He leaned against the rail and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist. That eyebrow of hers was still up, but the corner of her lip tugged. “Technically, you still lied, but I’ll let it slide this time. I just don’t want you lying or keeping anything from me if she does anything more in Hawaii. You’ll be out there for the entire three-day weekend. She’ll have plenty of time to try and corner you or whatever.”

Angel pulled her even closer. “I’m sorry I lied,” he whispered, pissed at himself now for the stupid spontaneous decision to do so. “It’ll never happen again, and you know you have nothing to worry about.”

“I know I don’t.” She nodded, relieving some of the unnecessary tension that had started to build. “I actually hadn’t planned on even mentioning it, though I already knew she’d been posting stuff about it. But it wasn’t until today when I found out she posted those old photos of the two of you that I thought I should at least warn you.” She poked his chest with two fingers. “And you know you don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to Sydney, Angel. We’ve been over this enough. I don’t like the way the mood shifted in there”—she motioned with her head—“when I brought him up.”

He exhaled slowly, cracking his neck from side to side. He wasn’t going to argue with her about this, but there was no way she could compare his nonexistent relationship with Dana to her and Sydney’s relationship. Instead of holding it in, however, he did decide to just make one thing clear.

“Look, babe, I believe you when you say you’ve never looked at Sydney in anything more than in a friend’s type of way. But I’m gonna be honest with you.” She pulled back to look at him curiously. “You know I’ve never bought the fact that he’s never had feelings for you. His choosing you over a girl he’s been with for years . . .” He shook his head because the more he thought about it the more blatant and in your face it felt. “It just sets off all kinds of alarms. I wanna be understanding, but I also don’t wanna be stupid or naïve.” He sighed, holding her closer again and kissing the top of her head. “I’m trying. I really am, but you gotta cut me some slack. No matter what, Sarah, I will never be thrilled to hear about you hanging out with another dude even if he is just your friend but especially now. What he did breaking off such a long relationship was huge. I’m sure it wasn’t something he decided to do overnight. And he did it for you.”

Sarah started to say something, but he lifted a brow for her to let him finish.

“Try to see this from my perspective, sweetheart.” Her expression softened almost in what appeared to be understanding or even agreement. “His girl asks him to choose between her and you. He chooses you, and then he leaves Columbia to go to ESU, a school two hours away as opposed to across the country from you.”

“ESU is up there with Columbia—”

“That’s not the point, Sarah,” he said, shaking his head. “All I’m saying is I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because more than anything I’m hoping I have nothing to worry about. Just give me some time to get used to this, and don’t expect me to warm up to the idea of him being around a lot more with the two of you hanging out. I can try for your sake, but I’m just being honest. I already know I won’t.”

Taking a deep breath, Sarah leaned against his chest. “Fair enough. As long as you’ll at least try.” She pulled away to look at him. “He said he’d try to make it down a few more times before summer was over, but I seriously don’t think he’s gonna have time. He has to drive out to Los Angeles and get situated. He’s getting an apartment out there, moving in, looking for a job, and has to find a roommate all in a matter of a few weeks. There’s no way he’ll have down time to spare on hanging out here. Then once school starts you know what that’s like.”

The relief sunk in slowly and steadily with every word she said. Sarah was right. It did sound as if Syd had his hands full, and Angel knew firsthand how busy things got once school started. Even with him and Sarah attending the same school, between practice and games, Sarah’s training for the track and field team, and schoolwork, they often went the entire week without any time to just hang out. If it weren’t for the times he and Sarah were scheduled together at the restaurant, they might go even longer without seeing each other if either of them had a different job. Maybe he was giving Syd too much credit to think he might be trying to pull a fast one by transferring to within two hours of Sarah.

For the first time since she’d brought up Syd, Angel smiled genuinely, kissing the tip of her nose. “You’re right. I promise I am gonna try my damnedest not to not let the mood shift so drastically the next time you bring him up. I don’t want you thinking you can’t talk to me about him.”

A slow mischievous smiled crept up on Sarah’s face. “Maybe I should’ve mentioned it earlier.”

He almost dreaded asking, but she was smiling, so maybe it wasn’t anything annoying about Syd. He’d just made a promise he already knew was going to be tough to keep. “What?”

“My mom’s gone for the weekend.” She smiled even bigger now. “She and Elias took off to Vegas. I have the place to myself all weekend.”

Instantly, he was smiling big too. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Tugging her hand, he started the brisk walk to his car as Sarah giggled alongside of him. He’d made love to Sarah plenty of times, and he already knew it’d never get old. But having the pleasure of waking up with her in his arms didn’t happen nearly as often as he wished it could. He wasn’t sure what he was looking forward to more now—all the things he’d do to her this weekend or waking up with his arms tightly wound around her two mornings in a row.