long have you worked for Jesse and Erica?" she asked, taking a sip of water.

"I actually just started a little over a week ago," I admitted as if it made me less qualified to be at the event. "I'm the new executive assistant."

Her eyes widened and for a moment, I thought I'd said something wrong.

"Oh my gosh!" Selena said like she was excited. "Yes! Erica told me about you!"

A pang of discomfort slapped my stomach at her words. I wondered what Erica had said about me.

"Whatever she said, don't believe it," I joked, hoping it came off well.

Selena leaned closer so that no one nearby could hear us talking. Her expression became a little more serious and she kept her voice low.

"I know hardly anyone knows about this, so I'll be quiet, but Erica told me about how you kicked Michael Roth's ass in L.A., and holy shit, I am so proud!" she confessed happily. "Everyone despises that guy!"

I hadn't known Erica had mentioned anything about my outburst to anyone else. She certainly hadn't said anything to me about it. My nerves started acting up at the concern of how many people might know I was technically responsible for Advantage's coming collapse. It didn't really matter what Jesse said to make me feel better. I knew my insults had played some part in Roth's decision, and I felt guilty as hell for that.

"I didn't know she'd told anyone," I mumbled and took a huge chug of my water. "That was not one of my finer moments in professionalism."

Selena shook her head and waved off my comment. "Don't worry about it at all, girl. I have wanted to cuss out that bastard for years. We've all had our unpleasant run-ins with him. Especially Joseph, one of my best friends, when he was trying to find an investor. We used to work together at Satisfaction, but he quit journalism a couple months ago to start his own business. He bought a rundown club and renovated it to this amazing place to hang out and watch male strippers, but also have the best cocktails and gourmet dinners. Joseph's gay and he's really big on promoting L.G.B.T. performers and employees who haven't been given a fair shake elsewhere."

"Oh, that's great!" I grinned, happy to hear that her friend was providing a good opportunity for others. "We need more of that. Have you interviewed him for the magazine? I'm sure your readers would love to hear about what he's doing now and the positive impact he's having."

Selena's smile widened and she clapped her hands excitedly. "That's a great idea! I'll have to call him after the dinner and see about doing that. I can't believe I hadn't already thought of that."

She seemed like such a sweet girl. I could see why Erica liked her so much. Now that I thought about it, the two of them looked like they could be sisters.

"So how long have you and Erica been friends?" I tried to keep the conversation going so it wouldn't become awkward.

Combing her fingers through her big raven curls, she looked like she was remembering a fond memory. "We actually haven't known each other that long. My best friend, Kate, who also works at Satisfaction, became friends with Erica when she was dating Jesse about six months ago. We all became friends through Kate and Jesse."

Oh. Kate, I assumed, was the same Kate Erica had talked about in the photo. Kate, who looked like another model. Kate, who Jesse had never uttered a single word about dating. That Kate.

I suddenly felt very inadequate. I knew I shouldn't be comparing myself to Jesse's ex, but it was hard not to feel like the lesser woman when your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend probably walked Victoria's Secret runways in her spare time.

"Speaking of Kate, there she is!" Selena said happily, gesturing toward the bar across the room.

My stomach sank when I spotted the woman clad in a shimmering blue dress that was gorgeous enough on its own, but on Kate, it was an ensemble fit for the Oscars. And she was standing there, all legs and boobs and high heels, chatting away with Jesse with the brightest grin on her face. Jealousy was erupting like an enraged volcano in the pit of my stomach and gradually working its way throughout the rest of my body.

"I'm going to go say hi to Jesse," Selena told me. "I haven't seen him in a while."

I managed an unsuspicious nod and watched her click across the room in her stilettos, her sparkling silver dress swaying like crystals on a chandelier. Some annoyed part of my conscience wondered if Jesse had dated Selena, too.

Somewhere, buried deep in the back of my mind, was the faint memory of overhearing Aly at the office saying something to another coworker about how Jesse dated around a lot and never stuck to one person for very long. When I'd heard the gossip, I'd tried to ignore it, chalking it up to just silly office gossip. How would Aly know? She hadn't dated Jesse. At least, I didn't think so.

