Aiden burst out of the guest chair like his pants were on fire. “Thank you, Axle. You won’t be sorry. I’m—” Aiden cut himself off when he realized Axle was grousing up at him. “Thanks.” Aiden ran into Sadie on her way to the office from the sales floor.

He grasped her shoulders and backed her into the supply closet, flipped on the light, and closed the door behind them. Sadie’s eyebrows were up, lips poised, probably to ask him what he was doing.

Aiden lost sight of the answer.

Sharing his news took low priority with Sadie’s lips this close. He pressed her against a shelf filled with paper, boxes of pens, and rolls of receipts, and kissed her. She kissed him back, stroking his face with cool, slim fingers as she moved her mouth against his. He pulled away to find a satisfied smile on her face, her lids at half-mast. Mmm. His favorite look on her.

“Um…thank you?” she said.

“Thank you,” Aiden said in a thick husk. “I’m buying Axle’s.” He briefly explained the details. “He loved the idea.”

“Loved?”

“Well, loved it like only Axle can love anything.” Aiden said.

She grinned up at him. “Congratulations.”

He could kiss her again. Would have if he didn’t suddenly become aware of the haphazardly stacked supplies over her head, the dust tickling his nostrils. “I’ll let you out of here now.” But he didn’t move, lowering his head for one more brief kiss after all. “Unless you don’t want out of here.”

Sadie flattened a palm on his chest. “I was coming to find you to say good-bye, so yeah, probably we should get out of here.”

“I’ll walk you out.” Aiden popped open the door and practically smacked into Axle, who slid them a strange glance as he lumbered by.

Aiden walked Sadie to the parking lot. She paused before settling into her car. “Um…so Axle’s is completely stocked with Midwest parts.”

“Great,” Aiden said. And soon he’d be running the place. He needed to hire someone else before Axle left. Or maybe two someone elses. Axle wouldn’t be easy to replace.

“And the window is done.”

“I saw.” There was something in Sadie’s face. Distance. Maybe a little sadness. Aiden digested what she was telling him, focusing on the words completely and done. “You aren’t saying good-bye for the day,” he said. “You meant…”

She shrugged. “I’m done.”

Aiden nodded. That sucked. “Okay. Great.” He’d sort of forgotten she was only around temporarily, had become accustomed to seeing her almost every day. He liked running into her in the hallway, talking to her in the store when they were slow. He liked finding her alone in the break room at the vending machine. And now she was “done.” He frowned.

Sadie shut her car door and rolled down the window. “I’ll be glad to get back to the office.” She slipped her sunglasses on and sent him a grin.

Was she telling him the truth? Was she glad to be done? Glad to go back to sitting in her cubicle for most of the day? Aiden had watched her in the store, interacting with customers, setting up displays, chatting with employees. She liked it, was good at it. Her ease with people was the driving force behind her success.

“I’ll miss you,” Aiden said. When that hurt too much, he corrected. “I mean, miss your help. With everything.” He gestured at the store. “In there.”

Sadie’s smile remained, which bothered him. “I’ll miss it, too. It’s a cool store, Aiden. You’ll do well with it.”

Why was this starting to sound like reunited high school friends promising to meet up for drinks before the next ten years passed them by? Had their attraction only been one of proximity? Convenience?

Sadie turned the key in the ignition and Aiden realized if he didn’t make plans with her before she left, he never would. Convincing her to go out with him, to do anything with him, always worked better when he was face-to-face with her.

He leaned into her car window. “Hey, before you go…” She tensed slightly, so he put his hand over hers on the steering wheel.

Aiden briefly explained his brother’s and Shane’s partnership, and the celebratory cocktail party scheduled for this weekend. “Landon will be there, and my sister, Angel. Shane invited Evan and me, I think so we wouldn’t feel left out.” He wished he could see Sadie’s eyes. With sunglasses hiding her eyes he wasn’t sure what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.

Stop stalling.

He squeezed her hand and shot her a smile. “Come with me, Sadie. Be my date.”

*  *  *

Sadie rested the statuette on her desk. A few coworkers poked their heads into her cube and congratulated her some more. The awards ceremony took up the entire afternoon and now most of Midwest’s employees were filing out to the destination of happy hour.

