Page 51 of What Happened Last Night

Mom and Tanner stared at me. Will held back, waiting for me to speak. I could tell my family that Will was wrong, that there was nothing really going on between us. That we had just been hooking up.

But it hadn’t felt like a hookup. It still didn’t. Nothing I did with Will felt fleeting or impermanent. It never had.

If it meant nothing, it would have been easy to give in a long time ago.

I cleared my throat. “It’s new,” I said to Mom. “We haven’t been dating long.” Like less than a minute, maybe.

“Oh,” Mom said. “I didn’t know. Though I wondered what was going on when Reggie heard a man in your apartment.”

This again? “Mom, please.”

Beside me, Will coughed to cover a laugh.

“That was an Uber driver,” Tanner said, trying to catch up. He turned to me. “Wait. You were lying?”

I glared at my brother. “Did you actually think I was a drunk?”

Tanner threw his hands up. “I don’t know anything. I’m completely fucking lost. All I know is that when I tell Mack and Jay about this guy,” he pointed menacingly at Will, “they’re gonna help me kill him.”

“Try me.” Will’s tone was icy.

“Tanner,” Mom said, “you and the boys can’t do anything bad to him. You have to be nice. Didn’t you hear him? He’s Luna’s boyfriend.”

Will held up a hand again, and both of them went quiet. I’d never in my life been able to make Mom and Tanner shut up. Will had just done it twice. It was unspeakably hot.

“We’re done here,” he said, still calm but firm. “The last I checked, this was still my vacation. The rest of this week is my business. Both of you can go.”

Was it rude? Maybe. But it was effective. Mom’s expression wavered between affronted and excited to spread the news to everyone she knew. Tanner kept his confused-and-mad expression, mixed with his brand of dumb. Within minutes, they were gone.

I stayed in my chair, trying to process everything at once. I was already spinning from the hottest night of my life, and now it appeared that my life had been flipped upside down.

Will stayed in his chair, too, stroking his jaw. He seemed to be deep in thought.

When we spoke, it was at the same time. Will said, “Are you hungry?”

And I said, “Are we really dating?”

TWENTY-FOUR

Luna

We stared at each other. Will’s gaze traveled my face, taking me in. He looked sexy and sweet at the same time, the growing stubble on his jaw irresistible. He had that deep-thought look in his eyes. The urge to go to him and crawl into his lap was so strong, I couldn’t speak.

“What happened last night,” Will said, “wasn’t a mistake. Not for me.”

Everything twisted inside me, from my ribcage and down. My heart sped up.

Will bit his lip briefly, then stood. “I’ll make breakfast.”

I hadn’t said anything. He was getting the wrong idea. I’d had a crush—more than a crush, honestly—on this man for weeks, and when I finally got my shot, I was blowing it. I needed to get a grip.

I jumped to my feet and followed him to the kitchen, the words spilling out of me clumsily. “It wasn’t a mistake to me, either.”

He didn’t react, though I saw his shoulders tense.

I continued on. “But Will, you don’t know what this means.”

He stood behind the counter, looked at the bowl of eggs he’d already whisked, and turned on the stove burner. His expression was carefully blank. “What does it mean, then?”

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