Page 108 of A Summer of Stars

“I…”

“You love her, don’t you?”

My heart dropped like a stone in the ocean, sinking with speed.

Woof!

I spun and my back hit the threshold of the bathroom as Rosco barked at the bottom of the stairs. I scurried into the bathroom, shutting the door, gripping the sink, my heart working overtime to return to a steady beat.

Kieran’s footsteps sounded outside the door, rushing to the first floor. I took that as my opportunity to turn the shower on before he had a chance to knock and question when I had come in.

Quickly, I rinsed the sand off my skin and scrubbed the sweat from my hair. Turning the shower off, I pushed the curtain aside, stepped out, and grabbed a towel from the rod on the wall. I unfolded it and—

“Jesus!” I yelped, the bathroom door opening. I rushed to cover some part of my body as Kieran swore in unison, looking up at the ceiling. “Who just opens a bathroom door?!”

“This is my bathroom!” he argued.

“Well, yes, you’ve got me there, but—why are you shutting the door behind you!”

“Because there are three children running around and I’m not too sure they’re prepared to learn about the adult female body or why Uncle Kieran is interested in learning about the—”

“Yes, I get the picture!” I scrambled to wrap the towel around myself, holding it tight.The one time I didn’t shave.“I’m decent,” I told him, his head retreating from the ceiling.

The one downfall to having eyes as captivating as his was that you could follow them everywhere they went. It was impossible to miss what he was focused on. Like now, how they stared anywhere but my face. Water droplets ran down my arms in streams. The blue of his eyes seemed to track each river.

I adjusted the towel, trying to tighten it under my arms.

He cleared his throat.

“Kieran.”

“Luna.”

“You could go into your room,” I reminded him, gesturing to the connecting door.

“I know.” He took a step forward. “But that’s difficult to do now that I’m here. You’re making my decision a lot harder.”

“What decision?”

“Whether or not I should leave and go to Madrid with you.”

“Kieran.”

Another step forward, this one so much closer. I could feel his words before they came out.

“Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it,” he whispered.

“You should stay, here, with your family.”

“I should?”

“You should. Spend time with them. Take some time for yourself. I’ll see you in New York in three weeks anyway.”

“Three weeks,” he repeated. “What if I can’t wait three weeks?”

“I…” I didn’t know. What I did know was how likely it was for Jeremiah to be at the Madrid Open and the event that followed it.

A pain thwacked my heart. Rejection, it felt like, when he didn’t cut me off.Tell him you want him to come.