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completely destroy her.
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    Cami watched Duke walk away and for a moment stood frozen in place. Time flashed in hermind. She was once again a teenager watching the most popular boy in school tease her with smiles and flirting before callously humiliating her by making her the butt of a tasteless joke.
    It wasn’t the most devastating thing to have ever happened to her, but it ranked right up in the top three. The doors slid shut and the car resumed its downward journey. She wanted to break down, but she knew she still had to pass Shelly. Cami bit her lip and ignored the pain. Her office was so close.
    She wanted to huddle on the floor in a ball and pretend that life worked out the way it did in books and movies. In her heart she knew differently. An attractive man like Duke Merchon would never be interested in her—not really. She didn’t understand why he’d kissed her—why he’d rocked her world on its axis and then ripped away her safety net. She didn’t want to know.
    The doors opened onto her floor and she hurried down the hall in a daze. She sucked in deep breaths and blinked furiously to keep the tears from falling. Shelly was away from her desk.
    Thank you, God.
    The last thing she wanted to do was to explain anything so private to her secretary—especially that she’d thought for a minute a man might be attracted to her. Cami entered her office and shut the door, sinking to the floor right there. She rested her head on her knees but couldn’t cry. Crying was the wimpy thing to do and she refused to surrender to the weakness.
    Gabriella’s smiling face stared down at her fromthe gilt frame on her bookshelf. The past had taught her that every time she tried to step out of her shell it backfired. She remembered her high school graduation, dressed to the nines in a designer dress Gaby had helped her pick out and overhearing a comment made by one of her mother’s friends. “It’s a shame Gabriella got all the looks in the family. I always thought Cami would bloom the way the Ugly Duckling did.”
    Horrified, Cami had retreated. She was ashamed to realize she was still running from that. She stood and glanced at the clock. It was five and time to go home. She needed to be in her haven so she could find her perspective and regain her equilibrium. Grabbing her briefcase and purse, she left her office. A group of her co-workers were on the elevator, and she tried to smile at them the way she always did. Cami must have been successful because no one appeared to notice her. They never noticed her, she thought.
    She stood in the shadow of the building, trying to remember where she’d parked her car. The nondescript brown car was about as exciting as she. It fitted her to a tee.
    People exited the building and funneled slowly out to their vehicles, but Cami couldn’t move. For the first time in a long time, she saw herself clearly. She realized who she was. The reality hurt far more than a man brushing aside an embrace that had shattered her world. She knew she had to make some decisions about her life. But would she be strong enough to carry them out?
    â€œCami?”
    Duke.
    Damn. Why hadn’t she at least entered the parking lot to search for the ugly car?
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAren’t you going to look at me?”
    No. She didn’t want to look at him ever again and glanced over her shoulder. She wanted to wallow in her anger and self-pity.
    â€œWhere’s your car? I’ll walk you to it.”
    Additional humiliation she couldn’t handle right now. “I can get there on my own.”
    He grunted. Why did men make strange sounds that weren’t words but were meant to communicate? Her father made the same noise when she’d exasperated him. Had she exasperated Duke?
    She stepped off the curb and walked as if she knew where she was going. The left side of the lot was almost empty, and she didn’t see her car. She glanced