So get a grip.

Don’t let your libido call the shots.

Stick to business.

Which, now that his brain was back in charge, meant getting the River Joint off the ground. Glancing at the two cases of wine on the counter, he debated how best to get rid of them.

Did homeless shelters take wine donations?

Turning the key in her truck ignition, Liv found the sound of the engine coming to life audible evidence that she could persevere in the face of temptation. Putting her truck in gear, she drove away from a very close call. Whether it had been mature judgment or saved-by-the-skin-of-her-teeth impulse, she was damned glad she’d walked away. Jake Chambers was exactly the kind of man she’d seen once too often in her career as a model. Rich, good-looking, successful, fawned over by one and all-and, unfortunately, convinced they deserved the kudos.

In other words, an egomaniac.

Definitely not her cup of tea.

Not that she knew what manner of man that might be.

But she’d know when he came along.

And in the meantime, her life was about as good as it got.

Twenty minutes later she was parking behind an uptown restaurant and looking forward to meeting her friends.

The three women had known each other since grade school, and whenever their schedules allowed, they met for lunch or dinner. Shelly was divorced, no children, Zoe was married with children; Shelly was a futures trader; Zoe had been a public defender before marrying and having kids.

“You’re late,” they said in unison as Liv reached their table.

Liv grinned. “I almost didn’t show up. Had my better judgment not kicked in, I wouldn’t have. The Jake Chambers is in town. He bought a restaurant on the river where I deliver wines. And he hit on me.”