Back off, buddy, Alex snarled in his thoughts, but he could see why Nina had married the creep. Big, handsome, rich, successful. He set his jaw. It was time he stopped being up-and-coming and came.

That made him think of Nina again. He couldn't lose her. "It's time I got my act together," he told Max. "Started a secure life. Nina deserves it."

"Have you discussed this with her?" Max said. "She may not give a damn about the money."

Alex set his jaw. "I give a damn. She's going to have everything she had before." He clapped Max on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, by the way. You were right."

"I'm always right," Max said. "Which advice?" When Alex laughed and began to walk away, Max added, "Well, here's some more. I think you should talk to Nina about this cardiology thing. You know, she left the guy with the money the last time."

"I know what I'm doing, Max," Alex said over his shoulder. "She's going to have everything."

"Whether she wants it or not?" Max called after him, and Alex ignored him.

He had enough qualms about what he was doing. He didn't need Max adding more.


* * *

"Late night?" Jessica said brightly when Nina staggered into the office two hours late.

Nina nodded. "I was, uh, up with a friend."

"Lucky you," Jessica said, and Nina started, not quite sure she'd heard such a non-beige comment from her boss. "How's Charity's book coming along?" Jessica added, and Nina caught an underlying note of tension in her voice.

"She's in rewrite," Nina said. "I should have it edited within a couple of weeks." She swallowed. "I can show it to you then. There are a few things-"

"No." Jessica held up her hand. "You don't need to discuss it with me. I trust you. In fact, I don't even need to read it at all."

Nina gaped at her. Jessica read everything that went out from Howard Press, not because she didn't trust her editors but because she loved the Press and its books. Something was wrong here.

"You did say you thought it was going to be popular, didn't you?" Jessica asked, and this time her intensity was unmistakable.

The wolf must be at the door. And judging from her intense interest, Jessica must be hoping that she could throw Charity's book at it and scare it away.

"I think it's going to be very popular," Nina said.

Jessica nodded. "Well, then. Not that popularity matters, of course."

Nina nodded. "Of course not."

When Jessica had gone back to her office, Nina collapsed into her chair and thought about the situation.

Jessica knew there were going to be things in Charity's book that she wasn't going to like.

Jessica needed a bestseller.

So Jessica was going to ignore the book until it was published, and then tell people, "Well, I hadn't actually seen the book before it went to press so I was surprised, of course, but it's doing very well for us, so…"

But Jessica didn't know that the book had turned into fiction. Howard Press didn't print fiction.

Nina thought about the problem from all the angles. What it came down to was that Jessica had stuck her head in the sand, so it was Nina's decision. And Nina's decision was that it was time for Howard Press to print fiction.

She took a deep breath and called Charity. "When can you have that book done?"

"The end of the week," Charity said. "It's going like wildfire now that it's fiction."

"Shhhhhh!" Nina hissed. "Good. Get it to me this weekend. This is going to be the fastest edit any book ever had. We want this out fast."

"Why?"

"Because you're going to save our butts, babe," Nina told her. "Write good."

"I am," Charity said. "What's wrong with you? You sound like you're on speed."

"My life has been very exciting lately," Nina said.

"It'd be a lot more exciting if you'd go downstairs and jump Alex," Charity said.

"I did."

"What? Oh, for joy, for joy, for joy!" The phone bumped and Nina pictured Charity doing a modified bunny hop around the boutique, Charity's time-honored method of showing happiness beyond expression. Charity came back on the line. "This is so great! This is beyond great!" Then her voice grew cautious. "It was great, wasn't it?"

"The earth moved, the stars wept and the sun turned cartwheels 'cross the sky," Nina said. "The greatest sex since time began."

Charity moaned. "Oh, terrific, now I'm jealous."

"He has a brother," Nina suggested. "Looks just like him except with dark hair."

Charity snorted. "Max. Him I've met. No thanks."

"Well, you can't have Alex," Nina said. "He's mine." Then she realized what she'd just said and stopped.

"Oh," Charity said. "Like that, is it?"

"Probably not," Nina said, but when Alex came home that night, it was exactly like that.

