“Babe, every one of those guys had pu**y lined up at the door. Bitches were gagging for it. They’d do anything to get their hooks into those men and those men knew it. They didn’t want a woman who’d do anything. They wanted a woman who knew her own mind and wouldn’t do anything. Not a single one of your posse lets their man walk all over them. And not a single one lets them get away with shit. At least not without dishin’ up a fair amount of attitude before they let them get away with it which is the definition of not letting them get away with it.”

This, I had to admit, was true. At the very least, if one of the Hot Bunch got bossy, they’d get an eye roll, but usually they bought a whole lot more. Those boys might get their way but that didn’t mean they didn’t have to work for it.

I just never looked at it that way.

Ren wasn’t done.

“With your crew, you get what you see, not some twisted version who’s tyin’ herself into knots to give you what they think you wanna see. And even if every one of you and your crew are totally f**kin’ whacked in your own unique ways, it’s just you and all you. Not some bullshit fantasy that will go up in smoke the minute you get your hooks in me.”

There was a lot there, and all of it made total, if surprising, sense.

But I got stuck on one thing.

And being me, I called him on it.

“I’m not whacked!” I stated (loudly).

“Ally, you been f**kin’ me for a goddamned year, in love with me since the night we met, and pushing me away that whole time. That’s whacked.”

“There were circumstances that led to all that, Zano.”

“And you took your sweet time sharing those with me, and I’ll add, did it in a goddamn motel hours away from home, after rescuing some random damsel in distress who got f**king buried alive that you met on your f**kin’ computer, for God’s sake, and you did it during a f**kin’ drama. Baby, that, all of that, is whacked.”

“Faye’s not random. She’s my friend!” I shouted.

“You met her in person last night!” he shouted back.

“So?” I asked, still shouting.

“Jesus, are we honestly fighting about the fact you’re in love with me?” he asked.

“Words you’ll never hear if you keep up this bossy in your face bullshit, Zano,” I returned (again, loudly).

He scowled at me.

Then he rolled off, shifting to his back in the bed. He lifted his hands to his face and rubbed, muttering under them, “Fuck me.”

I rolled to my side, got up on an elbow and requested to know, “If I try to leave and go find Darius, are you going to pin me to the bed again?”

He removed his hands from his face and locked eyes with me. “Fuck yes.”

“God!” I exclaimed, falling to my back on the bed with a plop.

Within an instant, Ren was looming over me.

His hand came to my jaw and his face dipped close.

I glared.

“I’m in love with you, Ally.”

I stopped glaring and my heart flipped.

“What?” I whispered.

He didn’t repeat himself.

He said something a lot longer and almost (but not quite) as good.

“I knew it could happen when you were cool when I told you about my dad and you wrapped your hand around my thigh. I definitely knew it could happen when you went wild for me on my stairs. Shit went down and it took a while but I knew it did happen when you cried in my arms after Sadie had her thing. Anyone who would feel that badly about being mean and care so deeply about another human being’s f**ked up life I knew was the woman for me. You gave me a run for my money, and once I stopped finding it a pain in my ass and started enjoying it, I did nothing but. I enjoyed every f**kin’ second, Ally. And every f**kin’ second I’ve never doubted how I was feeling. And just to be clear, how I was feeling, every day through this game we’ve been playing, was that I was falling deeper in love with you.”

Holy crap.

“Seriously?” I breathed.

“Seriously,” he declared firmly.

I stared up at him, my heart beating hard, my stomach melting, my hands itching to touch him, words getting clogged in my throat.

With effort, I was able to let some out and the ones that came were, “I’ll go to Ava and Luke’s wedding with you.”

When I was done speaking, I watched him close his eyes then watched as he dropped his head so his forehead was against mine.

Whoa.

Wow.

God.

Ren Zano loved me.

I got choked up again and put a hand to his chest, sliding it up to curl around the side of his neck. At the same time I lifted my other hand and wrapped it around his wrist at my jaw.

He lifted his head an inch and opened his beautiful eyes.

And there it was in all its glory.

God.

He loved me.

I so totally didn’t see that coming.

But I was over the freaking moon that it did.

“Maybe I’m a little whacked,” I whispered.

He said nothing which meant he agreed, just maybe not about the “a little” part.

Suddenly, for the first time in a very long time, I was uncertain.

But I’d very nearly f**ked this up by being emotional and maybe a bit stupid (okay, maybe not “maybe” about that last part).

I had to stop doing that.

Therefore, I asked quietly, “Don’t you think it’s a little weird, a woman saying she fell in love with a man the first night they met?”

“No,” he answered immediately as his eyes got warmer and more beautiful.

My nose started tingling.

I swallowed.

“Do you love me, Ally?” he asked in his sweet voice.

I stared into his eyes. I drew in a breath.

Then I answered, “Yes, Ren. I love you.”

I didn’t get to stare into his eyes as they responded to that.

Because his mouth and body were responding to it.

That was to say, I was in his arms and he was kissing me.

Hard.

My mouth and body, specifically my heart and my happy place, responded to his kiss (and the f**king righteous fact that he loved me) and I rolled him to his back with me on top. I shoved my hands under his shirt and yanked up.

He lifted up to sitting, forcing me to straddle him, and ended the kiss only to finish what I started, tug off his shirt and toss it aside.

Then he tugged off my tee and tossed it aside.

His arms closed around me, his mouth took mine again, and he fell back, taking me with him and twisting so I was on my back, Ren on me.

His hands moved on me and I liked it.