When the door opened to her left, she looked up, fully ready to take pictures of Benji and Lucy’s entrance, but it wasn’t them. It was the man she couldn’t get off her mind. Ever. Her face lit up, her cheeks hurting from smiling so hard as his eyes brightened. She hadn’t seen him all day. She had been working, and he had been playing an intense game of volleyball—where at one point it was Jace and him against all the girls. She wished she could have seen the whole thing, but he had been sure to give her a play-by-play by text. He also claimed the girls cheated. The whole time. It still made her giggle.

She expected him to go to the table, sit down with Jace and Avery, who were behind him, but he came straight toward her, his eyes only on her. Reaching for her, he pulled her tight against him, pressing his lips to hers before she could even try to stop him. She hadn’t known they were coming out to everyone as a couple, and she hadn’t even told Libby yet. Anxiety filled her as she tried to pull away, nervous for what people would think, but then his tongue slid into her mouth, and none of her worries mattered as their mouths moved together. His hands gathered the fabric of her dress as he pulled her ever closer.

Pulling back almost imperceptibly, he whispered, “Not fair.”

Her brows came in as she fought for her next breath. “Huh?”

“Dressing like that, it’s not fair. How am I supposed to sit through dinner with you looking so hot?”

She giggled, her face reddening as she smacked his arm. “Me? Look at you,” she said, angling herself so she could drink him in. He was wearing a very nice, tailored navy blue suit with a powder-blue dress shirt and pin-striped green tie that made his eyes sparkle. He looked amazing, though she couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You know it’s a black-tie dinner, right?”

He shrugged. “So? I’m not trying to look like these guys. I wanted to stand out.”

Grinning, she kissed his chin, the awkwardness and nervousness gone. She didn’t care about anyone else. What they thought or anything else. She only cared about him. Always about him. “You always stand out, you goober.”

“Good,” he said, kissing her lips once more. “Can you blow this off, come hang out with me all night?”

She scoffed. “I’m working. I gotta make money!”

He nodded in agreement. “Good idea, ’cause I’m broke, and I haven’t gotten a check yet for my new, high-paying job.”

She snorted. “When does that happen?”

“Not sure yet. My agent says we have to have a meeting after my first game. I guess I’m not really on the team yet. Like, on the official roster and all.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She had seen Elli Adler that morning, and she had acted as if Mekena was a shoo-in for the job with the Assassins. Would Mekena be here and Markus in Florida? She stopped herself before she freaked out. It didn’t matter. They’d make it work.

“Oh, okay,” she said, biting her lips. He wrapped his arms around her, picking her up off the ground.

“Don’t worry about it. I got this.”

“I know you do,” she said, cupping his face with one hand since her other one was holding the camera. Leaning toward him, she puckered her lips as he did the same, kissing sweetly as he put her to her feet. When she heard someone clear their throat, she pulled away and smiled. “I gotta work. I can’t be making out with the guests.”

“But making out with the guests gets you more work,” he suggested, squeezing her, and she laughed.

“I think we have very different views on work,” she said and he smiled.

He placed his lips to her ear, and her eyes fell shut as he whispered, “I mean, if we’re talking about how I’m going to work your pussy to the point of exhaustion when we get back to the cabin, then I think we’re on the same page.”

Her insides clenched as she pushed him away. “I wasn’t.”

“Well, that’s boring,” he teased, kissing her nose before grabbing a handful of her ass. “I’ll be watching you.”

“Stalker,” she called to him, and he nodded.

“Got that right. Maybe I can get a business card made? Mekena Preston’s Official Stalker.”

Rolling her eyes, though she was pleased beyond belief, she grinned back at him before he turned and headed to the table where everyone was starting to gather. Lucy and Benji still hadn’t entered, but that gave her time to take pictures of the guests. That was…until Libby stopped her.

“So now I know why you got dressed up,” she said as their eyes met. “Are you sure, Mekena? I mean, he’s the main reason you aren’t talking to Skylar.”

Taken aback, Mekena shook her head as her face twisted. She didn’t expect her family to take her being with Markus well, but not Libby! Or to have her say it was his fault that she and Skylar weren’t talking? What the hell? “I’m sorry, did you miss the part when Skylar admitted that she intended to rape him? I’m pretty sure Markus and I are the victims in my sister’s wicked little game.”

Libby looked away a little sheepishly. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t. He’s a good guy.”

“Who slept with your sister.”

“No, who my sister tried to sleep with, but he was so high out of his mind on drugs she gave him that he couldn’t do anything—like push her away because he didn’t want her.”

“So he says,” she muttered and Mekena gasped.

“What the hell, Libby? You, out of everyone, I expected to support my relationship with him. You know how much he means to me.”

“It’s not that I don’t support you, Mekena, it’s that I know you. You want to be with him so bad, the next thing I’ll know, you’ll quit working with me to move up here.”

Mekena paused, biting into her lip as she held her aunt’s gaze. She hadn’t been planning to tell her about the Assassins job until after she had gotten it, but her face must have given her away because Libby let out a moan, shaking her head once more. “You’re already planning that. Jesus, Mekena!”

“I was offered an interview for a job with the Assassins.”

“Of course you were. So you’re going to blow me off for this? After I took you in, gave you a place to live and a job because that guy broke your heart—”