I don’t like watching Mia drink as much as she is. She can say it’s about her speech, but she has another month before she has to give it, so I know something else is bothering her.

“I’ll have another,” she slurs to the waitress, and Chandler shakes his head at her. She boldly flips him off, and the waitress leaves to grab her another round, probably thinking that we’re nothing but a shit-show.

Chandler’s phone rings . . . again, and of course, he answers it. If he’s not working, he’s trying to talk his way into a girl’s pants. When he stands and heads for the door, Mia’s drunken eyes follow him.

“Would you slow down, for me?”

She looks at me, resting her chin atop her hand. “Why? Why would I do anything for you, Roan?”

“Come on, don’t be like that.”

“No . . . you don’t be like that. We’ve already established that you don’t get to tell me what to do.” I don’t respond, and a moment later, she heaves a deep sigh, stands, and stumbles off to the restroom.

Chandler comes back to the table, and when I look at him, he’s practically bouncing with energy. “What’s up?” I ask.

“Nothing. Mia in the restroom?”

“Yeah.”

“Listen, I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“You don’t like her or anything, do you?”

“What? Me? No way, man.”

“You sure? I just sense something going on between you two lately.”

“Yeah, for sure, I’d tell you.”

“Good, thank you, man. I mean if it were any other girl, I wouldn’t care, but she’s my sister and all the family I have. I’d hate for something to go on between you two, and it come between us. Plus, she’s had it rough in the dating department, and I just want the best for her.”

I should be mad that he doesn’t think I’m good enough for his sister, but I agree. Chandler knows just as well as I do that she and I together would be bad. So, I’m gonna take his advice and stay as far away from her as I can.

“You have nothing to worry about, bro.”

“Good, listen, I gotta go handle some business if you know what I mean. Can you get Mia home safely?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks, I owe you,” he says and pats my shoulder on his way out. And like that, he’s gone.

Chandler has always been all over the place. I find it a bit funny that he can get a phone call, draw the line between Mia and me, and then be on his way. That’s Chandler, though.

The waitress sets Mia’s new drink and shot down, but I know I’m not gonna let her have them. “We’re actually done, could I get the bill?”

“Sure thing.”

Mia still isn’t back when the bill for two beers, four drinks, and four shots hits the table.

Jesus, no wonder she’s still not back from the bathroom.

I leave cash on the table and head to the back hallway leading to the restrooms. “Mia?” I call out and knock on the bathroom door. She doesn’t answer, and I glance behind me. There isn’t anyone there, so I push the door open just far enough to peek inside. It appears to be empty, so I slip in.

The bathroom is noiseless, so I move to the only stall with a closed door. “Mia, are you okay?”

“Get out of here, Roan!” she yells at me. I laugh. She really should know me better than that.

“Let me in,” I tell her.

“No!”

“Come on.”

I hear her move around, so I back up, giving her enough room to open the door and walk out.

“Why are you in here?”

“I got worried, you’ve had a ton to drink, and I didn’t know what was going on.”

“Chandler is going to kill you.”

“He’s gone,” I tell her as she washes her hands, looking back at me in the reflection of the mirror. Even drunk, she is gorgeous. “You need to leave, I’m not your problem to worry about.”

“I’m not leaving, Chandler asked me to get you home safely.”

She shakes her head as she pulls some paper towels from the dispenser, dries her hands, and then braces herself against the sink. For drinking as much as she did, she seems to really be holding her shit together pretty well.

“I’ll get myself home.” She glares at me and straightens. Then she backs up and stumbles, but I somehow catch her before she falls. The instant that my hands wrap around the heat of her body, all I want to do is pull her closer.

Mia is perfect. Everything about her is what I want. But I can’t give her what she needs—what she deserves—plain and simple. With that thought, I loosen the hold I have on her body. The look in her eyes is dejected, and it breaks me from the inside out.

“Will you at least let me drive you home?”

“No, I’m not getting in your car with you, Roan.”

“Well, you’re not driving in your condition,” I tell her, and she lets out an aggravated sigh before shoving through the restroom door on a mission out of here. I’m close behind her. I don’t care what she says, I will not let her drive like this. As she walks, she doesn’t look back, and I don’t stop following.

After a few blocks, she stops in front of a sky rise, and as she reaches for the door, she looks over at me as I cross the street. I make my way to her, catching up to her before she goes inside.

This must be where she lives.

“You can go now.” Her tone is aggravated as the wind whips around her.

“I’ll walk you to your door.” It earns me a glare, but she relents and heads inside. She doesn’t say a single thing as she leads me to the elevator, and then we ride it up to her floor. God, I hate how I’ve lost her.

The doors open, and she walks down a long hallway and to her front door.

“I’m home, happy?” she asks and glances over at me. A stray piece of her hair is stuck to her bottom lip. Gingerly, I reach for it, prepared to have my hand slapped away.

“I’m the furthest thing from happy, Mia,” I tell her, removing the silk strand from her mouth. My thumb brushes her lip. The point where our bodies connect is so small, yet so fucking powerful, that all the blood rushes to the tip of my shaft. In this moment, I want nothing more than to throw her over my shoulder, carry her inside her apartment, and have her again. I won’t do it. Mia is too extraordinary of a woman, she deserves someone to give her the world, and unfortunately, I can’t be that man.