And I cannot afford to be hurt, not with everything already on my plate.

The kitchen door opens and heavy footsteps approach the living room. I’m on high alert, but Mona looks pretty calm about it.

“Well, here we go,” she says resignedly.

“It’s just me,” Ezra yells from the doorway.

The sight of him standing at the entrance to Mona’s living room sends shock spearing through me. He looks goooooood. His broad shoulders fill the doorway, and the dark jeans and YLA T-shirt show off the lean muscles in his arms and legs. His hair has grown just a little, long enough to curl the slightest bit, and my fingers pulse with the need to scrape across his scalp and burrow into the soft pelt of it. A little scruff shadows his sharply drawn jawline. He’s sun-bronzed, contrasting with the white flash of his smile.

A smile that evaporates when he sees me.

“Tru, I didn’t know you were here.” He clears his throat. “Sorry to barge in, Mo.”

“Like you don’t bust up in here every damn day unannounced,” she says. “One day, you gonna get an eyeful.”

She walks over and gives him a hug. He watches me over her shoulder, his eyes running along my bare legs, still flung over the couch. My instinct is to sit up, cover myself, preserve some modesty.

But I don’t.

My other instinct is to make him want me the way I want him. The heat of his stare is addictive. His eyes caress my bare shoulders and legs, and despite the warm summer night, my body is covered in goose bumps.

“You’re back early.” My voice comes out husky, breathless.

“Uh, yeah.” He makes no move to come farther into the room. “I wanted to get back.”

When he looks at me, I missed you is in his eyes.

I’ll wait is in the hands he shoves into his pockets.

Without saying a word, his body tells me with eloquence how he feels, what he wants. I want it, too, but Mona’s warnings ring in my ears.

If anyone gets hurt when things go south, it’ll be you.

“I got edibles and wine,” Mona tells him, walking back to her bottle on the floor. “Join us.”

“You know I don’t do weed,” he says wryly. “I can’t spare that many brain cells.”

He focuses on her while he talks, but his gaze keeps drifting back to my legs. I bend my knee and run my fingers along my thigh.

Just to see what happens.

He lowers his head. His Adam’s apple bobs with a deep swallow. The muscle in his jaw flexes.

“Noah got to camp okay?” Mona asks, flicking a look between the two of us.

Ezra nods. “He walked in like he owned the place, of course.”