The Engagement Project / Her Surprise Hero: The Engagement Project / Her Surprise Hero. Abby Gaines
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settle down with.”
“What does that say about the type of women you’ve dated?”
“None except one,” he clarified.
She wiped her fingers on a paper napkin, then dropped it on her plate. “It still seems a little drastic to me,” she warned.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“Then I’ll wish you luck.”
He appreciated the sentiment, but he didn’t need luck.
What he needed was to figure out a way to convince Megan to go along with his plan.
One of the reasons Paige went into her office on Saturdays was for the quiet. With the answering service handling all of the calls and most of the other lawyers and support staff away, she was able to focus on her work and catch up on anything that had slid during the week while she was busy with court appearances and settlement conferences and client meetings.
In each successive year since she’d started at Wain-wright, Witmer & Wynne, she’d been given more clients and greater responsibilities. She enjoyed the work and believed she was providing an important service to her clients, many of whom were too emotionally distraught by the breakdown of their marriages to think clearly about their rights and entitlements. But the side effect of her professional success was personal disillusionment with respect to marital relationships.
This realization was weighing heavily on her mind as she drove out of the parking lot beside her building and spotted Trevor Byden walking down the street. Going to work, she assumed, since her cousin’s fiancé’s office was a few blocks north of her own.
But then she saw him stop to talk to a woman who had come from the other direction, and take the grocery bags she carried. The woman smiled and rose up to kiss him—full on the lips.
The honk of a horn alerted Paige to the fact that she was stopped at a green light. She tore her gaze away from the disturbing scene and pulled through the intersection. As she merged with the traffic on the highway, she began to doubt what she had seen.
Maybe it hadn’t been Trevor.
It couldn’t have been Trevor.
Because Trevor was engaged to Ashley and she trusted that he was in love with and faithful to her cousin.
Still, she thought about what she’d seen the entire way home, and considered whether or not to mention it to Ashley.
But what could she say?
“I saw a man who I thought was Trevor kissing another woman?”
Because the truth was, she’d caught a glimpse of his profile, and the sense of recognition combined with the proximity to his office had made her think he was her cousin’s fiancé.
She wasn’t 100 percent certain the man was Trevor and she couldn’t tell Ashley it was, not without proof.
And she didn’t want any proof. She wanted to believe Trevor was truly devoted to Ashley.
But as a family-law attorney, she’d dealt with far too many cheating spouses. Whether infidelity was the cause or effect of the marriage breakdown wasn’t her judgment to make, she only knew that, far too often, there was a third party involved. And she was determined to ensure that Ashley not end up an unhappy statistic.
If it wasn’t Trevor that she’d seen, then her cousin’s fiancé had nothing to worry about. If it was Trevor—
No, Paige refused to acknowledge the possibility. She wanted to believe that her cousin’s fiancé was one of the good guys, because she needed to believe that there were at least some of them left in the world.
Over the next few weeks, Megan and Gage spent a lot of time together. Most of it at the lab, as the clinical trial for Fedentropin finally got under way and they both put in a lot of overtime hours, but they began to hang out after work, as well, frequently going somewhere to grab a bite to eat or, if they’d ordered in at the lab, just for a drink to chat and unwind. It was never anything formal or fancy—certainly nothing that she would say qualified as a date—but she believed they were becoming friends.
So Gage’s invitation to a barbecue at his parents’ house didn’t seem any more significant than any other meal and more shared conversation. Until she made the mistake of mentioning it to Ashley and Paige at one of their scheduled Friday night get-togethers.
It was Paige’s night to cook, which meant actual home cooking. When it was Ashley’s turn, they usually ate something that advertised “from freezer to oven to table” on the box, while Megan generally opted for pizza or Chinese or something else that could be delivered.
Paige was putting the finishing touches on her lasagna when Megan told them of her plans for the following night.
“He’s taking you home to meet his parents,” Ashley said, and while the statement wasn’t inaccurate, there was something in the way she said it that made Megan think the words were all in capital letters and flashing lights.
“He invited me to a barbecue at their house,” Megan clarified. “It’s not a big deal. His brother’s family will be there, too.”
“The extended family,” Paige said, in the same capital letters, flashing lights tone.
“It’s not a big deal,” Megan said again.
“Who are you trying to convince?”
“Gage said it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Because he didn’t want you to get all freaked out about it,” Ashley guessed.
“Or maybe because it’s really not a big deal.”
“Are you that oblivious?” Paige asked her.
Megan frowned. “Oblivious to what?”
Ashley shook her head. “How long have you been dating now?”
“We’re not dating.”
Paige sprinkled grated cheese on top of the sauce. “You’ve been going out together after work at least two or three times a week. What would you call it?”
“Going out with a coworker after work,” Megan insisted stubbornly.
“But when that coworker is a sexy, single guy whose kisses pack enough heat to melt the polar ice caps, it’s called dating.”
“I might have to agree with you if I’d been getting any of those kisses.”
Now it was Ashley’s turn to frown. “You haven’t?”
Megan shook her head.
“All of those nights you’ve spent together?” Paige pressed.
“Nada.”
“What is wrong with that man?”
“Nothing’s wrong with him—he just doesn’t see me as anything more than a friend. Which is why I’m certain this dinner at his parents’ isn’t a big deal.”
“He hasn’t kissed you once?” Paige asked incredulously, not able to get past that fact.
“Not since Ashley and Trevor’s engagement party.”
“That does put a different spin on things,” her cousin mused.
“Maybe he’s just taking it slow,” Ashley suggested.
“Or maybe he just wants to be friends,” Megan said again, still unwilling to let herself hope they could be anything more.
It was a Friday night and instead of being out on a date or watching a game with some friends, Gage was surrounded by females. While he generally appreciated women of all shapes and sizes, he felt decidedly out of his element and outnumbered with his four nieces.
It was only supposed to be for a few hours, while