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“The other day, that’s all you wanted me to do,” I say in challenge. He was such a fan of me “hitting that,” he wanted a high-five at the possibility.

Matt claps back. “You said, and I quote, ‘You don’t have to worry, I’m focused on work.’ You lied!”

“How the hell do you remember that when you can’t remember to check your emails?” I cross the room.

“Remembering and wanting to do it are two different things.” Matt points his spoon in my direction. It’s shaped like a tiny dump truck.

“You admit you willingly avoid work?” I cross my arms.

“Will you two stop?” Amelia slices her hand through the air. “Gio, if you are indeed hitting that, you need to be gentle with Sophia. She’s been through hell.”

“Yeah!” Matt adds, and now I understand his attitude. He’s trying to impress Amelia. It’s always a simp move for him.

“Gentle? Are you serious? Sophia’s as fierce as they come.” I open the fridge and reach for my green juice.

“Have a fun, emotion-free hook-up, sure.” Amelia waves her hand around as if she’s scanning my body. “But getting serious, no. She’s in a fragile state.”

“Phuh, fragile like a hand grenade.” I chuckle. Why doesn’t Amelia see what I see? Sophia is a beautiful badass. She’s a legit black-belt man-eater.

“Dude,” Matt says, his tone condemning.

“Maybe Gio is broken too. Did you ever think of that?” Casey peers over the rims of her glasses, joining the conversation. “Maybe he needs real love and not just some emotionless hookup.” She looks pointedly at Amelia.

Although I’m moved by her declaration, I need to set some boundaries. “My love life isn’t up for debate from anyone in this room.” I down my green drink and scrunch my face at the taste of freshly cut grass.

“Dude.”

“Shut up, Matt!” we yell.

“You guys never show me the love. One day, I’m going to punk all of you,” Matt grumbles. His gaze falls to his breakfast. He pushes a lone heart-shaped marshmallow around his bowl.

Casey crosses the room to shove a phone in my face. She shakes it.

I don’t have to look at the screen to know why she’s upset. It was wishful thinking to believe my viral post backlash would go away. There’s a better chance Roman would be struck dead by a falling coconut.

“You could have given me a heads-up. Now we’ll have to hire someone to watch the comments,” Casey says.

“Again, Matt’s job.” I glare at him.

“There’s a method to my madness.” Matt flings his hands in the air.

“Yes, you’re a lazy-ass genius,” Casey says with an eye roll.

“Where’s Sophia?” I stretch and crack my neck.

As if she heard us talking about her, Sophia opens the slider door. My heart double-thumps when she steps inside and says good morning. She’s dressed in an adorably cute powder-blue sundress. A bouquet of tropical flowers rests in her arms, and she’s humming a tune.

I’ve never been so transfixed.

Her hair shifts around her shoulders as she sets the flowers on the counter and then reaches for a vase to fill it with water. She artfully arranges the stems one at a time. Through it all, she looks happy and content, which surprises me.

I cross my arms and consider how this is possible. Between the festival incident and our failed attempt at a happy ending, there’s not much to smile about. And she doesn’t even know about Roman’s comment on my post yet.

Immediately, I think something’s wrong. My hell kitten’s gone soft.

“Are you okay?” Amelia asks Sophia. She must be picking up the same vibe, like Sophia’s good mood is a bad development, or at least an unusual one.

“I’m great.” Sophia admires her flower arrangement from all sides before moving it to the fireplace mantel.