A week later, Sadie was working on a client, a postal worker named Irene, inking a bracelet of skulls and bones and enjoying the work.

“Are you aware that you’ve been smiling to yourself for an hour?” Irene asked. “It’s super cute.”

Actually, Sadie had noticed the smile in the mirror this morning. Caleb’s mirror, since she’d spent every night this week at his house.

The smile wouldn’t go away.

At first, it’d disturbed her. Why the hell was she smiling all the damn time now anyway?

But she knew.

She felt . . . different. Fuller, from the inside out, starting in the region of her chest. Ivy had had told her that unfamiliar sensation was happiness.

Her phone buzzed on the side table and she glanced over at it. Her mom. She’d tried just about everything to get rid of the perma-smile but nothing had worked.

The call did it.

She hit ignore because she was working, but she didn’t need to answer the phone to know what her mom wanted.

To remind her that this weekend was the big practice rehearsal dinner at her parents’ house. She was to show up with a date. The same date she was supposedly bringing to the wedding the following week.

Somehow in spite of that, she remained shockingly smiley through the rest of the workday, no doubt thanks to the orgasms she’d had that morning in Caleb’s bed. And his shower. And in the kitchen . . .

At the end of her day, she left the Canvas Shop. She’d finally gotten her car back that morning, aided by a paycheck with some overtime on it—along with the fact that Caleb had paid her utilities for the year. She wouldn’t need a bus pass anymore, and that was a huge relief.

She slowed at the fountain in the courtyard, drawn in by the musical sound of the water falling into the copper bowl. More than a few people who worked or lived in this building had made wishes here, wishes for love. And those wishes had come true, a fact that was both fascinating and utterly terrifying.

“Thinking of making a wish?”

Sadie turned and found Ivy watching her. Ivy went through her pockets and pulled out a quarter.

“No need,” Sadie said. “Old Man Eddie already made a wish for me. I nearly dove into the fountain to yank the coin out.”

“Scared it wouldn’t take unless you made the wish yourself?”

“More like terrified the wish would take.”

Ivy smiled, but she seemed muted today.

“Maybe you should wish,” Sadie said.

“I wish all the time.”

This surprised Sadie. “You’re wishing for . . . love?”

Ivy shrugged. “Rumor is that it does make the world go round.”

Sadie let out a low laugh. “If you believe that, then I’ve got some swampland to sell you.”

Ivy gave her a get real look. “Have you seen yourself lately? You’re smiling. Like all the time.”

“That’s not love. That’s orgasms.”

“I’m betting it’s both,” Ivy said.

“Bite your tongue.” But Sadie was a little worried her friend was right. “You really want love in your life?”

Ivy shrugged. “Last year on my twenty-eighth birthday, I realized I was lonely. I figured out it was because I’ve never lived in one spot for longer than six months. I’ve never had a place that felt like home, or a person in my life from one birthday to the next. I love it here and I’m staying.”

“And you want someone to share this life with.”

Ivy nodded. “I do. Have you never wished for that, not once? If Caleb went away right now and your life went back to it just being you, would that work for you?”

She’d never thought about it, but for the rest of the day she thought about little else.

Because she couldn’t imagine her life going back to how it had been without Caleb in it.

The next morning, Sadie woke up to Caleb’s alarm sometime before the butt crack of dawn. While her mind struggled to awareness, a long arm reached past her to silence the alarm, and then the hand that belonged to that arm slid down her back to cup her ass, reminding her she was naked.

Caleb slept in the nude and he liked skin-to-skin. She had to admit she was quickly getting addicted to the feeling of being held in his warm embrace all night up against that lean hard body.

And he was right. He wasn’t perfect. No perfect man got up this early every morning by choice to go to the gym and meet up with friends and pulverize the shit out of each other.

For fun.

Sometimes he’d come home between the gym and work, and if she was still in his bed, he’d go for yet another round of cardio, where, let’s face it, she was more willing receiver than active participant because she didn’t do mornings.

