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“Well, all I’m saying is you told me women like her don’t come around too often, and if it’s what I want, then I need to put myself out there. Put myself on the line. I needed to lock it down.”

“Yeah, I get that, but you were fucking gone for her, over the edge man. I wouldn’t say I’m gone for Luna.”

“You’re gone for her.”

I stand up straight, panic rising within me. “What?”

“You were into her three years ago, and you’re still agonizing over her now. You can’t stay away from her; you sound like being friends with her is the best yet most torturous thing you’ve ever experienced.” He laughs. “You just sound a lot like me.”

Shit. Am I? “We have a strong bond; that’s all.”

“Keep lying to yourself, buddy.”

Frustration swells within me. “Yeah, well it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway.”

“Why not?”

I scoff. “Luke. Ruining two friendships for sex.”

“One, they were together fucking years ago. Two, it's nothing that can’t be solved by talking to him before you do anything. Three, it’s not just sex. If I thought it was, then I would be telling you to back the fuck off because all the above wouldn’t be worth it just to get your dick wet. You’re making excuses to be around her. You don’t even want to come see me and the team in Whistler.”

I groan and drag a hand down my face. “I was supposed to come home to get away from complex bullshit like this.”

I imagine if he were standing next to me right now, he’d be patting a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. “Look at it this way. If she’s your girl, then maybe you just made your life far more straightforward than you could ever imagine. The moment I knew Felicity was it for me, nothing else really mattered. Life has never been so easy.”

The door clicks open, and my eyes shoot to the entryway. “I gotta go, man.”

He full-on belly laughs, the fucker. “She’s just got to your place, hasn’t she?”

“Yes,” I reply in a hushed tone.

“Remember, when you give it to her for the first time it's best if you?—”

I cut the call. As much as I appreciate his initial words of wisdom, I’m not about to take a sex pep talk from him while the woman in question stands in my kitchen, looking like a fucking dream in a tasselly, barely-there, tie-dye, soaking-wet beach dress.

I look up and force a smile as Luna walks toward me and dumps her bag down on the counter then strides over to thecoffee maker. Her gorgeous, toned legs are on full display as her ass sways, and I can just about make out the outline of her bikini bottoms.

Stop fucking staring, Zach.

“Morning, grumpy. Shall we get started?”

Fucking hell.

CHAPTER TWELVE

LUNA

“Igot it!”

A small victory as I smash another nail into the floorboard and it goes in straight for the first time. Standing, I punch the air like I’ve just discovered the secret to eternal happiness. “Yes!”

“You’re a pro.” Zach strolls over from where he’s been fixing the hallway wall and gives me a high five.

He’s on edge, I can tell. But I’ve tried to move past it and keep the air easy between us. Since I told myself that nothing would or could happen with him, as much as it hurt, I’ve been able to relax into our friendship more. Sure, him walking around in nothing but a pair of athletic shorts and sneakers, his ripped, tattooed chest on full display and flexing as he works on the house, has about killed me at times. But I’ve surprised myself with how much I’ve enjoyed knuckling down and powering through the renovations.

It's nine in the evening when we finally put down our tools, and Zach turns to me. “We were supposed to paint my bedroomtoday, but I think it can wait. I’m not about to start moving the bed at this hour.”

I yawn as the back of my hand covers my mouth. “Yeah, I guess I should get going.”