All three of her friends had skidded to a halt in the hallway, and Emma peered around them to see why.
She promptly felt her stomach drop to the floor.
Suddenly, Camille’s smirk on that day she’d offered Emma the apartment made a lot more sense.
This wasn’t about setting Emma up with Benedict. The blind date had merely been a red herring.
The real agenda was right in front of her.
In the form of Emma’s ex-fiancé. Who was with a woman.
“What are you doing here, Cassidy?” Julie asked, her voice half-horrified, half-amused.
Cassidy’s eyes locked on Emma’s for a half second, and she somehow knew the answer before he spoke.
“I live here,” he said, pointing to the door next to Camille’s. “I moved in last month. Camille never mentioned it? She was the one who connected me with the previous owner.”
“No,” Grace said, pressing her lips together in delight. “No, she did not.”
Emma barely heard any of this. Her brain was repeating one thought over and over: Alex Cassidy would be her neighbor for three months.
This was not good news.
At all.
But, incredibly, that wasn’t even the worst of it.
The worst part wasn’t
even that Cassidy’s fingers were casually linked with those of a pretty, shy-looking brunette.
No, the worst part was the brief pang of something Emma had long thought dead.
Jealousy.
Chapter 5
In all the scenarios in which Alex had imagined his current woman meeting his past woman, this one was definitely not on the list.
In fact, in most of his scenarios, the encounter hadn’t happened at all.
Not because Alex hadn’t wanted Emma to see him with someone new. He hadn’t minded that part. And Emma had made it plenty clear that she didn’t care one way or another if he was single, married, or dead.
But in some foolish, sentimental part of his brain, Alex hadn’t wanted to see the two women together, side by side. Didn’t want to risk letting his mind make comparisons that he wasn’t ready for. Might not ever be ready for.
And, yet, here they were. Him. His new girlfriend. His girlfriend from almost a decade ago.
And three mischievous-looking Stiletto columnists.
“You ladies stop by to say good-bye to Camille?” Alex asked, careful not to repeat his earlier mistake of letting his eyes stray to Emma’s. Whenever he slipped up and made eye contact, it was always like a jolt to his system. An unwelcome and unpleasant one.
The women exchanged glances, and Alex got the distinct impression he was missing something.
To his surprise, it was Emma who spoke up. “Camille lent me her place while she’s in Australia.”
Alex gave the slightest start, and from the puzzled look his girlfriend Danielle gave him, she’d definitely felt it.
“What do you mean, lent you her place?”