"This is not just a two-night stand," he told her sternly when they were lying exhausted on her hall floor, having made love inside her door because they couldn't wait to get to her bedroom. "We have a future."

"A future," Nina echoed, still trying to regroup her senses after orgasm. "Futures are good."

"You, me and Fred," Alex said. "Forever. Except from now on we find something softer to do this on or my knees will be shot."

"Okay," Nina said. "A future, huh?"

"I know what you're thinking." Alex sat up, and Nina watched the muscles in his back flex and thought, If you knew what I was thinking, you 'd be back down here with me.

"You're thinking I'm not responsible enough for you," Alex went on. "That I can't give you the life Guy gave you."

Nina sat up. "I don't want-"

Alex put his hand over her mouth. "I know you'd never say anything about the money, but it's important to me. I want you to have everything.''

Nina peeled his hand away. "I have everything."

Alex ignored her. "So I told Dad I'd take the cardiology position."

Nina blinked. "I thought you didn't want it. I thought you wanted the ER. I thought-"

"This is what I want," Alex said, and Nina shut up.

Great. He was going to be a cardiologist. A lifetime of cocktail parties and conventions stretched before her. Fund-raising for the cardiac unit. Opening nights. All the garbage she thought she'd escaped when she left Guy. All starting all over again.

And that was the worst part. It was starting all over again. She'd helped Guy build a career, and now she got to build another one. If she'd stayed with Guy, at least she wouldn't have had to do this garbage all over again.

Then she looked at Alex and felt terrible. It wasn't his fault she was a retread. If she'd been in her twenties instead of her forties, she'd be champing at the bit to help him out. If this was the price she had to pay for loving Alex, it was worth it. Alex was worth anything.

Even wearing that damn Incredibra for the rest of her life.

"Great," she told him. "This is great."


* * *

"Charity, this book is really great," she said two weeks later when she and Charity were sitting on the living-room floor drinking Amaretto milk shakes, celebrating this time. "I had to do practically no editing. It's wonderful. It's tight and it flows and it's funny and the sex scenes are incredible. I read one to Alex last night, and he jumped me."

"You could read the phone book to Alex and he'd jump you," Charity told her.

"Not necessarily," Nina said, and Charity stopped with her milk shake halfway to her mouth.

"Uh-oh," she said. "Trouble in paradise?"

"He's working with his father," Nina said. "Getting ready for this cardiology thing. Long hours. He's a little tired." Actually, he'd fallen asleep in front of the TV before Harrison Ford had found the Holy Grail. She'd tried to be understanding, but it was definitely a bad sign.

Charity nodded. "Kenneth."

Nina closed her eyes and groaned. "Don't say that. I want this to work."

"It will." Charity slurped some of her milk shake. "That's what I found out writing this book. I gave up on him too fast. We might have made it work. I mean, he was a great guy, he was just trying to start a big career."

Nina thought about Alex. "I'm sure you're right." Then she realized what Charity had said. "Are you sorry you divorced Kenneth?"

Charity shook her head. "Nope. That was years ago now. I'm going forward. But I've learned from it. The next guy I hook up with is going to be my last. My Raoul."

Nina's thoughts went back to Alex. "It's not just the sleeping. He's drinking too much."

"Alex? He doesn't seem like the drunk type."

"He's not." Nina bit her lip. "His brother shows up four or five nights a week with a six-pack and they split it. And then they both look at the empty cans the way Fred looks at an empty Oreo wrapper."

Charity scowled. "Well, there's your explanation. It's his brother."

Nina shook her head. "No, it's not. Max is a good guy. In fact, Max is a great guy. The rest of Alex's family is sort of cold, but Max has been great from the start."

"Sort of cold? You didn't tell me you met his family."

"We had dinner." Nina's face twisted as she remembered. "His father looked at me and said, 'We were hoping Alex would have children.'"

Charity winced. "Ouch. What did Alex say?"

"He said, 'No, we weren't,' and Max said, 'Can I get you a drink, Nina?' and Max's mom did something to his dad and he sort of flinched and shut up. But it was ugly. And then there was the dinner with my family."

"Oh, boy. How is your mother? Still flash-frozen?"