I groaned when I lifted the heavy box onto the table. Mason rushed over to help me, but the hard part was already done. He kissed my sweaty forehead and I wrinkled my nose.

“That’s so gross. I’m a hot mess and you’re kissing me.”

“It’s salty,” he teased. “You could be covered in mud and I’d still kiss you Ms. Carter, soon to be Mrs. Davis again.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going to be anything if we don’t get this place done. We only have a day left and I feel like it’s worse now than when you first got here.”

He grinned. “That’s because we’re making progress. The movers are coming tomorrow morning and the boxes will be out of here. You’ll be able to see just how much we’ve actually accomplished then.”

I rolled my eyes. He was in for a rude awakening when he saw just how much stuff I had.

“Knock, knock,” Luke called from the front door.

“Come in,” I said. He wrapped me up in a huge hug and I caught my first glimpse of the handsome James that Luke kept going on and on about. Luke laughed as I pushed him out of the way and hugged James like he was already one of my best friends.

“You’ll have to excuse Emmy, she doesn’t know a stranger,” Mason said as he stacked up another box.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Luke said under his breath. “Em, your apartment looks like a bomb went off in here.”

Mason groaned. “Don’t tell her that, she already thinks we aren’t going to be out in time.”

“Where did Lexi get off to? She’s supposed to be helping me pack books,” I said, looking around and down the hall. “She must be in one of the bedrooms.”

James, Mason and Luke kept moving boxes while I went to look for Lexi. I walked up the hall to see if I could hear her. If she was talking to the hospital, I didn’t want to interrupt. When I found her, Lexi was on the phone, but it wasn’t with the hospital.

“I told you I can’t come up this weekend. Em is moving and I promised I would help her pack.” She was quiet for a few seconds. “I miss you too, you know that.” Pause. “I can’t wait to see you either. Next weekend, I promise.” Her voice dropped into a husky sound I’d never heard her use on any man. “Yes, and I’ll wear that thing you like.”

Oh god, I had to get out of here.

Who in the hell was she talking to? Lexi hadn’t told me about anyone she was dating. Obviously, she knew this guy pretty well though. As much as I wanted to know, there was a reason that she hadn’t told me anything. Lexi was one of the most private people I knew. If I pushed, it would probably only make her clam up even more.

I walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. Mason gave me a funny look, but I waved him off. Luckily he knew to leave well enough alone. It took me a few minutes to gather myself and start packing books again.

“Sorry about that,” Lexi said as she walked back into the room. “The hospital.”

I nodded, but didn’t reply. It would have been one thing for her not to say anything, but it made me mad that she was lying about it.

“Sure as hell didn’t sound like a work call to me,” I mumbled.

“What?” Lexi asked.

“Nothing, just telling myself how behind we are on getting this done. I’m worried we won’t be ready to go tomorrow.”

“I’ll stay as late as I have to tonight so we can get everything done. You and Mase are staying at my place right?”

“That’s the plan if you’re still okay with it.”

She gave me a funny look. “Of course I am. That’s what we’ve been saying for the past few weeks now.”

“I just know things change sometimes. I didn’t know if you had anything else you were supposed to be doing. Somewhere else you needed to be.”

“Like where?” she asked, clearly confused at how I was acting.

“You said the hospital called. I thought maybe you needed to go in to work.”

She flushed. “Even if I had to go in, you know you guys would be welcome at the apartment. Em, you lived there for months for goodness sake.”

I looked at her pointedly. “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t keeping you from something else you wanted to be doing.”

She blanched. “What did you hear—”

“Do you guys want to order Chinese?” Mason asked, kissing my head.

“Sounds good, babe. Why don’t you order and Lexi and I can go pick it up.”

She glared at me, but I raised my eyebrow. Mason looked back and forth between the two of us. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to leave.”

I nodded and went back to packing books. Lexi wouldn’t look in my directions, but she continued to work next to me until Mason told us it was time to pick up the food. The restaurant was down the street. At least getting out of the apartment would give us a few minutes to talk. It was one thing for her to keep her secrets, but it was another for her to lie to me. She followed me to the elevator and I noticed the slight hesitation in her step before climbing in.

I sighed. “Look, I’m not going to make you talk about it, but I hate the fact that you feel like you need to lie about whatever’s going on in your life. I thought we could talk to each other about anything.”

She stared at the ground. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, I just don’t know what to say. Things aren’t…serious between me and this guy. Things might go that way, but I don’t know. We’re just having fun.”

Whatever that phone call was sounded like it was more than just fun, but I wasn’t going to push. I’d gotten my point across.

“Thank you for helping, but if you want to go see him, you should go. We have plenty of help and it sounded like you really wanted to go.”

“I do kind of want to go, if I left now I could probably make it there by midnight.”

I shook my head. “Midnight? Where in the hell does this guy live?” I paused. “You know what, never mind. I just want you to be happy.”

She smiled. “I’m trying.”

“Can you at least change out of your somber black and wear something a little more…colorful? I’ll let you borrow something.”

She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I really appreciate that, but I think I’ll go just like I am. If he can’t handle that, then he probably needs to go anyway. I’ll still walk with you to go get the food. Luke and James can split my portion. I’m sure those guys worked up an appetite.”

I laughed. “You caught on to that too? The sexual tension in that place is stifling. I feel like we need to keep a fire extinguisher next to the door just for them.”

“I’m glad to see him happy though.”

“Me too.”

“I’m happy to see you happy again too. It looks like Mason really has changed.”

“He has. I have too. We seem so much calmer now. I think we just needed this time apart to figure everything out.”

We walked into the small restaurant and I picked up the food. I would be sad not to have this place within walking distance anymore. Dinner had came from here at least once a week for the past year and a half, since I’d moved into the building basically. I smiled and waved goodbye as we walked out.

“Thank you,” Lexi said quietly as we made our way back to the apartment.

“For what?”

“For not trying to make me talk. I appreciate that.”

I winked. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

“I think you know me better than anyone else. If things ever get serious, you’ll be the first one I’ll tell, but I honestly don’t see this going anywhere.”

“Just don’t lie, okay? I really didn’t mean to overhear your conversation, but you know I have a thing about lying, especially after everything that happened with Mason.”

“I should be more upset that you did overhear me, but I think I’m more relieved than anything.”

I grinned and opened the door to the apartment. “So what’s his name?”

“Whose name?” Luke said as he walked up to take the food.

“You’re so freaking nosy,” Lexi said. “Just take the damn food and go kiss on your boyfriend some more.”

Luke grinned. “Gladly.”

We watched the guys go into the kitchen with the food and I reached out to squeeze Lexi’s hand. “I’m here if you need anything. It doesn’t matter that I’m back down in Georgia, I’ll be on the first flight here in a second if you need me.”

She nodded and I saw a side of Lexi I hadn’t in a long time. This woman in front of me had always been strong, but in that second, she looked vulnerable, like a woman scared of falling too hard and too fast for a man. Lexi could handle herself, I just hoped that she’d let this guy in enough to see the real her.

“You should get going. Have a safe trip.”

She pulled me in tight for a hug. “You too. I’ll miss having you a few floors down.”

“Lexi? Don’t fight it. If this is supposed to be it, let it happen.”

She nodded once and gave me a lopsided smile as she went to tell the guys goodbye.