the wedding, the closer she is to figuring it out. And if she does before you fess up? You’re screwed.”
I blew out a breath, scrubbing a hand over my head. “I appreciate the heads up.”
Zach nodded. “Look, I’ll do my best to keep it under wraps for you. I like you, and I can see you’re a good guy. If there’s anything Belle needs in this world, it’s a guy who will treat her right. But… I’m not cool with the lying, man. And I promise — Belle isn’t after your money.”
“I know she’s not,” I said earnestly. “I mean, I know that now. But… the new issue is that I’ve been lying to her, and, even more pressing, she’s already fucked up from a guy who strung her along on lies in the past.”
“And he was a football player,” Zach finished for me.
I pointed at him. “Do you see the issue?”
Zach sipped his beer, nodding more to himself than to me as he digested it all. “I do, especially since she’s apparently put football players on her Never Ever Again list.” He gave me a look then. “Don’t ask me how I know that, and trust me when I say I wish I didn’t.”
I chuckled.
“I also wish I could tell you I was certain she’d be okay with you being a ball player, as long as you came out and told her. But… I don’t know. If Belle is anything, it’s unpredictable.”
I laughed. “Well, now I feel encouraged.”
Zach opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the girls were making their way back to us, and he cleared his throat. “Don’t even get me started on Roman Holiday.”
Belle laughed, reaching down for my hand. “Alright. Gemma and I decided that’s enough of the rom-com talk. Time for a dip.”
And with one last look of understanding from Zach, the conversation was muted, and the secret sealed — at least for now.
Belle
I’d never been more scared in my entire life.
I still remembered the first time I rode a rollercoaster. It was at Six Flags Over Georgia, I was eleven years old, and I’d literally pissed myself before demanding that my parents take me home. I also remembered when I almost wrecked my car in high school because a damn jumping spider had me swerving and braking and gassing until I finally was able to pull over and get the motherfucker out. I even vividly remembered when I’d had a near-death experience in college, thanks to not chewing my steak enough and getting it lodged in my throat before a patron of the restaurant gave me the Heimlich and shot that piece of meat out of my mouth like a rocket across the table.
All of these things were terrifying.
And yet, none of them matched up to what I felt in Makoa’s arms as we watched the fireworks over Chicago’s Navy Pier.
I was just standing there, minding my own business, a content smile on my face as those balls of fire exploded in the sky and shimmered in a downward stream toward the water.
And then it hit me.
All at once, like a flash flood through a canyon, I realized it. I felt comfortable in those beastly arms of his. I felt warm and safe with my back leaning against his chest. I had zero desire to fuck anyone else, zero desire to put distance between us, and absolutely zero desire to break things off with him in order to save myself.
For the first time since Nathan, I liked someone enough to stay. I liked someone enough to introduce them to my friends, to spend nights at their house and have them spend nights at mine.
And that realization shook me worse than a ghost ever could.
I was still up in my head about it all when Makoa and I said goodnight to Gemma and Zach in the elevator of my building. They hopped off on the seventeenth floor and Makoa held my hand until we reached the twentieth, leading the way down the hall to my condo before I used my key to let us both inside.
Makoa headed into the kitchen to pour us each a glass of wine, and he was going on and on about the day, about how much he loved Zach and Gemma, how awesome the fireworks show was, how he couldn’t wait for us to all go out on a boat again. It wasn’t until he turned to face me again, two glasses in hand, and saw me