Page 98 of A Summer of Stars

“Aw, are you worried?” I pursed my lips. “Come in, have fun. Don’t be boring!” I flicked water at him.

“I amnotboring. I am the most fun person in this duo. But this will not be fun when your picture is plastered across newsstands tomorrow.”

“Who cares!”

“Usually you! And when you wake up and see the pictures, you’ll kill me and then you’ll have to pay for my funeral, and I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“At least I’d be followed around by a hot ghost.” I giggled. When he didn’t laugh back, I added, “I’m going to bury you in a pet cemetery.”

“Christ, that’s it. I’m coming to get you.” He took a step into the fountain and visibly shivered. “It’s freezing, Aldridge! What the hell, you’re going to get sick.”

“Baaaaby.” I made fun of him.

He wore a grimace that could kill. “You’re paying for my dry cleaning—these are my favorite shoes.”

I laughed at his childish concern—

“Ah!” I screamed as his hands braced my hips and lifted me over his shoulder. “Put me down!”

“Not until we’re out of this fountain!”

I pounded my fists against his back until he was stepping out of the water, placing me on the edge of the stone.

“What are you doing?” I asked with confusion. I would have bet everything on him carrying me all the way back to the hotel with that determined expression on his face.

He sank to one knee. “Putting your shoes back on.”

He lifted my foot and slid one heel on, then the other. Tying the straps around my ankles, his fingertips brushed my skin. Moonlight sparkled in the fountain, bouncing off his cheeks. Perfect ripples of light danced across his face like a Roman statue.

He was so pretty.

“I think you’re pretty too,” he responded, surprising me. Apparently I said that aloud.

I moved a strand of hair away from his brow. He immediately looked up.

“Kiss me,” I told him, resting my hand on his cheek. The surprise in his slack jaw changed the course of the dancing waves across his face.

He glanced down at my lips. It was captivating.

How could anyone leave him?

My hand was pulled from his face as he finished the strap. “You’re drunk. We need to get you back to the hotel.”

“I’m not drunk.” Part of me wanted to let him believe I was; that way he couldn’t hold my words against me. But it was impossible to be drunk on liquor when he looked at me like that.

He stood, ignoring me. I shot up, following him, but my soaked feet slid in my heels—

His hands wrapped around my arms before I could fall. Air escaped me.

His eyes were so blue. Two full moons decorated with thousands of the bluest oceans. They held on to me. Seized me.

His thumb brushed my cheek.

“Kiss me,” I repeated. His breath was heavy against the edge of my lips.

“No.” He stood his ground.

“You want to. I know it. You want me,” I breathed. “Say it.”