But she was slowly starting to come around to his way of thinking.

Today he came back. She heard him let himself in and she lay still, feigning sleep as he planted a hand on either side of her and leaned over her.

“Rise and shine, Tough Girl,” he said.

They’d spent the long, dark hours of the night ruining each other for other people and she was still deliciously sated and limp as a rag doll. She needed another hour of sleep.

Or eight. “Hmph” was all she could manage.

“Last night you said I should come back this morning because you’d decided starting your day with multiple orgasms is the only way to go.”

This was true, but she still didn’t move or open her eyes. Maybe if she played dead, he’d let her sleep a little longer.

She should’ve known better. He grabbed a fistful of the covers and tugged them off of her.

“It’s like you want to die,” she said into his pillow.

With a soft laugh, he gave her bare ass a playful swat. “You’d have to get up for that.”

She’d rolled over to find him in his usual workout gear, a painted-on long-sleeve athletic shirt and shorts, his body still shiny with sweat.

Her good parts sat up and danced because good god, he was gorgeous. Suddenly she wasn’t tired. Sitting up, she gave him a crook of her finger, and with a wide grin, he lifted her off the bed. She pushed his shorts off while he rid himself of his shirt. Before she could so much as take a nibble, he scooped her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and headed toward his shower.

“Hey!”

Turning his head, he took a bite of her ass, making her squeal. Then he dumped her into the shower. The only thing that saved his life was that the water was steamy hot.

Then he proceeded to give her the best shower of her life.

Thirty minutes later, he was dressing for work as she lay facedown, spread-eagled on his bed, thinking of never moving again. “I want to marry your shower and have its babies,” she said, making him laugh.

“Dinner later?” he asked.

“Can’t,” she muttered into the sheets. She managed to turn her head and stare at him through the hair in her face. “I’ve got a family thing. I’m supposed to bring a date.” She’d been dreading this for a while because he’d be the perfect date. He represented the exact kind of man her parents dreamed about her ending up with: smart, successful, wealthy. And how ironic was that? She’d spent her entire life bucking the system and yet here she was, not only sleeping with a guy they’d love, but secretly yearning for a lot more.

If she brought him tonight, her mom and dad would take one look at him and back off bugging her about finding someone. And then after dinner they’d all get into her parents’ recently upgraded and remodeled hot tub that they were so proud of, which meant Caleb would take off his shirt. Everyone would see his tattoos and swallow their tongues. They’d change their opinions about him based solely on his appearance, and she’d be able to throw that in their faces, that they were judgy judgersons.

It’d be awesome.

Caleb pulled on a tie, but left it loose as he tucked his shirttails into his pants and adjusted himself. This gave her a body quiver, which was ridiculous. Since when was she a sex fiend? And then she realized he hadn’t spoken, so she sat up. “You didn’t answer.”

“I didn’t hear a question,” he said.

She just stared at him, fighting pride. Why was it so hard to ask this beautiful, incredibly smart, and incredibly out-of-her-league man out?

With a small smile, he came to the bed and sat at her hip, pushing her still damp hair back from her face. “You like me,” he said, sounding quite pleased with himself.

“I do.”

“A lot.”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe.”

“I like you too, Sadie. A lot.”

The question escaped her before she could stop it. “Why?”

“Why do I like you?”

She grimaced. “Scratch that. I didn’t mean to ask that again.”

“I like you,” he said, ignoring her insecurity, “because you’re—”

“Weird? Impulsive? Loony-toons?”

“Well, yes,” he agreed with a smile. “But also smart and smartassy, and sexy and adorable—”

She held up a finger. “Okay, you’re going to need to take that one back. I am not adorable.”

“Sorry, but you don’t get to auto-correct my opinions,” he said. “You’re also grumpy in the mornings—”

“You’re supposed to be listing the stuff you like about me.”

“I am. You’re not the only one who’s messed up, in case you’ve forgotten. Anyway, you’re also incredibly beautiful and—”

“Okay, stop.” She closed her eyes. “I know I asked, but I’m not emotionally equipped for that many adjectives.”

