“Nope. My mother said she needed to spend some time with Cal, that she’s been so busy she feels as though she’s been neglecting him—which is just as well, because I wouldn’t leave you here alone with Kouretas around, anyway.”

“You don’t have to babysit me,” she said. “You can go hang out with your brothers at the bar and play some pool or whatever. I’ll stay in and keep the doors locked.”

“It’s a weeknight. Gavin and Eli are both with their families.”

“We could have a glass of wine and sit in the hot tub,” she suggested.

“What about Kouretas?”

“It’s dark. If we keep the lights off, he won’t be able to get anything—not from beyond the fence.”

“And if he comes in the yard?”

“I’ll wear one of your ball caps and my big sunglasses. Even if he gets close, he can’t snap anything worth selling, not without sufficient lighting.”

Made sense. “Okay. That just leaves one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Who’s making dinner?”

She laughed. “I guess I will, but I miss the good old days when you did it without me asking.”

Unable to resist her smile, he grinned back. “How about we do it together?”

Tia was in trouble. It was a different kind of trouble than she’d ever been in before, but it was trouble all the same. She realized that when she enjoyed cooking with Seth as much as doing anything else with him.

While she chopped vegetables and he made the stock for chicken noodle soup, they talked about his home in San Francisco and how much he liked the Bay Area. They also talked about the projects he needed to finish for work in the next six months, and he told her a little more about Aiyana, his brothers and their families. He asked where she lived in LA and if she planned to stay there—she had to say she didn’t know—but they were both careful not to bring up Shiloh or the accident, except to crack a joke about the possibility of Kouretas being crouched outside the window, frustrated that they’d lowered the blinds.

Blocking out the outside made Maxi’s mansion feel much more intimate. Being around Seth also had the tendency to make Tia feel as though the rest of the world had faded away and the terrible things that were so upsetting didn’t matter anymore—another sign that she was getting in over her head. She worried about what was happening to her, but she wasn’t going to let those worries ruin this night. She had the chance to feel good again, for a while anyway, and she was going to take it.

They cleaned up after they ate and changed. Seth brought her a ball cap and laughed when it was so big he had to keep adjusting the back.