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"Good."

"Mason and I’ll be nearby."

"I know." I pick up my keys. "Don't be obvious about it."

"When am I obvious?"

Never. That's the honest answer. Declan is the least obvious Crawford in any given room, and he's been that way since he was twelve.

I go to the door and stop before going out when I hear Declan call my name. "She said yes to dinner knowing who you are. That means something." Without saying a word, I leave and go have dinner with Sadie and hope for a fun night with her afterwards.

***

The hallway outside her door is empty, someone's playing music two floors up, it seems like there’s a party. I knock at seven exactly and stand in front of her door with my hands in my jacket pockets and wait.

The door opens, and I smile. She's in a dress. It’s dark green, simple, but hugs her body to perfection. Her hair is down, properly down, the way it was in the dorm window the first night I stood in the car park opposite. And she’s wearing the bracelets I got her.

I can’t take my eyes off her.

"You're staring," she says.

"Yes, and I could stare at you all day,” I reply as I look down her dress, and see how fucking stunning she is.

She waits, like she's expecting me to say something else. I don't have anything else to say. She looks beautiful in a way that makes the word feel insufficient.

"Miles."

"You look beautiful," I say.

Something moves through her expression, and her cheeks start turning red and I didn’t think she could look any more beautiful. I was wrong.

"Thank you," she says. "You don't look terrible yourself."

I smile while holding in a laugh. "High praise."

"Given the bruising, yes." She picks up her bag from the hook inside the door. Then she steps out, pulls the door closed behind her, and she double-checks it. If only she knew the things I can do, and I could still break into her place.

We walk down the stairs ,and I hold the door for her as we step outside. She walks beside me, close enough that our arms almost touch, and I adjust my pace to hers without thinking about it.

It’s crazy to think she’s acting shy around me, even though we’ve had sex more than once.

"Where are we going?" she asks.

"Arlo's. It’s ten minutes away.” I move closer to her, I know I need to have dinner and explain everything, but there are so many more things I would like to do, and one of them involves being naked.

"I don't know it."

"You'll like it." I reassure her.

She glances at me sideways. "How do you know?"

"Because I know what you like." There’s a lot more about her I know than she realizes. She looks at the path ahead. Is she being shy around me? I need to get the confident Sadie back in front of me.

"Is this strange for you?" she asks.

"What?"

"This." She gestures between us. "Walking to dinner, normally." She pauses. "After everything…"