He stepped into her and waited until she opened her eyes. “I think about you,” he murmured. “I think about you just about all damn day long. Yesterday, I spent hours thinking about what you’d done to me in the shower that morning and I got hard. In an office meeting about budgets.”

“My knees are still sore,” she said.

“I’m working on a new product. Soft, giving tile.”

She laughed, and he smiled. “I’d do just about anything for you,” he murmured. “Something you haven’t figured out yet. Ask me what you want to ask me.”

She blew out another breath. “Will you come as my date to my family’s rehearsal rehearsal tonight?”

“I’d love to.” He kissed her, taking his time about it too. She was just about to yank him back to bed when he headed to the door. “Text me with details and what time to pick you up.”

And then he was gone. She picked up her phone and . . . changed his contact name from Do Not Even Think About Falling For This Guy to . . . Too Late, It’s Happened.

Before Caleb picked up Sadie for the evening at her family home, he made a few pit stops, the last being to Spence’s penthouse apartment at the top of the Pacific Pier Building.

Spence was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his and Colbie’s living room, surrounded by tools and drone parts. Colbie was sitting on their couch with a laptop, her fingers whirling away, probably hard at work at her next novel.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Caleb said to her but she just waved at him.

“No worries. With this guy . . .” she jerked her chin at her fiancé, Spence “. . . I can work through a drone drop. Literally,” she said dryly and went on typing.

Caleb turned to Spence. “I thought we solved your drone problems. In fact, we made a mint on the sale of the computer program.”

“We did,” Spence said and tossed aside two parts he’d been holding. “I’m making improvements. Or trying. And failing.” He finally looked up and did a double take at Caleb’s expression. “Hey, honey,” he said to Colbie, eyes on Caleb. “I need a beer. I’m going to go grab a six-pack. We’ll be right back.”

Caleb followed him out of the apartment. “How much beer are we getting that it takes two of us?” he asked as they took the stairs up to the rooftop and not down to the ground floor. “And since when do you keep it on the roof?”

Spence cut his eyes to him and then strode out across the rooftop right to the edge, where he sat with comfortable ease.

Caleb, not quite as comfortable with the five-story drop, remained back a few feet. Or twenty.

“Forget the beer. What’s going on with you?” Spence said.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. The last time I saw that particular look of panic on your face was when you first hooked NASA on a proposal for state-of-the-art payload software. They wanted to pay you more money than you’d ever seen for a program you hadn’t finished yet and weren’t even positive you could.”

Caleb blew out a breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. He studied his shoes for a long minute.

Spence waited, but he didn’t have the same amount of patience Caleb did. “Man, I’m hungry. Spill it.”

Caleb pulled his hand out of his pocket and thrust a small black box at him.

Spence took it and lifted the lid. A giant diamond ring wrapped in a swirl of black diamonds and another swirl of white diamonds winked at them both from a velvet cushion.

Spence raised a brow. “Well, this is awkward. I’m sort of already spoken for.”

“You’re an asshole,” Caleb said.

Spence didn’t even attempt to argue this. “And?”

Caleb closed the box and shoved it back into his pocket. “You’re not going to try to talk me out of this?”

“Why would I?”

“It’s sudden.”

Spence shook his head. “You’ve been falling for Sadie for over a year now. She’s been falling for you right back. Everyone but you two know it.”

Caleb stared at him in surprise.

“And who am I to talk?” Spence asked. “I fell in love with Colbie in less than three weeks. Hell, I fell in love with her on day one when I accidentally knocked her right into the fountain.” He clapped Caleb on the shoulder. “When are you going to ask her?”

“I don’t know.” Caleb shook his head. “Maybe after I talk her into loving me back, which could still be a while.”

Spence laughed. “I once watched you talk your way into a multimillion-dollar deal with Google in five minutes. My money’s on you.”

“This isn’t business.”

“No, it’s not,” Spence said. “It’s better. So don’t screw it up.”