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you thinking of proposing to Nikki?”
    His reaction was so extreme it was comical. His face went into a series of contortions and his hand came out. “No. No, no, no. She brought it up, which means she is way more into this relationship than I thought, which means I have to break up with her, which I hate to do, because I don’t like hurting anyone’s feelings. But the truth is, Nikki and I have nothing in common. Except for one thing, really.”
    “Sex?”
    Ty grinned. “Yeah. I love that you just threw it straight out there.”
    Well, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, and Imogen, while considering herself shy, had always been curious enough to be direct with people. She got more information that way and, most of the time, was unable to resist the urge to pry a little in her quest to understand the people around her.
    “It seemed logical to me that sexual attraction was what drew you to each other.”
    He shot her a funny look, like he was trying to read her expression and couldn’t. “Yeah, that always seemed to work out pretty well for us. As for conversation or hanging out together, well, we were always stumbling a bit there, you know? So why the hell she thinks she wants to be stuck with me day in, day out in a marriage is beyond me.”
    Imogen thought it was damn obvious. Nikki wanted the prestige and money of being a race car driver’s wife. But it seemed incredibly rude to point that out to Ty, especially if he hadn’t figured it out on his own already. “Maybe she’s in love with you.”
    Ty gave a laugh and stuck his index finger out at her. “Now that’s funny. That girl has more genuine affection for her shoes than for me.”
    She couldn’t tell if he was just stating a fact, or if it bothered him that Nikki wasn’t emotionally invested in him. So she made light of it. “Good shoes are really hard to find.”
    “Look at you, calling up your inner smart-ass.” Ty grinned at her. “I like that from you.”
    “Well, it’s true.” Imogen smiled back at him. “When you’re shoe shopping, there are all these choices but it’s so hard to find the perfect pair. They don’t match your outfit right, or they’re too casual or too dressy, or they’re out of your price range. The store is out of your size, or they pinch your toes or rub your heels or give you blisters or make your feet sweat. The heel is too high or too low, or they make your ankles look fat.”
    “You’re scaring me,” he said. “This only goes to show that women spend far too much time worrying about a whole lot of nothing.”
    She wanted to laugh, but she wasn’t finished making her point, so she added, “It’s important because shoes affect the way a woman feels when she steps out of her house. No single pair of shoes covers the gamut of outfits in your closet. Not even close. So you need at least a half-dozen pairs to cover most of what you wear on a daily basis. Which makes me wonder if women should do the same with men. Have a different one for each of her moods.”
    The laugh that Ty gave was full and genuine and made Imogen smile back at him.
    “Now there’s an idea,” he said. “So what mood would I be? Casual Friday?”
    No, he would be for the days when she wanted to play porn star, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud. “I imagine it depends on the woman who might want to wear you.”
    She didn’t mean that to be suggestive, but the moment the words left her lips, she knew it would sound that way, and it did. Ty’s eyes darkened and his eyebrow went up.
    Imogen spoke again before he could because she wasn’t sure she was prepared to hear what might come out of his mouth. “I think that for Nikki, you would be her high heels. What she wants to wear when she wants attention and to feel good about herself.”
    Maybe that wasn’t true. After all, what did she really know about Nikki and her true emotions and motivations? But given what Imogen had seen and heard from the