Page 57 of Adrift

Kieran nods slowly, blinking up at me and shaking his head. “Yeah. Yeah, it does. Gage, this is…” he trails off.

Speechless. That’s a good sign, all right.

“The bathroom’s still mint-green,” I grimace apologetically. “But there is hot water, and electricity, and no spiders, if you wanted a hot shower after our dip.”

Kieran rushes back to me without a word and flings his arms around my neck. He jumps up into my arms, his towel slipping free across my arms.

I hang on tight, grinning as I remember the first time I held him like this—in this very room, but when it looked very different.

“Take me there,” Kieran murmurs, resting his forehead against my shoulder. “Oh, Gage. This is perfect.”

The one thing he doesn’t say is the rest of that sentence, leaving me wondering as I walk down the hall with my arms full of my beautiful boyfriend.

Perfect for the business? Perfect for me? Or… perfect for us?

The shower is exactly as hot as I expected and hoped for—in every single way. It’s impossible to keep our hands off each other. Especially after such a long few weeks of working side-by-side to bring my visions to life.

And Kieran has been instrumental in making all of it happen. The very least I owe him is a very,verygood night.

It’s such a playful mood between us as we kiss each other tenderly, rinsing each other off and then indulging ourselves with as much slow, sensual touch as we can get away with. When we step out, I hastily scrub myself dry so I can await him with a towel—and pat him dry far more gently.

“This has been an amazing surprise,” Kieran murmurs. “We have our own little beach house!”

“Oh, but there’s one more room to see.” I wink at him.

Kieran’s eyes light up. “The bedroom! Come on, then!” he exclaims, grabbing my hand to tow me behind him, flinging open the door.

The room couldn’t look more different now. There’s a four-poster bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers, a mirror, and a little sitting chair in the corner.

“All that’s missing is artwork, but I thought I’d ask your help with that,” I murmur, winking at him. “I could use your touch in this place. And this place could use it, too.”

Kieran giggles at me, wrapping an arm around my waist to snuggle into my side. “It’s so pretty, though,” he murmured. “And it could be a guest cabin, too.”

“Mmhmm.” I run my hand slowly up his back to play with the hair at the back of his head. “If anyone ever wants to come stayand visit one of us, you know…” I trail off, trying to figure out how to ask either of the things I most want to ask.

One of them is easy:will you move in with me?

But the other is going to be a lot trickier to navigate.

Kieran hears straight through my question. He pivots on the spot until his shoulder rests against my chest, resting the side of his head against my shoulder. “To visit me, you mean.”

I sigh and press my lips into the top of his head, running my hands gently to his shoulders and then down his back. “Yeah. I’ve… I’ve had a lot of questions I’ve wanted to ask, but I didn’t know how.”

Kieran turns again, wrapping both arms around my waist and turning his cheek away from me. “There’s nobody,” he says, like he’s trying to spare me coming up with any of them.

Shit. Oh, Kieran.

I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s given me enough clues over the last few weeks. But my heart still aches for him. My grip is getting tighter and tighter on Kieran, like he’s going to turn into a waft of smoke and dissolve right through my arms if I let him go.

“They wouldn’t come, or I wouldn’t want them to. I didn’t have any good friends in school, and I kept to myself. My family… well, I left when I was eighteen and I never looked back.”

Kieran finally squirms his way looser in my arms so he can look me in the face, and I’m surprised to find that his eyes are just a little misty.

He’s really been through it, hasn’t he?“Shit,” I breathe out softly, and even though I know the answer, I feel like I have to ask. “Why?”

“They wanted someone they could look the other way about.” Kieran’s lips curl into an amused, ironic little smile as I can’thelp glancing up at his bright pink hair. “Right? But even before that, it was obvious. I’ll never be that, and I never wanted to be.”

Yet again, Kieran’s left me stunned. How he managed to turn all the pain and bullshit he’s been through into warmth, charm, and sass… it feels like magic, and I only want to hold on tighter to him.

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