Tori raised her brows. “You know Falcon well. What do you think?”

“Oh, no, no.” Bella quickly moved past the women and grabbed her sister’s arm. “They just want you to score his hotness, which we can’t because we know him too well. I’ll just walk you out. See you gals!” She pulled Meg out of the fridge and escorted her toward the door. “Thanks for coming out.”

Meg stopped. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing—”

“Liar. You’re a Hart. You can’t lie to a Hart. It’s against the law.”

Bella sighed. “Not here.”

“Here. Now. You know how it festers. This is a fester-free zone.” Meg leaned in. “You know that it will get better if you put it out into the Hart Universe so I can belittle it until we’re both laughing through our tears.”

Bella smiled. “We’ve had a lot of tears.”

“And laughter.” Meg tucked her arm though Bella’s. “Release the fester, sis. Set it free.”

Bella started laughing. “All right.” She looked around and didn’t see Falcon. She lowered her voice. “Falcon asked to crash on my couch.”

Meg nodded. “Okay.”

“And I don’t know if I’m okay with that.”

Her sister looked at her with sudden amusement. “Is sixteen-year-old Bella having a fan girl moment?”

“No, but…he’s being weird. And the girls said…they said he was checking out my butt. They think he’s into me.”

Meg’s eyes widened, but unfortunately, she didn’t laugh it off. “What do you think?”

“Maybe.”

“Holy crap.” Meg took a step back. “Holy crap, Bella.Falcon is….” She didn’t need to finish. They both knew who he was.

Dangerous.

A loner.

Uncommunicative.

And loyal. So damned loyal. He’d always shown up when he was needed by the Harts. Every. Single. Time.

Meg leaned in. “If he were into you, would you be interested?”

“No. I’m trying to get away from my past, not lean into it.”

Her sister let out a low whistle. “I’ll tell you one thing. Don’t mess with him. If you’re not interested and he is, tell him straight up.”

“And if he’s not interested, but I give him the speech?”

Humor glinted in Meg’s eyes. “He’ll probably be afraid to ever speak to you again, he’ll be so scared of giving you the wrong impression again. That won’t work.”

“No.” Bella saw Falcon walk in from the patio. “Here he comes. We’re all done here. What do I tell him about crashing on my couch?”

Meg followed her gaze. “What do you want to tell him?”

“I—” Bella paused. She’d been about to say she wanted to tell him no, but just as she was about to say it, he saw them, and flashed them a smile. His trademark devilishly sexy smile that made her belly flip every single time she saw it. “It’s complicated.”

“It sure is.” Meg waved as Falcon neared them. “Hey, Falcon. I’m going to jump on the jet and head back to Oregon. You want a ride?”