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“I know.”

“And I'm not asking you to choose between us.”

“Becks—”

“But I'm not going to pretend I don't want you just because it might make things complicated.”

I stare at her. She gives me a small, nervous smile.

“And for the record, I'm a grown woman. My brother doesn't get a vote on who I kiss.”

A laugh escapes me. “Pretty sure he'd disagree.”

“Then it's a good thing he's in St. Louis.”

Fuck. I slide my hand around her waist.

“Come here.”

She steps into me, and I bend, catching her beneath the knees with one arm and around her back with the other.

She squeals as I lift her. “Bishop!”

“What?”

“I can walk!”

“And I can carry you.”

Her arms loop around my neck. “Very caveman of you.”

“Been called worse.”

She laughs against my shoulder.

And for the first time tonight, some of the tension in my chest eases.

I carry her up the remaining stairs and down the hallway. When we reach her bedroom, she shifts in my arms. But I keep walking.

Her fingers tighten against the back of my neck. “Bishop?”

I stop outside my door. “Yeah?”

She glances toward her room. Then back at me. “Where are we going?”

I look at her. “Where do you want to go?”

Her gaze moves to the door behind me. For a moment, she doesn't say anything. Then she reaches past my shoulder and turns the handle. “Your room.”

Two words.

And I'm pretty sure my heart forgets how to beat.

I set her on her feet just inside the doorway. My bedroom is dark except for the faint glow coming through the windows. I cross to the far wall and open the blinds, letting the Chicago skyline spill into the room.

I ignore the view because Delaney is standing in the middle of my bedroom wearing a black dress that I haven't stopped thinking about since she came down the stairs. And the fact that she's here, with me, is doing a pretty good job of fucking up my ability to think.

A low, irritated sound comes from the corner.