Victoria laughed and shook her head. She was already searching for her boyfriend, and Chris was still standing there, tongue-tied.

“Yeah,” Clay said, releasing Gigi and holding her hand out to Chris, “we work together.”

“Uh, Gigi,” she said, reaching her hand out to Chris. “Giana, uh…De Rosa. I mean, Giana De Rosa, but my friends call me Gigi.”

“Chris, uh…Atwood. My friends call me…Chris.”

Clay cocked his head to the side with a satisfied smirk. He seemed to be helping out more than one friend today.

“Wait, I didn’t know your name was Giana!” Clay said indignantly.

“That’s because you don’t pay attention to anything,” she said.

“Fair.”

Chris and Gigi were still standing there. Clay kept waiting for Chris to reach for some of that Maxwell charm that he’d been surrounded by his entire life, but he seemed completely mesmerized by Gigi.

“Go on,” Clay urged, pushing her toward his friend. “I’m going to go find Andrea.”

“Don’t forget your toast,” Chris muttered, not taking his eyes off of Gigi.

“Oh, I won’t.”

Clay laughed and then headed across the room where his beautiful girl was standing near the dessert area. People had already gotten up and started getting food from the various buffet areas filled with different kinds of Southern food. Liz had insisted she didn’t want a stuffy sit-down meal for the occasion but rather something fun and festive. There were even games set up outside for when the real party began. Already, the line for booze was long. But Clay didn’t care about any of that right now.

“Hey,” Andrea said warily when he approached.

“Hey.”

“So…you brought her to the wedding,” she said with disdain.

“Course I brought her. She’s probably my best friend.”

“I didn’t know we all slept with our best friends.”

“I’m pretty sure we don’t,” he said with an easy smile. “Since I haven’t slept with her.”

Andrea rolled her eyes. “Let’s not do this at the wedding. Brady and Liz deserve a good time.”

“And you deserve the truth, which I’m giving to you right now.” He stared into her eyes. “I’ve never slept with Gigi. I have no interest in Gigi. In fact, I hope she hooks up with Chris because, when I left them, they were making goo-goo eyes at each other.”

Andrea giggled at the comment and then tried to cover it up.

“No, don’t do that, baby,” he said, trailing his hand down the side of her jaw. “Don’t ever hide that beautiful smile.”

“Clay, stop…we can’t do this.”

“Why not? We’ve been doing it for fifteen years. I fell in love with you on that beach all those years ago. Can’t expect me to change now.”

“Look, this all sounds…great,” she said, stepping away from his embrace. “But the truth is, you can’t be serious. You can’t take us seriously. You don’t want the same things I want anymore. When we started this, I just wanted an out, a way to escape my family. Now, I know that I need more than that. I can’t expect you to change with me, Clay. I can’t expect for you to want more when you’ve never wanted it before.”

“So, have you found it elsewhere then?” he asked gruffly. He hated the way she’d said that like he couldn’t change. She could change, but he was incapable? The past four months, he had proven to himself just how much he could change when he really wanted something.

“No,” she admitted, “but I deserve the chance to try.”

“Try then. Try with me.”

She closed her eyes. “Let’s not do this. Please. Another day. Another night.”

Clay shook his head. “No, I’m not backing down. I’m not walking away, like last time. You’ve had space. You’ve been away from me. I know you miss me, Andrea. And, fuck, have I missed you. Walking away is out of the question. Try with me.”

Andrea’s eyes darted up to his. Whatever she was thinking, none of it was on her face. If he didn’t know she hated the idea of politics, he would recommend her for the job. She was better at hiding her emotions than Brady.

“Fine,” she snapped. “Right here? Right now?”

It was time for his eyebrows to shoot up. “Yes?”

She took his hand in hers and then dragged him out of the reception room. They walked outside to the empty green space near where the games had been set up. Everyone was inside, eating and dancing, so they hadn’t yet ventured outdoors. Andrea pulled him past the games and around the side of the building. It wasn’t exactly secluded but close enough.

“Talk. Why the hell should I give you another chance? After the inauguration, you slept with someone else, which was specifically against the rules. And, beyond that, we were at a function together, as a couple, with your family. Then, you went and slept around afterward. For all I know, you’re with that Gigi girl,” she cried. All of her anger from the past few months seemed to pour out of her at once. She was waving her hands around and practically growling at him. “You don’t want what I want, Clay. I want this!” She gestured back toward the reception. “Love. Marriage. Kids. Things I never thought I’d want. Things I know you don’t want. We’re not right for each other, and I’ve spent the last four months trying to tell myself that.”

Clay stood there for a second in silence. “How did that work out for you?”

“Horrible. Just fucking horrible.” She pushed her platinum blonde hair off her shoulders. “Why is it that I want the one thing that I shouldn’t want? Why do I want you so fucking bad?”

“Because those things you said aren’t true.”

“What part?” she demanded.

“Most of it.”

She narrowed her eyes and huffed. “Don’t bullshit me, Clay.”

He strode toward her. She stumbled backward and straight into the side of the building.

“Don’t presume to tell me what I want, Andrea. If you’d let me talk to you that night after the inauguration, you’d know by now that I didn’t sleep with anyone. I went to bed, alone, and I woke up that way.”

She snorted, but he just slammed his hand down onto the wall behind her head.