Sia had laughed, trailing her finger over his chest, a twinkle in her eyes. “You’ll have to restrain yourself until we get back home.”

Home.

Jake’s eyes had shifted to mine, and I knew what he’d been thinking about. She’d said the H word. He’d confided in me two days prior that he was considering asking Sia the big question: if she would move in with him. He came to me for advice—did I think it was a good idea, how had Sia been with guys who’d asked the moving question before, had she lived with other boyfriends, how did she feel about the landlord. At that point, the conversation had taken a slight hit. Jake never talked to me about my relationship with Cole. Sia assured me he was fine with it, not weirded out, but it hung in the room between us.

“Jake, uh—” I’d started, but he cut me off.

“You think she’d be open to it? To moving in with me?”

A small boulder landed at the bottom of my stomach. There was weirdness. I’d seen it then. Sia lied to me. But it was obvious Jake didn’t want to talk about it. So I found myself nodding and feeling a little sad at the same time.

That was a conversation I wanted to try again with Jake. I never did tell him about Dawn’s sneakiness with Sia’s phone, but this conversation—I was determined to have with him.

Sia stepped up next to me, looking in the other mirror. “I’m ready to puke, piss, and have an orgasm all at the same time,” she announced. “Shit. How do you do it?”

“Do what?” The Jake conversation faded to the background of my mind.

“Be around him.”

“Who?”

“Cole Mauricio. How do you do it? He just came in, and I swear, the entire room either got wet or wanted to piss their pants. I’m all of the above. That man is like walking sex. Good Lord, do you think Jake can join the mafia with him for a while?”

“Jake?”

Sia half-rolled her eyes, tucking some of her hair into a barrette. “I love Jake, but he’s no Cole Mauricio.” Her eyes narrowed, growing thoughtful, and she tilted her head to the side. “Come to think of it, though, no. I like Jake just how he is. If there was no you or Jake in the picture, I’d fuck Cole Mauricio. I’m sorry. I’m being a bad friend, but I have to be honest. However, in saying that, I can also say that’d be it. He scares me too damn much for anything else. I’m pretty sure those two massive guys that came with him are carrying guns.”

My head spun. I grabbed Sia’s arm and focused on the most important piece of information: “You said the L word.”

She went still. Her eyes locked on mine. “You caught that, huh?”

“Sia!” I pretended to shake her arm, grinning like an idiot. “You love Jake!” This was huge, huger than huge. “I’m so happy for you.”

Her hands rested on the counter. “I know. I do. I’m really happy. I mean—” She waved to me. “I’m worried about you because hello, the mafia—but yeah, I’m happy. I really do love Jake.”

“You’ve never said that about a boyfriend.” I frowned. She had. “Not in the real sense, I mean, where you actually do love him.”

She laughed, digging in her purse. “I know what you mean, and you’re right. I’ve not said it for real. It’s real.” She pulled out her lipstick. “It’s so real and so amazing, and I know I’m going to fuck it up somehow.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No way. I know you won’t.”

“I hope not, but let’s be honest. I’m the love ‘em and ditch ‘em girl. I’d usually be on boyfriend number two after Jake by now.” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I can’t mess this up. That’s all I know.”

I touched her hand and squeezed. “You won’t. I know you won’t.”

“Let’s hope not.” She grinned wryly at me. “But enough about me; are you ready for tonight?”

I laughed, letting go of her hand. “I think I should be asking you that question. Are you ready to officially meet Cole?”

She groaned, shaking her head. “No. Not a chance. Yes. Oh, God. That’s really happening tonight. I saw him and had to come get you. I—I’m nervous, Addy.” Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“Don’t be.” I raised my chin and squared my shoulders. “You can do this, and you want to know why?”

Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “Why?”

I knew Jake was nervous; well, I didn’t know what Jake was feeling. But while he’d been geeking out before, the plan to meet Cole in a real-life way had him suddenly quiet. I was optimistic, hoping his closed lips had more to do with him calculating when he’d ask Sia to move in with him, but I knew some of it was about Cole. Sia switched roles again, back to being the one more open to meeting Cole as my—I went blank. Boyfriend?

Lover?

Significant other?

None of those seemed to fit. Cole was mine. I nodded to myself. That felt right. He was mine.

“Addison?”

Sia had been waiting for me. I pulled out of my thoughts. “Oh yeah, because I love you.”

“I’m going to handle meeting your super hot and scary boyfriend because you love me?” She scoffed.

I nodded. “Yes. Well, no. It’s because you love me. Cole will see that, and he’ll like you.”

“Because I love you?”