I forced a smile as I attempted to remember what she’d just said. “Uh, minus the nameless guys . . . yeah, it does.”

She scoffed. “You’re no fun now that you’re dating Kash.”

“Candice, when have you ever known me to want to hook up with a bunch of guys?”

“Okay, true.”

We got out of the car and, loaded down with our dozens of bags, made our way to the apartment.

“So, you’re not going out tonight?” she asked as we walked through the living room toward our doors.

What the hell was with her right now? “No, Candice. I’m not. I just want to relax for a while. Make one of your booty calls; I’m sure one of your guys is free.”

Before she could respond, I dumped all the bags on my bed and walked into my bathroom to turn on the tub. Giving my sink a double take, I studied it for a second before walking back into my room to get undressed and start pulling things out of the bags. Once everything was laid out on the bed, I hurried back into the bathroom, turned off the faucet, and slipped into the hot water.

After a few minutes in there, Candice poked her head in. “I’m going over to Charlie’s place. I’ll probably be back tomorrow.”

Wow, I hadn’t heard of a Charlie yet. “Be safe. Hey, did you take anything out of my bathroom?”

“No, why?”

“My sink just looks . . . kind of bare, I guess. I’m not sure, it caught my eye when I came in but I can’t figure out what—if anything—is missing.”

She studied the contents on top of my counter before shrugging. “It does look like something’s missing. But I haven’t taken anything. Maybe you just took some more things over to Kash’s and forgot about it?”

“Maybe,” I muttered, but I really didn’t think that was it.

“All right, I gotta go. Call me if you need anything. Love you, Rach.”

“Love you back,” I mumbled.

After she was gone, I took my time relaxing in the tub until the water was cold before stepping out. As soon as I walked back into my room, I knew something was wrong. I looked at my bed and my eyes flitted over the few things that were on it. Over half of what I’d bought wasn’t there anymore.

“What the hell?” I whispered, and checked all the empty bags, making sure I hadn’t left some of my things in there and forgotten. Turning to check Candice’s room, a scream to rival those in horror movies left me and I jumped back, clutching my towel to my chest. “Jesus, Kash! Make yourself known!”

“I called your name when I came in. Why are you so jumpy? You okay?”

“No, I feel like I’m going crazy. First I thought there was stuff missing from my bathroom, and now I swear most of what I bought today isn’t here anymore!”

He offered a small smile and pulled me into his arms before kissing me softly. “Sorry, babe. I should have told you when I came back in while you were in the tub. I’ve been taking your stuff. I packed a bag for you. We’re going on a little trip.”

“We are? Wait. Who’s ‘we’?”

“You and me. Get dressed, we’re leaving in a couple minutes.”

“Kash!” He whirled back around to look at me, and though he was exuding patience, he began pushing me over to my dresser and pulling out thin sweats and an off-the-shoulder top I only ever wore to bed. “Are you packing those too?”

“No, put them on.”

“What—no. First, we can’t just leave; we both have work. How long are we going for anyway? And you can’t just expect me to get ready and leave in two seconds. If you were in here while I was in the tub, you should have told me. I would have gotten out sooner and started getting ready then. I’m not wearing this to wherever we’re going.”

Kash turned me and held me close as he caught my gaze. “I promise you don’t need to dress up for where we’re going; I doubt anyone will see you but me. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to have time to get ready or to know about it. As for work, I took care of it.” He leaned in close and kissed me softly once but didn’t move back as he continued to talk against my lips. “But I planned something for us, and we need to get going. Will you please just put on these clothes?”

I’m pretty sure I wanted to keep arguing with him, or at least demand to pack my own bag. But my stomach had gone all fluttery on me and I had a ridiculous smile on my face as I nodded, letting my nose trail against his, and kissed him once more. “Okay.”

He pulled away and was walking into the living room when his phone rang. I made quick work of finding a bra and underwear and putting them on before throwing on the clothes he’d pulled out for me. I had just taken my hair out of its high bun and was braiding it low and off to the side when he walked back into my room.

“See? You look beautiful.”

“Liar.”

He rolled his eyes and tugged at the bottom of my long braid before kissing my forehead. “You ready?”

I shrugged and looked around my room. “I mean, I guess. It feels weird not packing anything. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“No.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the apartment. Mason was standing outside by his truck, looking awkward and like he was keeping watch, but he smiled when he saw us.

“You coming with us, Mase?”

“Nah, just got done loading the truck up.” He threw a set of keys at Kash and Kash led me toward Mason’s truck.