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do.” And to prove it, he ordered the biggest strawberry shortcake she’d ever seen and proceeded to demolish it to the last crumb.
    He drove her back to her apartment. It wasn’t until he’d walked her to her door that she remembered Mary’s engagement party.
    â€œI forgot about Mary’s party!” she blurted out.
    â€œWho’s Mary?” He frowned.
    â€œA girl I’m friendly with at work. She’s just gotten engaged. There’s a party, and I’m supposed to be there.”
    â€œDo you want to go?”
    She sighed. “Not really, but I should. I’ll...”
    â€œCome on, then. It’s early. You can still go.”
    She hesitated. “With you?” she asked, her voice softer than she realized.
    He stopped and looked down at her, aware of a faint shift in their turbulent relationship. “Yes,” he said quietly. “With me.”
    Her breath had stopped somewhere south of her windpipe. She felt the ground going out from under her. She didn’t understand what was happening, and it was a little scary.
    Bowie seemed to know that, because he smiled, relieving some of the tension.
    â€œWill she mind if you bring an escort?” he asked.
    â€œOh, no, of course not. She’s wanted to meet you.” She hesitated. “If you don’t have anything else to do?” she probed delicately.
    He shook his head. “I came to see you.”
    She felt ridiculously pleased. She smiled shyly, unaware of the effect that smile had on her companion. “All right, then. She lives six blocks away, near the interstate ramp.”
    â€œThen let’s go.”
    He took her arm slowly, watching to see how she reacted. When she didn’t try to pull away, he let his hand slide down until it touched hers, and then his fingers caught hers and linked into them.
    She felt her breath catch. It was new and exciting to hold hands with him, although she tried not to read anything into it. Bowie was just being kind, she told herself.
    He drew her along with him. He liked that soft, slender hand in his. It made him feel twice as tall as he already was to hold it, but he didn’t really understand why. He and Gaby had never been friends. They were more like remote acquaintances, with Aggie their only common ground. But the more he saw of Gaby, the more she intrigued him.
    â€œYou’re sure you don’t mind?” she asked, as he put her in the car again.
    He glanced at her quietly. After a minute he cranked the engine. “No. I don’t mind.”
    But he didn’t say another word all the way to Mary’s house, and Gaby herself fell uncharacteristically silent. Just being near Bowie was suddenly dangerously exciting. She didn’t know why, and that was as disturbing as the new emotions that were curling around her like sensuous, seeking hands.

CHAPTER THREE
    M ARY LIVED WITH her fiancé, Ted, in a very nice suburb of Phoenix. The lights were blazing in the windows and music was drifting down to the street, where Bowie magically found a parking space, without even looking. Considering the number of cars, it looked as if Ted and Mary had invited every single person they knew in the world.
    â€œThey live together already?” Bowie asked, frowning as he looked down at her when he helped her out of the passenger side.
    â€œJust because you and I were raised with eighty-year-old attitudes doesn’t mean the rest of the world was,” she said with a rueful smile. “They’re engaged, and although it’s been a bit rocky, they’ve been together for a whole year. It’s a new world, Bowie.”
    He looked down at her. “When I care enough to live with a woman, I’ll care enough to give her my name first.”
    She stared into his black eyes, trying to imagine Bowie in love with a woman. He seemed completely self-contained on the surface—a man’s man with everything going for him, to whom a