Chapter 1

Six years together, and Marlin Carr and I did everything but kiss.

He wouldn't share a set of utensils with me, wouldn't eat from the same slice of cake, even insisted on serving spoons at home.

Because, he said, the mouth is one of the most bacteria-dense parts of the body.

So I kept up with dental care, ate clean, worked out harder.

A checkup every month, always at my best.

And still he wouldn't allow it.

Until the drinks that night at the class reunion, when we started playing truth or dare.

The bottle pointed at Edith Hardy, seated beside me, and the card she drew read:

【Kiss the nearest man for three seconds, full-body contact, no pulling away. Refuse and drink three glasses.】

And the man beside her happened to be Marlin Carr.

I reached for the glass, ready to spare her, but the next second Marlin turned and kissed her.

The whole room froze.

Time up, and Marlin's mouth curved into a smile.

"It's a game. Rules are rules. No sense ruining everyone's fun."

My hand went still on the glass, my eyes on his shifting throat and Edith's flushed face, and I drank down everything in the cup.

Then I pulled off my engagement ring, threw it on the table, and said to him.

"I'm done playing this game."

"And I don't want you either."

1

The ring spun twice on the table and rolled under the cabinet.

The air locked up for a beat before someone jumped in to smooth it over.

"Sophia Matthews, come on, is it really that serious?"

"You and Marlin have been together six years. We've all been waiting to toast at your wedding."

"Right, it's a really common thing overseas!"

They pressed in from every side, and every word said the same thing: I was making too big a deal of it.

But only I knew what that kiss meant.

It was the one thing I'd never gotten in all these years, no matter how many reports I produced, how many tricks I tried.

And with him and Edith, it was somehow just a common courtesy.

"Stop it, all of you!"

Edith cut in, her voice catching, her eyes going red.

"Sophia, this is my fault today. I shouldn't have sat next to Marlin."

"Don't be angry. I'll go find your ring right now."

She dropped to the floor in a panic, reaching under the cabinet for the ring.

She was in a short skirt, and every wide, scrambling motion flashed the safety shorts underneath.

Most of the room was men, and their eyes kept sliding that way.

I kept mine fixed on Marlin's face.

Watched it go from calm, to a slight pinch of the brow, to a shout.

"Enough!"

He stripped off his jacket, tied it around Edith's waist, and pulled her up.

Then his sharp gaze met mine.

"Sophia, does it feel good, backing everyone into a corner like this?"

Six years together, and even in a fight, Marlin never lost his temper with me in front of others, never once made me look small in a crowd.

But today he'd done it twice.

Both times over the same person.

Something tightened in my chest, and I let out a scornful little laugh.

"I'm making a scene?"

"So my fiancé locking lips with the woman who used to chase him, that's the fun part, is it?"

Everyone here knew how hard Edith had chased him back then.

From paper cranes to designer gifts.

Ads all over the city, from taxi rooftops to shopping malls.

Every campus for miles knew about that grand, out-in-the-open crush.

But Marlin never budged. Turned her down clearly every time, buried in his studies and every major competition.

Junior year, Edith sang a love song at the school gala, and the next day she vanished for good.

People who knew said her father lost out in the family power struggle, got sidelined by his brothers, and to cut off her resources they shipped her overseas.

Watching his eyes drop, I gripped my bag tighter and laughed softly.

"You two go on."

"As for why the wedding's off, you can explain that to your parents yourself."

At the words "wedding's off," something like panic crossed Marlin's face, and he took an instinctive step forward.

"Sophia!"

Edith's sob came right on cue, pulling his attention back.

I walked out in my heels, and behind me came his voice, gentle as anything.

"Edith, don't cry. It's bad for you."

Out in the night, I flagged a taxi and gave the address, and the moment I took out my phone, a message from my best friend Greta Lyons popped up.

【This guy's back in the post, why does it look so much like your man?】

I opened the link, and one line hit me.

【Eight years later, we've finally kept our promise of a first kiss to each other.】

The photo was Marlin from behind, shrugging off his jacket.

The way he'd stammered this morning when I wondered aloud why I was the only one who hadn't gotten a reunion invite came back to me, and all at once it made sense.

So much for truth or dare.

So much for overseas courtesy.

The truth was I had never been part of this game at all.

The only leading lady was Edith.

I leaned back against the seat and watched the dim yellow streetlight filter in through the branches.

Six years. What a joke.