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“They sound awesome. How many brothers and sisters do you have?”
They strolled around the corner, heading toward the front room of the gallery. “Two sisters. They’re both older.”
“Ha! I should have known you were the baby. You’re so charming and cute.”
“Cute, huh? I think I’ve been downgraded.”
“Unfortunately, you’re all those things. Gorgeous, cute, sweet, sexy. Leave something for the other guys, Gabe.”
He shook his head. “Is this another tactic to get into my pants? Blatant flattery?”
“It is if it’s working,” she said with a grin. The grin snapped to a flat line and her eyes narrowed suddenly. Gabe followed her gaze to a man who was approaching them through the wide corridor that connected the two rooms.
“Roni!” the guy called. “It’s been a long time.”
“Hi, Dillon,” she said. “It’s Veronica now.” Gabe was shocked at how low her voice had gone. Not shy, really, but...cool.
“Right. Veronica. I can’t believe I haven’t seen you since you got back to town. You look great. Really different.”
Gabe watched as her cheeks went red. She looked away, her fingers tightening around the stem of the glass. “Thanks,” she muttered.
“I read your column. Amazing stuff. New York was really good for you.”
“Yeah,” she said. “It was a blast.”
The guy cleared his throat and then turned to Gabe to introduce himself. Gabe shook his hand but kept his introduction brief. Veronica clearly didn’t like this guy.
Dillon nodded as if someone had said something. “Anyway, how’s Jason? I haven’t seen him since he came to town on a ski trip a few years ago. I hear he’s in San Francisco now.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Veronica said. She stared down at her glass again. Bit her lip. She shifted a little closer to Gabe, and he put his arm around her instinctively.
“You don’t keep in touch?” Dillon asked, sounding surprised.
“Why would I?” She looked up and stared the man straight in the face, her shoulder stiffening under Gabe’s hand. “He really wasn’t very nice to me, was he?”
The guy frowned and lowered his voice. “Hey, that was just kid stuff,” he said. “High school. You know?”
She nodded and seemed to lose whatever emotion had straightened her spine. She shifted toward Gabe again. He pulled her to his side and squeezed her shoulder. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but not here. Not in front of this guy. Dillon seemed harmless enough, but Gabe had to fight the sudden urge to punch him in the face for no reason.
“Yeah,” she finally agreed. “It was a long time ago. Have a good night, Dillon.”
“You, too. Nice to see you again. You look great.”
Dillon nodded a goodbye to Gabe and moved back to the group he’d been standing with before. He said something to his date and the woman glanced over at Veronica in surprise.
“Are you okay?” Gabe murmured.
“I’m fine,” she said, but she didn’t shift away from him and he could feel the tightness of her body.
“Let’s go this way,” he said, turning her around to head back the way they’d come. He guided them toward a far corner of the temporary bar. When they got there, he took her hand.
“Hey, what’s going on? Who was that guy?”
“No one,” she said. “Someone I went to school with.”
“Who’s Jason? An ex-boyfriend?”
She shook her head, then drained her champagne glass. Gabe took the empty glass from her and set it on the bar, but he kept her hand in his.
