Fiance by Fate by Jennifer Shirk

finishing off his glass. She did the same. Her head was already feeling a bit dizzy. Maybe champagne was a bad idea. Or maybe she was caught up in the excitement of tonight—that kiss, her fight with David, Jack’s odd behavior.
    Jack was definitely different tonight. He wasn’t supposed to be charming or funny. He should be annoying and self-righteous. She thought she’d be counting down the seconds until her “date” with him was over. But instead, she found she was enjoying herself. Jack had a way of sneaking up on her, like a cold or…a chin hair. She had to turn away from that easy-going smile of his to even remember what they’d toasted to.
    Successful goals, stupid . David, not Jack’s ocean blue eyes.
    “Is David looking over here?” she asking, forcing herself to concentrate on what mattered.
    “Nope.”
    “He’s not?” She was so sure David would be seething and unable to keep his eyes off of them. What happened in the span of ten minutes?
    “Wait, he just looked over.”
    Ah-ha! She knew it.
    Smiling, she took a bite of her quiche and watched as Jack picked up the bottle and refilled their glasses. Everything was back on track. She was so happy she almost couldn’t catch up with her thoughts. This was too simple. She still couldn’t believe how easy it was to make David jealous. She knew all along he cared and this proved it. Soon, they’d be engaged again, just like Madame Butterfly predicted.
    She sighed into her flute and took another sip. The family she always longed to have was within reach again. Her life was finally coming together. She finished off her second glass, and her mind began to float, feeling as if she were swinging on a star. But, she wasn’t worried, because no matter what, she knew from now on that star would be a lucky one.

Chapter Seven
    “I promise to shut up now,” Sabrina said, slapping a hand over her mouth. But she continued to talk through her palm anyway. “I’ve been saying way too much. That always happens when I drink champagne. And when I drink beer. Or vodka. And—”
    “I get it,” Jack said, entertained. “Maybe you should have a little more to eat.”
    She saluted. “Aye, aye.” Then as she lowered her hand, it landed in her cheesecake. “Uh-oh, cleanup in aisle three.”
    He smothered a laugh as he tossed her his napkin. Sabrina was drunk. Well, not exactly drunk drunk, but she was well past her limit, which was obviously minuscule to begin with.
    Not that it was his fault, Jack reminded himself again. She didn’t have to finish her glass every time he refilled it for her. And whose idea was it to get a second bottle anyway?
    Okay, it was his fault. Sabrina was going to murder him—when she sobered up.
    Too bad, because they were actually getting along for once. Now that she let her guard down, they even managed to have fun—something he hadn’t had with a woman outside the bedroom in a long time.
    Jack gazed across the table at her. Sabrina seemed intent on playing with her dessert and hadn’t noticed him watching her. The night was chockfull of surprises. It wasn’t every woman who knew just as much about baseball as he did and even enjoyed discussing it. This was the most mellow he’d seen her. Usually she was all wrapped up in anxiety and spreadsheets, which was why he couldn’t resist egging her on whenever he had the chance. She made it almost too easy. And way too much fun.
    There really was nothing sexier to him than a woman all riled up with anger. It was just another form of passion in his book. And Sabrina seemed to have more than an average share. Especially when she looked like she could melt an iceberg with the heat radiating from those baby-blue eyes of hers. The way her cheeks flamed pink and those soft, generous lips of hers pouted and got all—
    Uh-oh. Where’d that thinking come from?
    That kiss.
    Mother of mercy, who knew she had such deadly precision with that mouth of hers? Something had ignited between them from