Hannah stepped into the bustling room and knew she had made a mistake.

A huge mistake.

She should have stayed home. Instead, she was at a fancy cocktail party packed with some of San Francisco’s finest.

Her best friend, Flo, was already sipping a drink and chatting with a bald-headed gentleman—probably some Silicon Valley tycoon she wanted to snag as a client for her real estate firm.

This was the only reason Flo came to these sorts of events, and usually, she dragged Hannah along on the promise they would have a good time. But now, Hannah was alone and watching a man maneuver around a waiter and approach her with a haughty, overstated gait that seemed like a desperate plea for attention.

“Hey. I’m Blaine.” He flipped his blond hair from his suntanned face and grinned with the confidence of a man well aware of his Ryan Gosling–esque appearance. “And you have to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

The most beautiful woman. Hannah suppressed a snort. Did men ever tire of doing that—spitting lies and cheap lines at women as if they were items and the currency for purchasing them was deceit? Get your woman here, she imagined an enthused merchant at a bazaar saying, two shining lies for one pretty woman. Hannah presumed her father had done the same to her mother—spun the sweetest lies and the slickest pickup lines—right before he knocked her up and took off.