“How did your parents meet?”

“My father was living a double life. He was married when he started dating my mother, picked her up in the diner she was waitressing at. He’d come out to Long Island to see her but never brought her back to the City for fear of being seen. Once she found out the truth, that was the end of it. But by that time, it was too late. She was pregnant with me and eventually found out what a rich, lying prick she’d been involved with.”

“You mentioned before that your grandfather was the one who actually saw to it that you got an inheritance?”

“Yes. My grandfather controlled everything at the time. My mother actually went to him without my knowing and told him about me. I was in my teens at the time. She didn’t ask for anything, just wanted him to know about my existence. I guess he understood what a loser his own son was. After the DNA test, Grandad had his will redrawn so that I got an equal share of everything when I turned twenty-four. As you can imagine, Daddy Dearest and big brother were just thrilled about that.”

“Your grandfather sounds like a good man.”

I took a deep breath as memories of him flashed through my mind. “He was. He passed away a couple of years ago. As much as some days I wish I never knew about my history, I’ll always be grateful to him and for the brief time I got to know him. Before he died, he always made an effort to visit me to make sure I was doing okay.”

When I pulled up to the house, we lingered for a bit until she turned to me.

“Do you want to come in?”

Yes.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

“I thought you made it clear to me that nothing could ever happen between us.”

“Exactly.”

“So…what’s the harm in coming inside if we know where things stand? Besides, we’ll be far from alone.”

That was true. She lived with a fuck ton of people in a share house. That made me feel better, and also gave me no real excuse not to take her up on her offer. Just a few minutes, I told myself.

I exhaled before shutting off the car and getting out.

It was a beautiful estate—if I did say so myself, right on the water and sprawling. Everything was new inside from top to bottom.

Two girls and a guy were hanging out in the living room watching TV when we entered. Several pizza boxes, beer bottles, and rolled-up napkins were strewn about.

Gia introduced me. “Rush, this is Caroline, Simone, and Allan…three of my roommates.” She looked over at me. “This is Rush.”

Your landlord. I laughed inwardly.

“Hi,” I said, sizing up the dude. I was pretty sure I’d seen him around town before canoodling with another dude.

At least, he was one guy I didn’t have to worry about.

I never understood how people could deal with the share house situation. I would never want to live with so many strangers up my ass all of the time. But I knew that for many, that arrangement was the only chance in hell they had of living in the Hamptons for the summer. I hated that I was starting to get a little jaded about that kind of thing, forgetting what it was like to be piss poor.

Gia nudged her head for me to follow her. I had secretly hoped she planned to stay in the main living area.

“Where are we going?”

“To my room…”

The warning bells in my head were officially sounding off. Heading to Gia’s bedroom was a bad fucking idea. Not to mention, walking right behind her gave me a view of her ass in the tight black pants she was wearing. My dick stiffened. The only reason I was agreeing to this was to prove a point, that I wasn’t afraid to be alone with her.

“Welcome to my humble room.” She bounced on the bed. “I lucked out, ended up getting my own bedroom when most of the others have to share.”

I looked around at the mostly lavender decor. “It’s nice.”

She continued to bounce as she looked up at me. Her fucking tits were bouncing right along with her. “You look tense, Rush.”

Fiddling with my watch, I said, “It’s late.”

Gia tilted her head. “Have you given any thought to our bet?”

“Bet?”

“You know…I give up candy and you give up smoking.”

That’s right.

“Sure, yeah.”

Her eyes widened as she leaned in. “And?”

“Why are we bothering with this bet again?”

“We’re trying to save your life and save me from diabetes.”

“Oh. Gotcha. So, how does it work?” I asked.

“You stop smoking cold turkey, and I stop eating candy. Then we have to come up with penalties if we aren’t able to stick to the program.”

I had a light bulb moment. I’d been putting off telling her I’d fixed her car because I didn’t want her to question my intentions. This was the perfect opportunity to have her indirectly find out about it.