I grinned. “There’s a first.”
He dropped his voice and gave me a serious look. “Aurum, are you... in love with him?”
“Hell no,” I blurted out as quickly as possible. “No, no way, no how.”
He arched a brow. “That’s a suspicious answer.”
“What? How?”
“You said four ‘no’s when one sufficed.”
“Whatever,” I shot back, flustered. “Don’t get the wrong idea. It was just handjobs. I didn’t even fuck him.”
Saffron side-eyed me. “Really? Why not?”
“Because he wasn’t ready for it.”
“So, you plan on doing it again,” Saffron surmised.
Our conversation had snowballed out of control. My cheeks burned as I blurted out, “Maybe? I don’t know. Why are we talking about this again?”
Saffron crossed his arms smugly. “You brought it up.”
Shit.
“I am not in love with Mylo,” I stated. As the words came out of my mouth, my chest randomly hurt. Did I have acid reflux or something?
“I believe you, but only because you’ve never been in love with anyone before,” Saffron said, still eyeing me dubiously.
“Exactly.”
“And you were so horny youhadto break into his room and give him a handjob?”
“It sounds deranged when you put it like that, but yes.”
Saffron shrugged and leaned back against his pillow. “All right. Well, I thought you felt the same way about Mylo that I feel about Billy.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine. How could Saffron compare them? Mylo was adorable, funny, sweet, and caring. Meanwhile, Billy gave off major creep vibes and looked like a sentient shoe.
But Saffron and I were having an actual conversation without arguing for the first time in ages. I didn’t want to shatter that by ragging on Billy. Maybe the guy wasn’t so bad. Hard emphasis onmaybe.
“Are you in love with Billy?” I asked, dreading the answer.
Saffron shrugged and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “Maybe. We’ve only been talking for a short time, but...” He sighed wistfully. “He always knows what to say to make me happy.”
It felt like ants marched over my skin. I knew Saffron wanted his fated mate, but was the man I saw on the screen really his destined partner? The problem wasn’t that Billy was human—it was that he wasBilly.
It was possible I wasn’t giving him enough of a chance. But my instincts told me not to trust him, and they’d never steered me wrong before.
Mylo floated into my mind again. The same instincts urged me to protect him, and it felt good to do it. I liked him. Touching him. Smelling him. Just being close to him.
But that didn’t mean I was in love with Mylo. I couldn’t be. I didn’t do that romance shit. I had to remind myself of that fact.
“Aurum?”
“Huh?” I said.
“You spaced out,” Saffron said.
