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Loyal’s heart thumped heavy in his chest as heRoxanna had said to hi ti away from him to head up to the apartment alone

That had been alo First he’d been pissed off she wouldn’t even listen to his sound advice Then he replayed the conversation in his head a few times—or a dozen—and realized he could’ve been more tactful And he should’ve backed off the moment her defenses shot up

Now he’d be lucky if she opened the door

After a deep breath, he knocked and waited, and when he saw a flicker of hter while lifting a large bouquet of red, orange, and yellow roses fro twenty-seven seconds before the door swung open

Her flinty gaze went straight to the flowers He swept his over her pinned up hair that was slightly damp at her nape, the plush white bath robe from his mom, and the rainbow-striped, fuzzy socks on her feet When he looked up again, he saw her expression had softened sohtness in his chest eased—a little bit anyway

“I’et tunnel vision when I’ the probleoal Ielse I didn’tof the people I’ve seen go out of business for stuff like that, and I don’t want to see that happen to you”

She’d gone back to staring at the roses as he spoke, absorbing his words before releasing a soft sigh “I’ot defensive because itmore about business stuff The possibility that my previous accountant who is also a friend I trust e of me makes me feel like even more of an idiot”

“Anyone can get taken advantage of It doesn’t make you an idiot, it means you maybe trusted a little too much”

“Great I’ullible idiot”

“You have a good heart”

“I still feel like an idiot I feel like people will look at me and think, ‘If you’re really psychic, shouldn’t you be able to spot so like this a mile away?’”

“Sounds like that’s what you think I think”

“Don’t you?” she challenged When he shook his head, she retorted, “Well, I do Kind of I mean, I should be able to sense a person’s intentions And a lot of times I can, but sometimes…”

“Sometimes you can’t And that’s okay No one is perfect”

“I should be able to tell these things when it matters,” she insisted a bit morosely