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“Elias just called me, wanting to know if I’d heard from you. He said you left the estate with no explanation. What’s going on? Why did you leave?”
I let a heavy sigh roll from my chest as I try to focus on the road and the traffic ahead. There’s a bottleneck I need to get past, and then it should be smooth sailing all the way into Sacramento. As I gather the right words to explain what happened, it dawns on me that I may have overreacted.
“I just needed some space.”
“From the guys.”
“Yes.”
“Amaya, what is going on? I thought the four of you were really hitting it off.”
“We were. But then I got skittish after that dinner date,” I tell her. “And Ramada’s been hitting on Kace even harder than before.”
“Ramada Chesterfield? That bitch has had a thing for Kace for as long as I can remember. Every year, she tries something, and every year, she goes home with nothing,” Mira replies.
“Yeah, Kace did say there’s nothing going on, but Mira, she walked up to him and kissed him. In public. I saw it.”
“And what did he do?”
I groan with frustration as I replay the scene in my head. “Nothing. He just stood there.”
“Did you consider shock?”
“I did.”
“Let me guess, you didn’t let him explain, did you?”
I shake my head slowly despite the fact that she can’t see me. “I did not.”
“You’re not answering any of their calls and texts, are you?”
“Nope.”
“For the love of everything that is holy in this world, Amaya, how did you get so good at sabotaging something you were so excited about?”
The silence I respond with speaks volumes. It’s an annoyingly smart question, and the only answer that I can come up with involves me letting my insecurities get in the way and muck everything up.
“I just need some space,” I say again. “A night or two away from the estate so I can figure out how I feel about this whole thing. Is that so wrong?”
“It’s not wrong, but you should still talk to them. From what I recall, they’ve been nothing but gentlemen.”
“They’ve been wonderful,” I agree. “Kind and generous. I find flowers with a note in the studio every morning. They left a gift basket with some pretty expensive and luxurious body-care creams and oils at my door the other day.”
“You mentioned earrings, too.”
“Yeah. Finn got them for me. They’re beautiful. I could probably buy a car with them. I wouldn’t, but I could. Why do I sound so materialistic, Mira?”
She laughs, and I turn the volume down just a smidge so Mikey doesn’t wake up. “You’re not materialistic, Amaya. You’re finally being treated the way you deserve, and it feels weird. They can afford to spoil their woman, and they enjoy doing so. They like to give you things because they want to make you happy.”
“You’re right. Everything they give me, they offer it freely and gladly. It brings them joy, too. And they’re also communicative. They make plans. They always include me in their day, one way or another, even if they’re insanely busy and jumping from one meeting to another.”
“And this whole thing with Ramada, I’m telling you—”
“It’s not a real crisis, I know. But even so, the way it makes me feel… Mira, that’s what’s got me driving back to Sacramento for the night. I am genuinely afraid that I may have gotten too attached to all of them, individually and as a whole. I just need some room to breathe and see how I feel when they’re not so close. Is that crazy? Unreasonable?”
“No but shutting them out completely might come across as such. Listen, I’m not one to tell you what to do, babe, I just don’t think they deserve the icy cold shoulder this early in the relationship. Maybe keep that for when they really screw up. Because you know one of them will. It’s inevitable.
“But in the meantime, think about everything you just told me, about how incredible they are, how they spoil you and communicate, how good they make you feel.”
