Page 51 of Friends to WHAT?!

Wolfe ♥:Come up. The door to the right of the hallway leads to the stairwell. My door is the one on the right when you get upstairs.

Wolfe ♥:The door is unlocked.

Uh…

Did he just invite me to his apartment?

No, I realize. He didn’tinviteme. He demanded my presence and told me how to make it happen. He…

Stars, Rushing River Wolfe is out tonight.

Shooting stars take off in my belly, and my fingers shake slightly as I text him back.

Leora:You want me to come up? Are you sure? If you need to take care of Amia tonight, it’s no biggie. We can hang out a different time.

Typing bubbles pop up, then disappear, then come back.

Wolfe ♥:We’ll take care of Amia together. Come here.

Oh. My. Stars.

I stare at the text for a while, marveling. I’ve dreamt of him saying those exact words to me. Eight of them, one contraction. In my dreams, they’re followed by three more words. Altogether a total of eleven—a nice, prime number. Or twelve if we un-contract a couple of words, but a dozen is nice, too.

I wait, breath bated, to see if the final three words to complete my fantasy will show up.

They do not, but something almost as good does.

Fox Blackwood.

“Come on,” he grumbles, tilting his head to indicate I should meet him at the end of the bar where an opening allows himto exit the back. “Wolfe wants you upstairs, and he said you’re waffling about it.”

“I’m not waffling,” I disagree. “I’m taking a moment to pinch myself.”

Fox’s stern get-yourself-to-my-brother-now-and-how-dare-you-keep-him-waiting look softens. “Ah,” he says, then immediately calls back his impatience. “You can pinch yourself on the way. Let’s go.”

He doesn’t wait for me to comply. He simply bends, grabs my arm, and drags me down the bar, forcing patrons to vacate their stools or get run over by me. “Sorry,” I tell Harry, a very nice man with a prominent silver tooth.

“Don’t worry about it, darlin’,” he replies, grinning. “Tell Wolfe I said ‘hello’!”

When we reach the end of the bar, Fox lifts my arm up so that he can flip up the counter and walk through. Then, with a grunt, he leads me to the door to the upstairs and nudges me through it. “Up the stairs, door to your right,” he reiterates Wolfe’s directions. “After you’re done delivering Harry’s ‘hello’, give Amia a hug for me.” He smirks. “And Wolfe a kiss.”

He laughs as he tips the door shut on my blushing face.

Stars. And I thoughtmyBlackwood boy was a handful.

I ascend the stairs with careful, measured steps to match my breathing. By the time I reach the top, my heart rate has marginally calmed. When I catch sight of Wolfe’s door, though, it leaps right back up.

There’s nothing special about the door, really. It’s just a door, set into a wall, at the end of a flight of stairs tucked into the back of a bar. And on the other side lies Wolfe and his daughter, waiting for me—wanting me to come.

My text tone pings.

Wolfe ♥:The door is unlocked. Stop standing in the hallway and get in here.

I cough, drop my phone into my tote, and stride the final few feet to the door. I twist the knob, and the door opens.

I step inside.

“Over here,” Wolfe calls lowly, drawing my attention to a long, blue couch.