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He’d talked to his husband about his interest in me?

“You…” I didn’t know how to form the question I wanted to ask, so I let it go.

Thankfully, Sincere read my confusion and spoke up. “If I leave this bar without telling you, I may never see you again. Or it may be another two years before our paths cross again, and that possibility will never be okay with me. I want the chance to know you. And if you tell me you’re even a little bit interested, I’ll answer any question you have. But if you tell me this isn’t your thing and you couldn’t see yourself being loved and spoiled by two men who ar already in love, I wouldn’t blame you either.” He scrubbed his hand down the side of his boyishly handsome face. “I know it’s unusual because you’d be agreeing to the both of us. But I just want a chance and I have to put myself out there even if it means you never want to see me again. Shit. I’m nervous and fucking this up. If Enzo was here, I’m sure this would come out a lot smoother. But…”

“Sin, it’s okay. I hear exactly what you’re saying.” I placed my hand on his and my heart melted at the slight tremor in his fingers. Oh, my god. This sweetheart of a man wasn’t kidding about being nervous. “First of all, I want you to know that there is no timeline where I’d never want to see you again. I wouldn’t have spent the last however many hours talking to you about my dreams if that was the case.”

He smiled and the timid lift of his lips endeared me to him even more.

“You are one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and I say that in a town like Bliss Peak whereeverybodyis nice.”

Calmer now, Sincere slid his hand from under mine and started toying with the pearl button on the cuff of my sleeve. “Will you come home with me tonight? I’ll cook you dinner and me and Enzo can explain everything to you.” His unyielding eye contact was like being trapped in sinking sand, the longer I looked at him, the deeper I sank without realizing it. And the problem was I didn’t want anyone but him to save me.

“Goldy?”

Goldy.

I’d heard some variation of that nickname for years, but he breathed new life into it. Shivers erupted on my sensitive skin and I tried not to hyper-fixate on the way his fingers felt against my wrist while he continued to fidget with my button.

“Hmm?”

“Will you come home with me? You can sleep in the same room as before after dinner. We won’t touch you, but it would be easier for us to discuss everything if we’re all in one place.”

“I—”

My phone started buzzing on the table in front of us, shattering the moment as I snatched up the device at the sight of Ms. Ruby’s name on my screen.

Shit. Dinner. I forgot I said I would come by.

“Ms. Ruby,” I answered breathlessly. I had no reason to be out of breath, but it felt like I’d just sprinted up the mountain with a fifty-pound hiking sack on my back.

“Why you sound so winded, child? Did I catch you in the middle of something?” She sounded more amused than anything and I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. Her voice took a mischievous dip. “Is he nice-looking?”

My face flushed at her question because while I wasn’t doing anything with Sincere, he was more than nice-looking. And he was still touching me. He’d moved on from the button on my cuff and was now mindlessly caressing the tattoo at my wrist that readBe Good.

I was seated, but still a little dizzy from the uninterrupted contact. If his touch alone could do this to me, then what the hell was I gonna do with Lorenzo in the equation?

“Pauly wants to know if you want hot sausage or franks for dinner. He grilled ribs, corn, and a few?—”

“Ms. Ruby, can I have a raincheck for dinner?”

“Awwsookie sookie, now! Youarewith somebody.”

Sincere’s laugh let me know her carrying on was loud enough for him to hear and my face flushed again. I didn’t want to know what I looked like right now.

“Why would your mind automatically go to male company?”

“It’s the best case scenario, honeybee. You know I gotta live vicariously through you.”

Sighing, I shook my head with a faint smile.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it. But I want to hear about it. Call me onWhat’s Uptomorrow so we can debrief.”

It didn’t matter how many times I told this woman it wasWhatsApp,she called it whatever she felt like that day and it brought a giggle out of me every time.

When I hung up, I purposely avoided Sincere’s eyes, but I didn’t miss the smirk on his lips.

How did I explain that my best friend was a woman in her seventies whoreallywanted me to have a dating life? “Sorry about that.”