Her gaze doesn’t falter. No surprise on her face.
"You knew?"
She turns her head, navigates us around a couple loaded with shopping bags. "I had hoped, though I have to admit, I hadn’t thought Saint would have the balls to pop the question."
I choke.
She chuckles. "I’m a plain talking kind of gal."
"I can see that."
"Get it from my mama. She raised eight of us, and she suffered no fools."
"Right."
"Comes in handy when you have to herd the Seven and their friends along in the right direction. Know what I mean?"
I snort, "I am getting an idea who actually wears the pants in 7A."
She leans in close, "Let’s keep that to ourselves, huh? Our secret."
A warmth spreads in my chest. "You bet."
"So, back to you and Saint," she pauses, then turns right and away from the bustling High Street. "You were saying?"
I wasn’t…but fine…if she wants to know what my answer was. "I haven’t said yes…yet."
"Are you going to?"
"Should I?"
"Are you asking my opinion?"
I turn to her, "I am."
"I think you should take your time about it."
I jerk my head toward her, "You mean…?"
She nods, "He needs you more than you realize.”
"He doesn’t depend on anyone." I bite the inside of my cheek.
"He wants you in his life."
"His asking me to marry him…? It’s a trap," I insist.
She pauses, turns to me, "Is he trapping you or himself?"
"I don’t know."
"Saint doesn’t do anything unless he’s completely sure of it."
"He’s doing this to get revenge."
"For what?"
"For…"Should I tell her? Should I?"For crawling under his skin, for distracting him… I don’t know." I rake my fingers through my hair. "He wants to punish me."