Chapter 1

Laughter erupted around the table. Someone slapped a hand against it and shouted, "Tessa, you're really going there this year?"

Another guest already had a phone out, the camera trained on us.

For the first time, I stopped playing along.

Xavier Dalton had been peeling shrimp for me, but his fingers went still halfway through, as though even he hadn't expected Tessa Mercer to choose him.

She rested her chin on one hand and winked at me. "It's only twenty-four hours. You never had a problem lending me your camera or your car."

I slid the plate of shrimp back in front of Xavier and met her eyes. "No."

The room went quiet so fast it was almost jarring.

Tessa paused, then smiled again. "Getting possessive?"

"He's a person, not something for you to play with." My voice came out sharper than before.

Instead of answering me, she looked past me at Xavier. "What if Xavier's willing?"

My heart sank.

He didn't laugh it off or tell her she was being ridiculous. He simply pulled out a wet napkin, wiped his fingers one by one, then looked at me.

"I'll just spend the day with her."

For a moment, I thought I'd misheard him. "Say that again."

His brows drew together. "Yvonne, it's a birthday game. Don't make this awkward for everyone."

Heat rushed straight to my head. "I already said no. Why should I care if anyone else feels awkward?"

Tessa's smile faded. "Forget it. I'll choose something else."

She reached for the car keys on the table, but Xavier got to his own first. He closed his hand around them, stood, and picked up his coat.

"Come on," he said to Tessa.

I grabbed his wrist so hard that my chair toppled behind me and hit the floor.

"Xavier, what exactly are you doing?"

He looked down at my hand, my knuckles white where I gripped him. "You've always been happy to lend her whatever she wanted. Just think of it as me spending her birthday with her."

"It's my birthday too."

My voice had started to shake.

"You're going with her and leaving me here?"

Something flickered across Xavier's face.

Tessa gave his arm a light tug. "Yvonne's really upset. You should stay."

Her considerate tone scraped across my chest like a dull blade.

Xavier only frowned harder. "She's been spoiled rotten."

Then he peeled my fingers from his wrist one at a time.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

The sudden emptiness in my palm made me freeze.

I watched the two of them leave side by side. Just before the door swung shut, Tessa glanced back and mouthed, "Twenty-four hours."

No one at the table dared laugh after that.

I snatched up my purse and ran after them, but the elevator doors were already closing. Through the last narrow gap, I saw Xavier bend his head and smooth the hair that had been mussed beneath Tessa's shoulder strap.

The gesture came so easily to him that my stomach churned.

Back home, I threw my phone onto the coffee table and held out for half an hour before calling Xavier anyway.

It rang three times before Tessa picked up.

Music thundered in the background, tangled with the laughter of men and women.

"Yvonne?"

My grip tightened around the phone. "Put Xavier on."

She laughed softly. "Once you've lent something out, you can't ask for it back halfway through."

"Give him the phone."

Somewhere behind her, I heard Xavier's muffled voice.

Tessa brought the phone closer instead. "Did you forget our rules?"

She paused.

"You broke them."

Then she hung up.

I stayed on the couch until dawn began to pale the windows.

Xavier never came home, and he didn't send a single message.

I washed my face twice, but the eyes staring back at me from the mirror were still badly swollen.

We'd been married five years. Even on business trips, the first thing he did after landing was text me to say he'd arrived safely. Now he was somewhere in the same city, and I had no idea where.

In the end, I didn't call again.

If he'd decided to lend himself out, then I'd wait and see how he planned to come back.