I turned into him like a mistake that I was happy to make. We were so close, our chests grazing, and his hands planted on my hips. He was hunched over me, his head lowered like maybe he wanted to kiss me.

I stared at his chest, wishing I could call down my big UX energy and just say what was on my mind.

“Bane.”

I grunted, lifting my gaze to meet his.

He smirked. “I meant babe.”

“What?” I furrowed my brows. I heard his words, knew what he was doing, but my brain couldn’t seem to compute, to align data with the value of its evidence.

He took a large breath and exhaled. “I’m a grown man who can’t seem to express myself as well as I’d like sometimes.”

“True.”

“But I’m learning how, and honestly, you make me want to. You make it easier. You made me realize how much I wanted to open up to you during our time together. And those days together were the best days of my life.”

His gaze dipped to my mouth for a second before he went on. “You’re unlike any woman I’ve known. You make me different. Better. My true self. You let me shine and you enable me to thrive. We may have started out as a lie, but…”

He swallowed, as if maybe he was taking a huge risk by continuing. But I was ever eager to hear him say it. So much so that I had bunched up the sides of his shirt in my fists. “It never seemed fake to me. It was natural to be into you, because the truth is, I’ve liked you for a long time.”

“You always bickered with me,” I protested weakly.

“Maybe I was just bad at flirting?”

“Horrible, apparently.”

“I think I’ve mastered it by now.” He gently ran a finger across my cheek and tucked wayward hair behind my ear.

I shivered. Masterful indeed.

“I didn’t mean for the truth to come out to my friends the way it did, when it did. And I’m deeply apologetic that it embarrassed you and put you on the spot. But know this, my friends adore you.”

“Really? After all that lying?”

“They said it might’ve started out as a lie, but they could see it wasn’t pretty quickly. And I wasn’t acting after some point. I hope…you weren’t acting, either?”

I shook my head, the words I’d wanted to say for so long releasing. “It’s easy to be with you, Sunny. The lie had become my truth.”

He smiled as if my confession had lifted the burden of a million deadlines from his shoulders. “The only reason I didn’t come after you to tell you how I felt was because my sister called.”

“Oh, no. Was it about your dad?”

He nodded. “Papa had a stroke, and we were worried this was the big one.”

I hugged Sunny close to me, my hands meeting behind his back. “Oh my god, Sunny. I’m so sorry. Is he okay?”

“Yes,” he said into my hair. “Thank you. There wasn’t too much damage and he’s home. It’s why I didn’t come earlier, why I’d been away from work. I was taking care of him.”

I blinked away tears. Here I was, so stupid thinking he didn’t give a crap about me to let me walk away like that.

He pulled away and swiped my cheeks. “Why are you crying? He’s okay.”

I sucked in a breath and shuddered. “I added unnecessary stress to an already hectic time by not calling back, didn’t I?”

“Don’t think that.”

“But I did. And I could’ve been there for you while you were dealing with everything. I wasn’t. I’m so sorry.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up.

“Why are you smiling?” I demanded.

He kissed the tear dribbling down my cheek. “Because you wanted to help me through something so personal. But now, I’m going to get a little personal.”

“Uh-oh.”

“I need to know what happened with the PM position. They offered it to me. Is that why you have anxiety?”

“Sunny! Congrats! I knew they would and it’s well deserved.”

He pinched his brows together, looking anything except happy. “Where does this leave you?”

“At Google. They made an offer, and I took it.”

Sunny lifted me off the floor. “Oh, shit! Big league! Congrats, babe.”

I laughed. “Oh my god! Put me down! Were you worried over my job?”

“Of course. I knew they must’ve offered it to you first, but why wouldn’t you take it, and where did it leave you? Hell, now I know. Google came knocking.”

“And I threw my hussy self at them. Please tell me you took the PM job.”

“I asked for the weekend. I’m going to accept on Monday.”

“Congrats…babe,” I said, mimicking his Denzel voice and horribly failing.

He lifted his chin. “So does this mean that you’re moving to Seattle?”

“If I can find an apartment. There aren’t a lot of places available near work, or ones that are affordable.”

“You’re not becoming moss.”

I groaned. “My mother will be ecstatic, and I know it’s the right move. I’m truly grateful. But I only have a couple of weeks before starting work, and the anxiety is getting to me. New workplace, huge company, moving, change. Oh my god, I have to pack. There’s not enough time.”

“Hmm. Maybe you can…crash at my apartment until you find a place?”

Warmth crept up my neck.