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“Felt like a waste not to.” He smirked and winked before taking another bite.

I rolled my eyes as if the thought of it wasn’t the biggest turn on ever—and something I wanted to think about later—before focusing back on Derek.

“I’m not going to apologize.”

Marco swung his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.

Derek’s brows furrowed. “I’m not asking you to. I just want a warning so I can prepare.”

I studied him. “You’re serious.”

“Yes, and if you and Cruz are going to hook up, one of you could be nice enough to let me know so I can grab my pillow and blanket and not freeze my ass off sleeping out here.”

I looked from Marco to Cruz to Javi, then back to Derek. None of them seemed surprised by how this conversation was turning out. Apparently, I was the only one that stepped into an alternate universe.

“Okay.”

He nodded. “Good. Now, if you check your phone, you’ll see Dias let you know he’ll be back in town tomorrow morning, and we overheard a call to who we believe to be his sister. They’re having lunch at noon.”

“Which is where we’ll be?” I guessed.

“Right, we’ll head out earlier. The restaurant is near some stores, so we can stage it as you shopping and casually run into him on his way in.”

I agreed. “Sounds good.”

He dropped his gaze to his laptop, so I retreated to the kitchen, feeling like if I wasn’t careful, a bomb would go off.

This felt like a joke. Was someone going to pop out and scream at me? They had to all be in on it.

Javi took my empty mug and sat it in the sink before turning back and wrapping his arms around my waist. My arms lifted on their own, wrapping around his neck like I’d done it a million times.

“This is weird.”

He smiled. “It isn’t.”

I glanced over to find Cruz watching us, grinning without the barest trace of jealousy. “You’re okay with this too?”

He cocked his brow. “I’m fine with anything as long as you are.”

What the hell?

This was real. But it was too good to be true. The perfect situation while we were all here together. Rather than going crazy from the sexual tension filling each room, we could take care of it, of each other.

Derek wasn’t jealous. He was sleep-deprived.

Cruz was just as flirty as ever.

Marco held me while we slept.

Javi hadn’t gone back to be the cold leader. He was touching me in front of everyone.

Whatever world we lived in yesterday was gone, and this new reality was much, much better.

“Don’t overthink it,” Cruz winked before standing and heading back down the hall.

CHAPTER 18

Emilia