I nodded. Something deep in my gut told me he was speaking the truth. "It's okay."

Turning his entire body toward me, one foot on the floor, his other leg bent and resting on the mattress, his hands landed on my shoulders and slowly inched their way down my arms. His smooth palms curved over my biceps and elbows. "It's not okay. I should have settled things when I saw her," Sacha replied. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around me in a loose, comforting hug as one of his kneecaps pressed against mine. "I’ve been nuts about you. I guess I just assumed you knew.”

“Oh.” Knew? How? Okay, maybe the signs had been there but I hadn’t let myself get too attached to them.

"Gaby," he whispered, bringing one hand up to drape the end of my ponytail over my shoulder. "I don't know what I'm doing with you half the time." Sacha snickered almost lazily. "I like you so much it makes me stupid."

I couldn't help but snort, pulling back and glancing up at him. "I think you were already in that boat long before I came along, Sassy."

He chuckled softly, leaning forward a moment later to kiss my cheek. It might have made me snuck in a surprised breath. "See? Not liking you is like fighting gravity.”

This fucking guy was going to be the death of me.

"Lots of people don't like me, like Miles," I scoffed. "Everyone else just puts up with me because of Eli, probably."

Lips planted themselves high on my cheek twice and each time I had to battle the urge to crawl into his lap and ask for more. "You don't see things clearly." His nose made the trip down until he was nuzzling my throat. "You're special to a lot of people, but especially to me."

I looked at him, seeing those smoke-colored eyes much closer than I was used to. I wasn't fishing for compliments, or reassurance in the love that people like my brother and Mason had for me. I knew that they cared. Their love was easy and unconditional.

Whether this thing between us was just a whole lot of “like” or love—that I wasn't sure about. I'd grown up sharing things my entire life. There had never been a “mine” option with my siblings, everything belonged to the community, but with Sacha… there wasn't that option. There could never be that option.

"It's over, though?" I asked him, looking down at the bed. "Between you and Ron—I mean, Liz?"

Another slow kiss landed on my throat as he kept eye contact with me through his lashes, lingering the heat of a thousand fires. "I swear."

"I can smell your bullshit a mile away," I warned him, trying my best to focus on what I was saying and not how he was making me feel with all those kisses.

Sacha laughed low. "Oh, I know, Princess. I don't expect any less, but I promise. There’s nothing there and there hasn’t been for a long time. Even when there was, it was nothing close to this." He touched my ear. “You know you can trust me.”

The hell of it was, I knew I could.

“We’re fine then?” he asked with hesitation stamping his tone. “Better than before?”

I nodded and blinked at him, needing and wanting to make sure that we were on the same page. “Just to make sure… you have feelings for me too, right?”

Those light colored eyes rolled before he pressed his forehead against mine, his nose touching my own. I could sense his breath on my mouth as he whispered, “So many feelings you have no idea.”

Well, shit. What came out of my mouth was probably the dumbest, most understated reply that I could have possibly come up with: “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked. I could feel his grin, though I couldn’t see it from how close we were.