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I never asked what was wrong, what happened in the ninety seconds I was gone. I just kissed him. I’ve never been so ridiculously presumptuous in my life. At least, I don’t think I have. But then he kissed me back before I had a chance to feel self-conscious about it.

Yep—he kissed me and kissed me and kissed me.

As if his life depended on it.

And suddenly, my life depended on it, too. It was strange and wonderful. Which might be hard to believe, seeing how I am currently sneaking out of his house.

I wrote a note. I left it on his chest. I pressed one more whisper of a kiss to his lips before calling an Uber and slipping out the door.

I wasn’t completely awful.

I walk into mine and Grammy’s house at six in the morning, hoping by some miracle to go undetected. But my early-rising Grammy sits in our living room, dressed, makeup on, legs crossed, staring at the front door.

Okay—she’s not that early rising. Makeup?

I jerk to a halt. “Yoh,” I squeak, flattening a hand to my chest.

“Yoh?” Grammy arches a brow. “Surely there’s more to your story than ‘yoh’. I thought I might have to come get you. Maybe Robert had stolen you.”

“Come get me? You don’t drive, Grammy.”

“You have no idea what a determined Grammy is capable of, young woman.”

I step inside and attempt to put on the least guilt-ridden face I can. “Grammy,” I protest—because I am certain her tone isn’t called for. “I am a twenty…” I think for just one single second. “A twenty-six-year-old woman. You don’t need to wait up for me.”

“I did not wait up for you, dear. You are a twenty-six-year-old woman, and I can track your location. Your father taught me how just before we moved in together.”

“That dirty, rotten⁠—”

“Oh, please. Roger just loves you. He’s been worried about you. They all have. You know that.” She taps the toe of her crossed leg in the air.

“Well, you don’t need to track my location. I’ll call if I need you.”

“You were with the redhead?” Grammy asks. “And not Robert. Correct?”

“I was.”

And then the woman smiles, her hands clasped together. “Good.”

That’s it? I was out all night and she’s not going to call my parents and tell on me?

“It’s the only reason I didn’t come after you. I like him.”

I sigh, losing my bossy tone completely now. “Grammy, you don’t even know him.”

She lifts one brow in answer. “Well, you like him. That’s obvious. So, I like him.” She pats the seat next to her. “So,” she harrumphs. “How was the vampire? I assume you still saw him.”

“It’s Robert, Grammy. And yes, we saw him—” I stare at the ceiling. Thinking. Robert... he was nothing like he should have been. “He was… awful.”

Grammy’s penciled brow arches. “He was?”

“Horrible. He flirted with me even though he’s married, and right in front of his wife. Right in front of Zev, even though he believes him to be my boyfriend. Even though we have apparently been broken up for five years. I never thought he would behave so badly. But—” I shrug. “He did. And I am very much over him. That isn’t the man I fell for.”

Grammy grunts. “About time. So, what about the redhead?” She crosses her arms. “I was right before—we like him?”

“We like him,” I say, my cheeks burning with guilt. Darn cheeks.

Grammy clears her throat, her bottom wiggling into the couch cushion. “How much do we like him, Rosalie? I’m assuming by the shade of your face that it’s more than a little.”