Page 93 of The Rules

“Of course.”

With the pleasantries over, Josh launched into Twenty Questions regarding the project timeline and vision. Josh was playing both parts tonight with Dylan having forgotten everything he was there to do and anything he might have to say. He’d have to thank Josh later.

He was still spacing out thinking about his future of solitude when Cat placed her hand on the inside of his arm.

He looked down at her red fingernails digging into his jacket, then at her face. It wasn’t smiling. “Can we dance?” she asked, tightening her grip.

“Um.” Dylan glanced at Josh who seemed to have the job conversation under control. “Is this a trick?”

“It’s not a trick.”

“Okay.”

Cat brushed her fingers over Josh’s chest and they had one of their silent conversations, then she linked her arm through Dylan’s and tugged him toward the ballroom.

There were a handful of people dancing. The gold and white tiles of the dance floorwere glitzy and over the top and everyone around them had a look of elation on their faces like they were extras in a movie.

He took Cat’s hand, letting her settle into his arms. He was thankful for the distance her pregnant belly forced them, as he had a nagging fear she just wanted to get him close enough to kick him in the balls. “You look adorable, Kit Cat,” he said. He meant it, even if he had a motive. The color had returned to her cheeks and her belly was a perfectly round little bump.

“Don’t flatter me, Dylan. I’m mad as hell at you.”

So itwasa trick. “Okay.”

“Just explain something to me,” she said. “Why Dani? Why my best friend?”

Dylan let out a sigh. “Cat—”

“I mean you could have picked anyone else to practice being in a relationship.”

He huffed. “I’ve had other relationships. Monogamous ones.”

“Monogamous doesn’t mean committed. Monogamous means you’re not fucking anyone else at the moment. Committed means you don’t want to.”

“I didn’t want to,” he pleaded. “I wasn’t. I’m not now. It was never about anyone else.”

Cat narrowed her eyes, making the dark freckles on her cheeks pop. She looked like a terrifying little doll. “I went to bat for you,” she said. “Sonya was all: ‘Dylan will never change’, but I stuck up for you. I said you could.” She poked her finger into his chest and Dylan glanced around, wondering if the other guests were watching. He did actually have to be professional here. “Dani believed you were better than what you show the rest of the world. I believed it too.”

That one hit its mark. His shoulders sagged, and Cat pulled her hand away from his chest and pressed it to her belly, a grimace crossing her face.

“You all right?”

“Yes.” She looked over her shoulder at Josh. “I need to eat something, and I’m very, very mad.”

“If I take you over to the hors d’oeuvres, can we knock it down to just one very?”

“Dylan—” She took a deep breath through her nose, and her face softened as she let it back out. “We can take it down to one very. I think you should call her.”

Dylan steered Cat toward one of the waiters, and Cat used his hand as a plate, arranging canapes on a napkin on his flattened palm. “I left her a voicemail last week,” he said. “It wasn’t the first.”

“You did?” Cat’s eyes popped in surprise, but she quickly recovered. “Well, I’m sure she’ll consider whatever you had to say. I hope it was good.”

Cat had turned on her lawyer voice, and his sounded unsteady in comparison. “She hasn’t called back, or answered any of my texts.”

Cat chewed a bite-sized cracker and went back for more. “I’m not sure she will, Dylan. Dani is stubborn. But…” She sighed and patted his chest. “You are too, I suppose. If you could get on the same page, I think you’d make a great match. You could be stubborn for each other. Hey, baby.”

Josh appeared at Cat’s shoulder and plucked a bacon-wrapped scallop from Dylan’s hand. He pretended to eat it but held it to Cat’s mouth at the last minute. She giggled, batting her eyes. Instead of the vague sense of nausea Dylan usually got when he witnesses those little moments, his chest felt tight with longing. The entire world had flipped.

“Everything okay over here?” Josh asked, his gaze bouncing back and forth.

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