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The slightly parted curtains lit her profile in beautiful moonlight.

“Hi, Enzo.”

“Goldyn.”

We held eye contact until I made it to the sofa and sat beside her, instantly pulling her snug against my body.

“Why are you up this late?” In the time she’d been with us, I’d never known her to have trouble sleeping. Unless she was up lost in a book, she was usually the first one asleep and stayed that way until I climbed out of bed to hit the gym in the mornings.

Goldyn huffed and I knew a lie—or at least a partial truth—was coming. Her tells were so easy to catch it made me smile against her curls.

“Ms. Ruby texted me. Lady had the puppies.”

“You needed to get out of bed for that?”

She paused. “No. I guess not. But then I got to thinking about some other stuff and didn’t want to wake y’all up by tossing and turning.”

“I woke up anyway because I knew you weren’t there.”

Tilting her head, she peered up at me with a sheepish pout. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” I closed the space between us and kissed her softly. Jasmine hit my nose and reminded me of the vase I saw Rome setting up when I came downstairs this morning. For some reason, he thought he was doing a good job hiding how much he liked Goldyn. And maybe if I didn’t know him as well as I did, it would have worked. But I saw through that nigga and was just waiting for the day his restraint snapped and he said something to her.

“I was thinking about the book store and how much work I still have to do before it’s ready. Especially since I put in an offer on the store beside it. How it’ll probably take a year for me to get it where I want and how different all our lives will be by then.”

“Different how?” I brought her hand to my lips and kissed her palm.

“Different as in I won’t be living with you anymore. I mean, do I even send you an invite to the grand opening? Will you be with your new girlfriend? Will you bring her? Will you even want to come?”

“Oh, so you were out here stressing yourself about hypotheticals?” I laughed lowly and Goldyn scowled at me before it fell into another pout.

“It’s notallhypothetical,” she pointed out and her voice sounded too dejected for me to make another attempt at teasing her. “This summer will eventually end and I’ll have to go back to existing without my new normal.”

“We’ll worry about that when we get to it.”

“It’s easy for you to say that, Lorenzo. You and Sin will still have each other after this is over. And I’ll have me. You might not notice my absence, but I’ll damn sure notice yours.”

Without a word, I pulled Goldyn into my lap and positioned her legs so they were on either side of my hips as she faced me. “That’s the second time you said something like that tonight. First, you told Rome you were a third wheel and now you think we won’t notice when you’re not around. Why do you keep referring to yourself like you’re temporary?”

“Because Iam,” she said right away, the catch in her voice undeniable as she frowned at me. “Have you considered that maybe it’s easier for me to look at it that way so I don’t end up with my feelings hurt by the time I have to leave?”

I didn’t know what to say. She had only agreed to three months with us. And since we hadn’t had a talk about changing that, she was right. This was temporary and I hated admitting that. And unless me and Sin stopped avoiding the inevitable, the future she talked about would become a reality.

Goldyn held the side of my face, her soft fingers gliding over my skin and lingering over my frown lines.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to start a fight,” she apologized, her sweet voice low while she looked over my tight expression.

“We’re not having a fight, mamas. I love how honest you are with me, and you’re right about a lot of things. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Her shoulders deflated, and the worry painting her face melted away.

Fuck, she wore her heart on her sleeve just like Sin. I wondered if she knew I could read every emotion she tried to stifle in her whiskey gaze. The lights might have been off, but anxious energy radiated off of her, giving her away.

Goldyn leaned into me, hiding her face in my neck. She inhaled and wrapped her arms tighter around my shoulders.

“You always smell good,” she murmured, her soft lips grazing my skin with each word.

I moved my head until our lips aligned and pleaded against her mouth, “Kiss me, Goldy.”