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A laugh burst out of her. “Cheesy, Forrest. So cheesy.”

“It got a laugh out of you. So I call that a win.” I dropped a kiss to her lips. “If you must know, that woman is my cousin, Yolanda. We grew up together. She’s like a sister to me.”

“Oh.” Embarrassment flushed her cheeks.

I reached for the box of cereal and tapped at the Kellogg’s Special K. “I’m going to call you Sexy K. There’s just something about you that stirs me up.”

“Is that a new tagline for your cereal brand?”

“Now that you mention it.” I folded my arms over my chest, contemplating. “That could probably work.”

Smirking, she shook her head. “You’re officially a weird BaMBu Beast.”

I laughed at the unique name. “Coming from you, anything you call me is sexy.”

My phone rang and Levi’s number popped onto the screen. I let it go to voicemail and continued my conversation with Kiera.

“I have a proposal for you.”

“Okay.” Her brown eyes glinted with curiosity.

“There’s a powerful attraction between us. We need to face it. We can start off with just dinner and hang out. See where things go. Maybe the attraction will fade in two weeks, or a month. But we need to resolve this.”

“What if we get sick of each other sooner than that?”

“What if we can’t get enough of each other?” I retorted. “Whatever the case may be, at least we’ll get some answers, and our friendship remains, okay?”

“Our friendship is no longer what it was.”

“You’re right. Our friendship just escalated into a territory that neither of us understood. But we’re finding answers now, right? It’s like when you catch a cold, you take certain meds to ease your symptoms.”

“Or you don’t take anything at all and let it run its course.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you calling me an illness? It’s not very endearing if you’re trying to impress a girl, Dr. Navarro.”

“You’re not an illness at all. You are the remedy—the magical cure for all my ailments, Sexy K.”

Her smile stretched wide.

My phone rang with Levi’s name again. “I need to take this.”

“Go ahead. I’m going to unpack.”

“What’s up, Levi?”

“Can you meet me in an hour?”

“For what?”

“You need to get an ID pass to the secret party.”

CHAPTERTWELVE

KIERA

When Forrest left, he took something with him. The cabin felt empty, like it was missing something.

Today had been an interesting day. I’d experienced a wide range of emotions, starting with jitters before and during the photo shoot with Forrest. Then arousal from being so close to him, followed by desire from wanting more than the kiss. The attack and break-in at the campground left me more than unsettled.

What was the thief looking for?