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“Never met them.” My words came out clipped. Hopefully, that would be enough to get him to leave me alone.

But, of course it didn’t.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. My grandmother raised me.” And she did a damn good job.

A strange look flickered on his face, like he was summoning the courage to ask more questions, but I’d had enough.

Between my semi-meltdown before he arrived, his wife’s glacial stare, and the way he was studying me, I needed to leave.

I hastily excused myself, wine bottle still clutched in my hand and walked toward the back door.

Shivers raced over my skin at the memory of his eyes on me. Had I danced for him at a club and couldn’t remember it? Was that why he was so fixated on me? Was that the reason why he kept looking at me like he knew something I didn’t?

I pushed the thought away as I opened the backdoor and stepped outside onto the massive wraparound deck. The same deck I’d climbed up on to break into their house almost six weeks ago. It felt like a lifetime ago.

The first inhale of fresh mountain air settled my frayed nerves just enough for me to breathe.

Lingering near the door with my back pressed against the side of the house, I looked down at the heels I’d bought just last week and smirked at the memory of the shopping trip. The way Sincere had given me a minimum I needed to spend. The way he followed me into the dressing room and made me watch him fuck me in this dress to prove how pretty I would look in it.

Heat flooded my core at the flashback and a little bit of the tension bunching my muscles subsided. I couldn’t look back on any memory with Sincere and call it a sad one, even when my chest ached at not having those moments in the future.

I loved him.

It’d only been five-and-a-half weeks. Why did the thought of leaving them already hurt this much?

Because I wasn’t supposed to fall in love. I should have known from that day at Lucky’s that I would fall for Sincere as hard as I had. He was the easiest person to love and I dove in, headfirst, thinking I would have time to teach my heart not to get her hopes up.

Time and time again, I tried to trick my brain into doing that. And time and time again, I failed.

The wine bottle felt heavy in my hand and I decided to do something about it.

Kicking my heels off by the door, I walked down the deck steps to get to the fire pit on the side of the house.

I was neither surprised nor disappointed when I found a fire already lit and Romeo sitting in a chair facing it, quiet contemplation etched on his beautiful face.

“Do you want to be alone?” I asked instead of a usual greeting.

Rome tore his eyes from the fire and looked up like he’d been expecting me. He shook his head, his body relaxing more into his chair and that’s when I noticed the joint hanging loosely from his fingers. “Nah. You can be here. Sit down, G.”

Relief washed over me at his invitation and I moved to sit in the Adirondack chair beside him before he changed his mind.

“I brought wine.” I lifted my contraband to show him and his answering smirk made my stomach do somersaults.

The fire’s glow lit his inky skin in the most ethereal way and I had to take a moment to drink it all in.

“How long have you been out here?”

“About an hour.”

“Dinner ended an hour ago.”

“Exactly.”

I smiled at my lap. He’d dipped as soon as people started getting social.Very on brand.

He took a pull of his jay and I stared, entranced by the orange flicker at the end and how it compared to the fire burning in front of us.