His face heated. He was embarrassed to talk about it because it hadn’t been his smoothest moment. He wanted to crawl out of his skin now. He’d kept this stuff to just his sister and Scott for so long.

“I kissed him. Even Eric doesn’t know that.”

“I won’t say a thing. You can trust me on that,” she assured him. “I gotta say, teenage me is jealous as hell. I bet he was a good kisser.”

“Well, I sort of sprang it on him. He didn’t really kiss me back. It wasn’t a mutual thing. He let me down easily, but...” Was it possible for his face to go up in flames? Keiran rubbed his thumb over her hand. “It’s funny how things work out because later on, I had a crush on you.”

“You didn’t,” she whispered. She didn’t pull away, just let him keep up his caresses.

“I did. I seem to keep having crushes that’ll never work out. Well, I mean, teen me did.”

She stared down at their joined hands. “Who says it won’t work out now?”

His caresses stopped. “Are we actually talking about it now?” He held his breath.

“Uhh.” She chewed her lip. “Sucky timing, I know. I told mummy no more matchmaking because there was someone I liked. I didn’t tell her who because, well...”

“I’m not her favorite person.”

“I don’t care.”

The knot in his chest loosened a little. “Really?”

She nodded. “Wanna come to my party tomorrow? My mom’s throwing it. I guess she’ll figure it out then. I want to try.”

He lay down, so they were at eye level. “Try?”

She sighed like she was tired of his questions or just plain tired. “This. With you.” She yawned, eyes fluttering closed. “So, you coming to my party?” she asked, eyes still closed.

He smiled, brushing her hair away from her face. She leaned into his touch. Did she even know she was doing that? Her eyes were still closed, her breathing shifted. Sleep wasn’t too far off.

“Sure. Could be fun. So, to be clear. You’re saying you’re not going on any more dates? And we’re gonna try this thing that we’re not putting a name to?”

“No public hand-holding or anything, but yes.” Her eyes closed again, and she’d definitely dozed off this time. Guess the confession game was over.

He should get his ass gone from this room, but drowsiness had descended. The champagne hadn’t helped. Maybe he could take a quick power nap to make sure he was good for the drive home then leave. His eyes mapped every bit of her face.

She wanted to try being with him. It was everything he wanted, but he still hadn’t told her about Sean. Tomorrow, he’d do it, when they were both sober and clear-headed, his father’s edict about keeping mum until the release be damned. He prayed he wouldn’t ruin everything before it even began.