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Never mind that Zeke and I are complete strangers.

My brain short-circuits.

Zeke goes still.

Like statue still.

Like don’t-move-or-you’ll-scare-it-away still.

“Uh, Rosie, that’s not it—” I squeak.

“What’s not it, Aunt Casey? Doesn’t Uncle Zeke like you?”

I don’t know how to answer her. My gaze flashes to Uncle Zeke’s mesmerizing purple stare, but he’s just grinning at me like the Cheshire cat.

His look says it all.

And I swear I could kick him for it. Only Rosie is still talking a mile a minute, and I don’t think I should resort to physical violence in her presence.

“Daddy always says he likes Mommy, and he’s always doing nice things for her,” the child states with one hundred percent certainty.

“Oh no! Was Uncle Zeke mean to you?” she asks, completely horrified, and Zeke’s eyebrows go sky high before he flicks his gaze to mine.

Panic races up my spine. I want to comfort her and reassure him all at the same time, and fuck me, but I don’t even know what the heck is going on.

How is this even my life?

“I—what? I mean—no. Of course, not. But I’m not his, um, girl? I’m a woman. Not that it matters. Not that I am his. I mean—I'm not anyone's. Not that I wouldn’t be. I mean, if I were, like, someone’s. But I’m just not, um, his. I mean, I am a girl, um, woman. A woman-girl, but I—I,” I stutter and shrug.

Fuck me.

What the hell am I even saying?

Abort. Abort mission.

Zeke just stares at me, his expression unreadable except for the way his jaw clenches like he’s holding back that sexy little growl thing he keeps doing, or perhaps a laugh.

Maybe both.

“Right,” I mutter, cheeks on actual fire.

Rosie giggles, completely unfazed.

“Aunt Casey’s pretty, right, Uncle Zeke?” she asks Zeke, and skips off with the kind of chaotic grace some children just seem to be born with.

“She sure is, Rosie Posie,” Zeke murmurs.

My heart is trying to punch its way out of my chest.

“Wow, so that was weird. Um, I mean, she’s adorable,” I say weakly.

“She can be a bit of a hurricane,” Zeke replies, voice a little rougher now. “But yeah. Adorable.”

I catch him looking at me then. Really looking.

Eyes trailing from my face down to my chest, then back up with a snap like he’s pissed at himself for doing it.

His nostrils flare, and for a second, I swear I feel heat pulse in the air between us.