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“Just like his mom.” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“I hope so,” she whispered.

15

HARLEY

“There you are! Jeez! Girl, you’ve even been blowing off my texts.”

I tucked my phone between my ear and shoulder and leaned back against the side of the bed. I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom, still in my pajamas. Cassidy was on her long, traffic-filled commute to work, so it was the best time to catch her on the phone.

“Sorry, sorry,” I said. “Let’s just say, things have beeninteresting.”

“Interesting? You better tell me what’s going on. I can’t believe I haven’t been getting live updates.”

I chuckled. “Something happened last night.”

“What kind of something?”

I lowered my voice. Stephan was probably downstairs, but I didn’t want to risk him overhearing. “Stephan said he wants to try again.”

Cassidy shrieked into the phone so loud I had to pull it away from my ear. “I knew it. He’s still obsessed with you. Oh my god, what did you say?”

“Well, his businesses are still less than legit.”

“Illegal stuff?” She sucked her teeth. “That’s a disappointment. You don’t want Dylan around any of that mess.”

“Right. But, he claims to be getting out of all of it. Going clean.”

Cassidy paused. “And if he goes clean…”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I told him we need to go slow.”

“Hang on. Need to go slow? As in, present tense? As in, you’re going for it now?”

“I think so,” I whispered. “He kissed me last night.”

Cassidy let out another tea-kettle shriek. “Just a kiss?”

“It’s notjusta kiss!”

“You were always comparing your exes to him. Don’t you think you deserve to have a good lay for once?”

“Cass!” I laughed. “I’m not twenty anymore. This is about more than the sex, you know.”

“Duh. But you talked about how good the sex wasa lot.”

Heat crept into my cheeks. “I mean, I know, but now… He’s different now, Cass. He’s so good with Dylan. And he’s really straightforward and honest. It seems like…”

“Like this could be for real,” Cassidy finished for me.

“Yeah. It does.”

“You deserve that, Harley,” Cassidy said, suddenly serious.

“You always thought Stephan was a giant tool.”

“Yeah, but that was before you told me about Blakely lying. I’m sure Ace isn’tperfect, especially with the whole prison thing, but if he seems like he’s different now…” She sighed. “I don’t know. You’ve been hung up on him forso long, Harley. I want you to be happy.”