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I knew him saying that was supposed to be comforting, but all it did was make me sit up straighter. The more I thought about it, the more I could see her slipping through my fingertips.

It felt like missing somebody who was never mine. Grieving something that never got a chance to exist.

Shaking my head to clear the thought, I looked over at Enzo. He was already looking at me, his crooked smile still in place while his eyes crinkled at the side. When he did that, it always reminded me of the first time he gave me his undivided attention.

The first time he smiled at me and introduced himself to me as my Statistics tutor, I knew I was gonna fail that class. I was already in trouble which was why I needed his help in the first place. But when he showed up to our first session, looking like he’d just stepped out of a fashion spread, I knew it was over for me. I showed up to every tutoring session early and didn’t retain shit. Somehow, I still passed the class by the skin of my teeth, and the best part was that I got to keep him. We became inseparable and the rest was history.

It was so rare to find somebody who spoke the same language as you that we didn’t think twice about getting married four years after graduation. We were ten years deep and six years in to a marriage I never questioned. I never questionedanythingwhen it came to Lorenzo because I knew we could do anything together.

Later, when I climbed in bed beside him after my shower, I let Enzo pull me against his chest, our limbs tangling on instinct. With his heart thumping out a familiar beat against my chest, I sighed and allowed my thoughts to wander back to Goldyn. Not that they had strayed far.

I was so tempted to go downstairs and check on her, but I knew if she needed anything she would come find us. Or Rome who was in the gym down the hall from her room. I honestly just wanted to see her again, but I was forcing myself to chill. We’d spent the better part of the day together and while I didn’t tire of people I liked easily, I knew it wasn’t the same for everybody else.

Lorenzo’s breathing evened out and instead of welcoming sleep, I stared up at the ceiling and replayed our conversation.

She’s gonna say yes…and if she doesn’t, it won’t be the end of the world.

I wasn’t proud of it, but the only thing I could think about was the card I didn’t pull. One I knew would work just based on the conversation we had today.

Goldyn wanted that bookstore more than she wanted a lot of things. But using that as a pawn to cement my chance with her didn’t feel right.

It would cheapen what I wanted with her and I wasn’t ready to make that move.

Besides, I already told her we would give her everything. That came with making sure her bookstore became a reality. I couldn’t be involved with someone and not do everything I could to make their life better. It was wired into who I was at this point.

All I needed was for her to agree to being ours and I’d figure out the timeline and everything else later.

GOLDYN

It didn’t matter that it was the weekend, I woke up the next morning at six o’clock on the dot. My body was programmed after years of van living to get up early, go to the gym to shower and get out the way before things got crowded.

And even though I didn’t have to do that today, I got up anyway, found the book I fell asleep reading buried in the sheets and settled in to read it after I brushed my teeth.

Stretched across the bed with my feet in the air, I had to stop myself an hour later when I realized I was literally giggling and kicking my feet over words on a page at 7 o’clock in the morning.

But nobody would blame me if they read what I just read. Kimber hooking up with her husband’s best friend while he watched it all with a smile on his face had me flushed.

“Damn,” I heard from the door, startling me out of my reading trance. I snapped the book shut and rolled over on my side to see Sincere staring at me from the door. Shirtless and wearing low slung black pajama pants.

From the angle of his gaze, I knew he was staring at my ass in these sleep shorts. My ears grew hot at the thought and desire pulsed in my core.

“Hi.” Every time he was anywhere near me I lost my ability to play it cool. Not that I was very good at that anyway, but it evaporated whenever Sincere so much as looked at me. It filled me with warmth and something else. Maybe it was lust.Maybe it was delusion.

“Morning, Goldyn.”

Abandoning my book, I hopped off the bed and walked over to him, stopping a few inches in front of him. “I didn’t expect anyone else to be up this early.”

My heart was never going to recover from the way Sincere’s face softened the closer I got to him. It filled my head with too many possibilities and made me forget what logic was.

“You look pretty.” He licked his lips and ran his eyes over me from top to bottom. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Mhm,” was all I got past the knot in my throat.

We stood there, lost in each other’s eyes for a beat before Sincere’s long lashes fell against his cheek and broke the spell.

“I was just coming to check on you. I didn’t know you were up.” He tilted his head and ran a hand over the faint stubble on his sharp jaw. “Do you drink coffee? I’m about to make some.”

“No, but I’ll come with you.” I was just happy to have another human to do something with. I didn’t care if that was obvious from the way I stayed up last night watching movies with him and Lorenzo. Human companionship was something I spent too many of my days craving for me to pass up the chance.