I reluctantly allowed my subconscious to make the comparison of Jesse to my ex. Brad had been a womanizer, too. I'd found out after about a year of living back in Minneapolis that Brad had actually been cheating on me with six women at the same time, and that was just during the month I'd broken things off with him. I didn't want to believe that Jesse could still have feelings for Kate, but after being burned by Brad and knowing that most of his affluent friends were the same type of men with the same bad intentions, the idea was creeping into my head that maybe Jesse wasn't the Prince Charming I'd been trying to see him as.

A quick glance around the room lead me to go voice my frustration to Haley, who had been chatting away with yet another handsome doctor. She sure knew how to pick them. In fact, I was pretty sure she'd only dated one guy who hadn't been a doctor.

"I'm just going to borrow Haley for a moment," I told the man beside her, who was likely a good ten years older than her.

Haley followed me to the nearby bathroom and I was relieved to see we were the only ones in there.

"What's wrong, hun?" she looked concerned, crossing her arms and leaning against the lavatory.

"I just met the best friend of Jesse's ex-girlfriend, both of whom are absolute knockouts, and Jesse's been talking with his beautiful, perfect ex at the bar for like fifteen minutes, and I know I shouldn't be upset. It's probably nothing. But I'm upset, Haley. He looks so happy talking to her and Selena made it sound like they were this wonderful couple when they were together." I sputtered everything out in some haphazard mess that probably made zero sense to Haley, but she nodded and pulled me into a hug like she understood.

Haley had heard way too many times how I felt about dating again in general, much less dating an affluent man with supermodels for exes. I didn't have to say anymore.

"Maybe it's nothing," she said softly, rubbing my back and running her fingers through the back of my hair. "Maybe they're just talking and that's all it is. Maybe it's completely innocent."

"And what if it's not?" I sniffled, pulling away to wash my hands and attempt to tidy up my makeup. "It's hard for me to do this again, Haley. It was hard enough the first time. I don't want to get hurt again. I'd probably never trust another guy after that."

She shook her head and grabbed my shoulders, talking to me in the mirror while I stood at the sink. "You can't think like that, Vanessa. I understand why it's so far out of your comfort zone, but Jesse is not Brad. This isn't about him having a conversation with a hot ex. That's not what's really bothering you. This is about anything happening between you two that ends the relationship and then him turning out to be like post-relationship Brad, stalker Brad. That's what you're scared of."

I hung my head in disgust at the thought. She was right. Every word was accurate. I was scared of being stalked and harassed again.

Maybe it was the farthest reach into the realm of unlikely scenarios, and I really did believe that Jesse was a good guy – I'd seen plenty examples of that to believe it – but I couldn't shake the horrible wave of insecurity that was clawing at my emotions all the sudden. Between the post-traumatic flashbacks of Brad stalking me and the two gorgeous women talking to my boyfriend, somehow everything felt like it was threatening to fall apart before it had even gotten a chance to start.

"Am I being totally ridiculous?" I asked Haley in such a small voice, I barely heard myself. "Am I blowing things out of proportion?"

She looked solemnly at me and gave a halfhearted smile. "Vanessa, you've been through hell with an ex. The kind of hell that your doctors said would give you lifelong P.T.S.D. You don't just get passed that all the sudden because you moved to a new city and got a new job. I sincerely doubt Jesse is anything like Brad, but if you're concerned about this, be honest with him. Tell him how you're feeling and what's bothering you. If he is a good guy, he'll understand and he'll make an effort to work shit out."

I sucked in a deep breath and groaned in exhaustion. "I guess I need to woman up and go talk to him, huh?"

Haley gave a sympathetic nod and held the door open for me to walk out.

I made up my mind that I was going to steal Jesse away from the crowd right after his speech at dinner. I hoped the audience would be so wrapped up in bidding on luxury vacations that they wouldn't notice one of the main sponsors' absence.

Now, if I could just get my nerves in check...