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I’d forgotten you?” I smiled sadly. “I never forgot you, Bax.”
    We sat silently as the chatter swirled around us and realization crept over Baxter’s face. “I should have called, Jaz. I should have come back home to find out what was happening instead of shutting you out. I could have stayed in Boston.” His voice was hoarse with emotion as he pulled me in until our foreheads met.
    “I wouldn’t have let you. One of us had to have a chance of making it, of performing on Broadway. It was what we both dreamed of.”
    “Well, I think that someone will be you, Jazzy.” He kissed my knuckles, his lips lingering and making my face flush. “You’re an amazing dancer.”
    “You two, you’re not eating!”
    A plate of meatballs was thrust in our faces as more food was squeezed onto the already overflowing table.
    “No, really, I couldn’t eat anything more.” I placed my hand over my stomach to indicate my belly was full.
    “Of course not.” Lucia smiled. “You have to watch that tiny body of yours.” Her smile was fast becoming a sneer. “Baxter eats like one of us. We love our food; we don’t pick at lettuce leaves.”
    “Excuse me?” My hackles were up. What was she trying to do? Alienate me from everyone else because I couldn’t shovel in my body-weight’s worth of pasta?
    “Actually I’m full, too,” Baxter chimed in. “We’ve eaten way too much.” He leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms over his head. “I think we might”—his eyes darted in my direction for a split second—“head upstairs, for coffee.”
    I felt the air around me chill as Lucia stiffened. “What’s upstairs?” I asked.
    Baxter ran his hand through his hair. “My apartment.”
    So that was why Lucia wasn’t happy; Baxter was inviting me to his place. I turned to her and looked her in the eye. “Does he have a coffee machine?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
    Her eyes smoldered. “Yes, he does, and he makes a wonderful espresso.”
    Bitch! What did that mean exactly? Had she been upstairs to his apartment?
    Baxter’s chair scraped back, signaling it was time to make a move. I stood too, as nervous butterflies took flight once again. I turned and was rendered speechless by Baxter’s captive gaze. He may have said we were going upstairs for coffee, but I knew that look in his eyes, and it wasn’t coffee he was thinking of. My heart thumped against my chest, his eyes betraying him as they always did.
    I wondered if he’d looked at Lucia with those same lustful eyes that could undress you and leave you a quivering mess. Had she been taken upstairs for the same coffee that Baxter was offering me?
    Looking back down at her, the jealously in her eyes and firm set of her jaw told me that maybe she had. Maybe up until Baxter and I had bumped into each other this morning, she had been the one going upstairs for coffee.
    “Thank you so much for dinner. It was wonderful, as always,” Baxter told his New York family as he took my hand.
    The entire group stood, and we spent the next ten minutes being kissed and hugged goodnight before we finally managed to escape through a red door that led to a narrow staircase leading up to Baxter’s.
    “Wow, they all seem so lovely.” I perched on the edge of the couch, my legs jiggling anxiously.
    “Even Lucia?” Baxter gave me a cheeky grin over his shoulder as he made himself busy at the coffee machine.
    So coffee really did mean coffee.
    “Hmm, not so much Lucia.” I bit my lip, debating what to say next. “Is there something going on between you two?”
    “Would it bother you if there was?” He shot me a look over his shoulder.
    Suddenly the wallpaper was extremely interesting as I studied the faded pattern to avoid his scrutiny. “It wouldn’t be my business if you were—”
    “We’re not, Jaz. Never have. Not going to happen.”
    “Really?” I could always tell when Baxter was bending the truth. The little crinkle of his nose gave him away every time.