Sadie had worked so long, so hard to achieve number one in sales at Midwest. She studied the gold placard with her name engraved on it, and thought she should feel more of a…she didn’t know…an oomph or something. More powerful, or successful. Ready to tackle her job with renewed fervor.

Instead, she felt sort of meh.

Maybe the cloud overshadowing her achievement was the invitation from Aiden on her last day at Axle’s. Not only would tomorrow be her first real, official date with Aiden since last year, which, face it, she wasn’t a hundred percent certain was a good idea, but the party was also a very classy affair. Crickitt and her billionaire husband would be throwing the soiree at Diamond Crown Hall, and that place was fancy. Sadie should know. She’d booked her wedding reception at Diamond Crown.

She wasn’t sure if returning to the site of her former reception-to-be was what was making her skin crawl, or that she’d finally be meeting Aiden’s siblings. All of them. The sister from Tennessee, the brother from Columbus, the other brother from Chicago. She had no idea how she felt about that…or how she’d be received.

When she thought of seeing Aiden, however, a satisfied little smile curved her lips. She missed him, missed seeing him at Axle’s, missed him taking up her space. She’d thought of him often, while running her sales appointments, or at random times during the day. Her mind had been on him more than not.

When Midwest’s new catalogs had come in earlier this week, she’d used the excuse to pop in and see him. But when she’d gotten to Axle’s, Aiden had left for the day. She’d stayed and made small talk with Axle—very small talk; this was Axle, after all—but she’d kept one eye on the door on the off chance Aiden might walk through it.

They’d sort of left their…relationship?…on eternal pause. He’d asked her to the party, she’d said yes, and that had been that. But now instead of that there was this. This unsatisfied…this she felt now that she hadn’t seen Aiden for a week. She glanced at her calendar. Had it only been a week? It felt more like a month.

Her eyes went to her cell and she thought of calling him. She didn’t have his number saved into her phone any longer, but she could call Axle. He would give it to her if she made up a good enough story. She wondered if Aiden had kept her number. Surely he’d call before tomorrow.

Perry walked into Sadie’s cubicle and she stopped staring at her phone. No amount of “using the Force” would make the dang thing ring anyway. Perry folded himself into a bow, his tie swinging back and forth between them. “I hereby renounce my feud for number one,” he said. He rose and looked at his watch. “For the next thirty-six hours. Then it’s on.”

She had half a mind to brain him with her trophy.

His smile faltered and, for a moment, she was sure she’d said that out loud. “I’m sorry I was a prick,” he said. “You won fair and square, and I’m a horrible, terrible person during competitions.”

“Only then?” she asked drily.

He chuckled and pointed an Oh, you finger at her.

Sadie gave him a composed smile. She was pretty sure his recent attitude adjustment could be credited to Aiden. Just thinking of the way Aiden stood up for her honor at Rick’s party made her want to fan herself. She would have smiled, but she didn’t want to smile at Perry.

“I’ll take whatever reprieve you offer. However brief,” she told Perry.

“Truce?”

She regarded his outstretched hand before folding her arms over her chest. “For now.”

*  *  *

Aiden called.

Saturday afternoon, Sadie had been hobbling around with wet toenails and cotton weaved between her toes when her phone rang. She had to run on her heels to avoid smearing her pedi.

Hearing his voice made her heart swell, had memories cascading over her. Memories of kissing him, holding him, and the way he looked sprawled on her couch wearing nothing but his skivvies.

Which is precisely why Sadie used the excuse of an errand so she could drive herself to the reception hall. She was too nervous to have Aiden come to her place. Where she’d missed him in her space yesterday, today the idea of him in her apartment felt like a bad idea. She wasn’t sure why, but the pressure had mounted. Before, there was none, but now, she felt as if a pipe had burst and she was hip-deep in it, a dangerous undercurrent threatening to tow her down.

It was just a feeling, really. A pit-of-her-stomach gut call she couldn’t make sense of.

Sadie followed the signature patterned carpet of Diamond Crown Hall past smaller rooms hosting various celebrations as she looked for the August-Downey affair. The Klepps’ reception, Jim and Nancy’s fiftieth anniversary party, Jillian’s Sweet Sixteen…Finally she reached the room Shane had booked for his gathering and her heart sank. It was the very same room Sadie had booked for The Wedding That Never Was.