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Loomis watches me carefully. “It was. Which is why I bought it.”

I nearly choke on my champagne. “When did you do that?”

“On the flight home.”

“You mean before you broke up with me?”

He winces. “Yeah. Forgetting that, I was going to surprise you once everything was settled, but given today’s events, perhaps you’d like to see it now? She’s already moved out, and her son left the key for me to see it in person.”

“What? That fast?”

He grins. “I’m paying in cash, love. I’ll have to sign some things this week, but it’s a done deal otherwise.”

“Wait,” I say, trying to process this. “You bought an apartment here? Without telling me?”

“I thought you weren’t going to move in with me, so what does it matter?”

Touché, but damn him.

“Damn.” Stone sighs. “And I thought I had to share you with my wife before.”

I laugh. “That’s totally what I said. They’ll be having sleepovers all the time. I just didn’t realize you were going to buy it that fast.”

Tinsley does a little happy dance. “I’m so freaking excited about it, I could scream.”

Sorel makes a shooing motion. “Go, go see the love nest. We’ll be fine demolishing the rest of this food and gossiping about you while you’re gone.”

“Viciously,” Kenna adds cheerfully.

“And while you’re at it, don’t come back,” Tinsley chirps. “Fen is mine for the night.”

“Tins, I don’t think?—”

“Quiet,” she cuts him off. “I haven’t had my godson in two weeks. He’s mine. I’ll allow you to return for breakfast.”

“Well then.” Loomis stands and pulls me up with him. “Shall we?”

33

Ipress my lips to Fen’s forehead, his skin warm and smelling of the pizza he devoured and that indefinable scent that belongs only to him. “I’ll see you in the morning,” I whisper. “You be a good lad for Tinsley and Stone and their horrid cat.”

Keegan giggles softly from the doorway when she hears that.

“I love you.” I feel strange leaving him. Especially after the day we had. But he’s safe here with Tinsley and Stone and everyone else, and Tinsley was adamant and wouldn’t hear of my arguments. Plus, the thought of bringing him back out into the night with the press still lurking about turns my stomach upside down. I may have bought a place in this building, but it’s not technically mine until I sign on the dotted line.

Keegan waits in the doorway, her silhouette haloed by the hallway light, her red hair catching fire in the glow. She already gave Fen, Willow, and Rory their goodnight kisses.

Speaking of…

“Don’t worry,” Rory tells me in a comforting tone. “I’ll watch him, and he’s in good hands.”

I hold in my snicker. “I have no doubt that with you in charge, he is.”

Rory preens at that, and as I rise to my feet, I blow a kiss to the camera in the corner and close the door to the playroom. The sound of our friends in the kitchen is loud as they talk over each other and laugh.

Keegan smiles. The asymmetrical curl of her lips that first caught my attention across a crowded ballroom a year and a half ago still gets me. She was with all the wrong people, and I never dared with anyone before. It’s impossible to look at her and not think that maybe we were just waiting for each other all this time.

“Ready?” I ask, extending my hand.