Pete’s on the couch across from Kit with a girl he met a couple of weeks ago. They’ve been necking for about ten minutes. I’m standing in the kitchen with Paul. I jerk my thumb toward them and Paul scowls. He says something to Pete, who looks up sheepishly. He adjusts his junk and lifts the girl up, taking her down the hallway toward his room. Paul yells at him, and he comes back and takes a few condoms from the drawer, grins and goes to his room.

“Great,” Sam grouses. “I’ll have to sleep on the couch.”

Paul smiles. “There are two beds in there.”

“Yuck,” Sam says. “I don’t want to have to hear them.”

At least the boy is getting some, I sign.

Kit scolds me with a glance from across the room. I rue the day I taught her to speak sign language. I can’t keep anything a secret anymore. I shrug at her and she grins.

You would be getting some too if you’d quit being such a prude, she signs to me.

Did you really just call me a prude? I ask as I stalk toward her. She sets Hayley to the side and jumps over the back of the couch. By now, she knows I’m coming for her.

She darts around the sofa and dodges back and forth, trying to avoid my hands. But I catch the tail of her shirt and jerk her to me. Linking my arm around her waist, I pick her up and take her to our room, slamming the door behind us. I toss her onto the bed and she bounces, laughing at me. “Did you really just call me a prude?” I ask, using my voice.

“No, definitely not.” She laughs as I tickle her and she squirms in my arms.

“I think you did.” I keep tickling her, because I know it drives her crazy.

“Prove it,” she says. She’s signing the whole time she’s talking. So, I don’t miss anything with her anymore. She grabs my hands to keep me from tickling her.

I growl as I press my lips to her throat. “Don’t tempt me,” I warn.

She taps my shoulder until I look up at her. “I want to tempt you. I want to tempt you really bad.” She throws her head back on the last word and I can feel her throat vibrating as she growls. “You’re making me crazy.”

I chuckle. “I think that’s my line.”

“How much longer will you make me wait?”

I wake up with her wrapped around me every f**king morning. I go to sleep with her in my arms every night. I take long, cold showers every day, just so I can take some of the pressure off. She’s making me nuts. But she’s not ready for me yet. She’s not. She knows it. I know it.

I change into a pair of jeans while she watches. I don’t even try to hide my erection from her anymore. She knows it’s there. She knows how much I want her. I think she knows how much I love her. I feel certain she loves me just as much. I just don’t know why she’s still hiding. “I have to work tonight at Bounce. Are you coming with me?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I have a date with Hayley to read a book.” She doesn’t look at me.

No she doesn’t. “Paul has a date tonight and he’s taking Hayley with him,” I remind her.

“Oh.” She avoids my gaze.

“You’re worried about Matt, aren’t you?” I ask her. I frame her face with my hands and look into her eyes.

She nods. “He’s been sleeping too much. I don’t think it’s good.”

We all dance around the fact that Matt will be going back to the doctor two days from now to find out his prognosis. Everyone but Kit. She thinks about it a lot, I think. I try not to think about it at all. “You want to stay home so you can keep an eye on him?” I run a hand down the length of her hair and press a kiss to her forehead.

“Would you mind?” she asks. She looks hopeful.

“You know Pete’s here,” I remind her.

“Pete’s knocking boots in the bedroom. How’s he going to know if Matt’s ok or not?”

She’s right. “Thanks for staying,” I say. I kiss her forehead again. “I’m taking Sam with me. Send for me if you need me for anything, ok?”

She nods. She flops back on the bed and I want to climb on top of her. But I have to go. Sam beats on the wall. I can feel the vibration of it. “What do you want, Sam?” I ask.

“Her,” he says, grinning. He waggles his brows at Kit.

I punch his shoulder. “She’s taken.”

Kit grins, shaking her head. She has gotten used to all of us. I walk over to her and tip her head up to look into her eyes. “I’ll see you later.”

“Count on it,” she says.

Emily

I step closer to Matt’s door, listening intently for signs of life. He’s been really tired for the past few days, and I’m worried for him. I’m really worried for him. And for Logan and the rest of them. None of them have come to terms with the fact that Matt is dying. They all overlook it, like pretending it’s not going to happen is going to help him.

His voice, weak and tired, funnels through the crack in the door. “Don’t just stand there breathing hard. Come on in.”

I open the door and smile at him. “You could not hear me breathing.”

He chuckles, but it’s a hollow sound. “I heard your footsteps. You should learn to be more stealthy. Like Paul. He came in last night and stood over me, watching me breathe for about an hour.” He adjusts, fluffing a pillow and jamming it behind his head. “He thinks I was asleep.”