Noelle looked into the large room filled with oceanic displays, fancily dressed people, and milling waiters. The Aquamarine Alliance had taken over an entire chamber of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for their fundraiser. With the blue lightning, food stations, and swarms of people, it should have been difficult to find anybody. Yet there he was. Her ex-boyfriend, Barry, was standing straight ahead by the devil ray display. Appropriate, she thought, for the devil. She’d known he’d be here. She’d even come up with a plan on how to handle the situation. Now that she was here, though, she didn’t know if she could go through with it. Adrenaline filled her, triggering solely her flight response. Instinctively, she stepped back – only to walk right into the man who was accompanying her. “Careful,” he said. Heat flared in her cheeks when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.
