The words hurt him. She saw it in the way the skin around his eyes tightened. The way his hands released her. She reached up to touch his cheek.

She tried to smile, but her lips trembled. “I’m not saying that as a bad or good thing. It’s just the truth. We can’t possibly be the same after kissing like that. It was an amazing kiss, but...” She had to ask the question that kept poking at her. “What have we done?”

His forehead furrowed deeply. He jammed his fingers through his hair and took another step back. “That’s a damn good question, isn’t it? I don’t want to ruin what we have...”

“But you said it was worth it.”

“Well, yeah.” A mix of humor and heat flared in his eyes. “And you called it amazing.”

“It was.”

The LED lanterns lay on the floor, on their sides, casting a gray light up the walls. She hadn’t even noticed that they’d both dropped them during the kiss. They’d been so eager to be as close to each other as possible. For better or worse, she still felt that way. But Mike’s gaze cooled and he glanced away. The moment was broken.

“I think—” he pressed his mouth into a thin, straight line “—the question is not what have we done, but what do we do now?” He looked down the hall toward her father’s room. “And this doesn’t feel like the best place or time to figure that out. We should both get some sleep. Behind closed doors.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “Away from temptation.”

She could always rely on Mike for a calm, reasonable examination of any situation. She, on the other hand, was a tangle of emotions wrestling each other right under the surface of her skin. She could use a little alone time to sort them out. She reached down for her lantern and held it high, as if it was an old-fashioned candle, and did her best to smile.

“You’re right. We’ll think more clearly by daylight than by LED light.” She reached for her door, but Mike stopped her.

“Before we retreat to our separate corners, let’s agree on one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Neither one of us ever considers that kiss to be some kind of mistake. It was...perfect.” He swallowed hard. “If it only happens once, so be it. But Zoey...let’s not ever regret it.”

Her heart swelled with affection. “I can agree to that. It was...um...quite a kiss. Well done, you.”

He chuckled. “Well done, us. Good night, Zoey.”

He picked up his lantern and headed to his room. He didn’t look back, which was good. If he’d so much as hesitated, looked her way, asked her to follow him—she’d have done it without a second thought.