She squeezed her eyes shut. Shoot. She’d passed him in the hallway downstairs. He was talking with some other guy and she didn’t think he saw her. So much for thinking she could be invisible. Did he know Taryn wasn’t home? Had he asked Judy where she was? Joy hadn’t thought of that. What if Judy had told Kevin that she was grounded?

Ugh. Could she be any more embarrassed?

She glanced at the window. Two stories up and not an exit option. No way out the door either but to walk through.

She stared at her reflection. Play it cool.

“Just a sec.” She turned on the tap, pretending to wash her hands. She then opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Kevin backed up, giving her space.

“Hi.” His voice was shy.

“Hi.” She twisted her fingers, her gaze at his chest level, suddenly feeling shy herself. Kevin wore board shorts and a loose tee. Blond hair spilled over his face in tousled disarray, towel dried and uncombed. His nose and cheeks were sunburned red. He smiled.

“You made it. Your sister said—”

A shrill voice shot upstairs, cutting him off. Judy, looking for Todd.

“Do you want to hang out?” Joy blurted with an anxious glance toward the stairs.

He gestured at the door behind him. “My room.”

“Cool.” Joy scurried across the hall and into the room. Kevin closed the door right after she heard Judy shout, “Where the hell is Todd?”

“Wow, it’s noisy downstairs.” Joy breathed a sigh of relief.

“What’s up with Judy?”

Joy shrugged. “Who knows?” She didn’t care, so long as she could avoid her sister the rest of the night. She needed to get back into the car without Judy knowing that she was there, or Joy’s single night of punishment would change to sixty-plus nights. The whole summer break. Her dad would ground her for sure, because Judy obeyed the rules. She’d rat Joy out.

Joy walked farther into Kevin’s room, gaze darting everywhere. Along the dresser, over to the nightstand with a beige lamp, and the unmade bed. Nothing in the room revealed much about the guy who’d held her interest since the fifth grade. And now she was alone with him in his bedroom. Butterflies fluttered in her throat, beat their wings inside her chest.

The house was his family’s weekend home and there weren’t many personal belongings on display, other than a tube of sunscreen and Oakley sunglasses on the dresser. Damp swim shorts bunched on the floor.

“I wasn’t expecting company.” Kevin dived for the bed and straightened the covers. He scooped up the swim shorts and dropped them in the hamper in the closet.