Page 29 of Problematic Summer Romance

And he’shere.

“You couldn’t wait,” I repeat, skeptical.

“I told you.” He scans my face with complete, undiluted attention.

“You told me?”

“Last summer. At the Isle of Harris.”Come on, his gaze communicates.Keep up.

Okay, last summer Ididgo to the Isle of Harris. But how does he—

“You were there at the same time as we were?” Alfie asks. It was a couples’ vacation: Georgia and Anthony; Rose and Kenna; me and Alfie. Less than a year out, none of the couples have survived. I wonder why.

“Were you there, too?” Conor asks Alfie with an imperceptible, distracted glance at him. “One night, Maya and I met at the bar. I asked her if I could buy her a drink. Remember what you told me?”

I shake my head, dazed.

“That you were in a relationship. And I was devastated. But I asked, if your boyfriend was ever foolish enough to let you go, that you let me know, because I’d come knock at your door. And I’m grateful that you did, love.”

Love.

“You never told me that this happened,” Alfie says, failing not to sound petulant. He’s used to being the hot guy in the room, but I’m struggling to reconcile how juvenile and shrunken he looks compared to Hark. How utterly easy to ignore.

Of course, I didn’t tell him. Because none of this ever happened.

“It was just a, um, text,” I tell Conor. “You didn’t need to come here.”

His chin dips in a self-deprecating gesture that’s so damn charming, ithas tobe rehearsed. If he didn’t spend his adolescence practicing it in front of a full-body mirror, I will be shaving my head bald and eating my hair strand by strand. “It was my chance. Plus, I was in the area.”

“In Edinburgh?” Georgia asks, sounding on the verge of moaningAwww, how sweet.

“Close. Near Kilkenny.”

InIreland? Did hefly infrom—

“For work?” Alfie asks, strained. I doubt he is jealous, but he could be envious, or understandably distrustful of an older man hanging around a recently un-teenaged ex. If a friend of mine suddenly revealed a surprise suitor, especially one wearing tailored slacks that look like he was born in them,especiallyan attractive one who oozes fuck-you levels of generational wealth, I would worry, too. Alfie and Georgia have no clue that Conor is my brother’s closest friend.

And I don’t think I will communicate it to them.

“I was in Ireland for a private matter. My family has an estate there, and my presence was required.”

Georgia’s eyes widen. “Is everything all right?”

“My father is ill.”

She gasps. “I’msosorry.”

“You should be, as it appears that he’ll pull through. The devil really does look after his own.” Conor’s lips curve upward. He isdisgustinglyhandsome. “One day he’ll buy the farm and the world will become a better place. Lamentably, that is not today.”

Alfie clears his throat. “I’m surprised you visited. It doesn’t sound like you two get along.”

“My father doesn’t get along with people, he buys them. And it wasn’t him that I was visiting, but my stepmother. Wonderful woman.” He walks closer to me,winks, and I choke on my tongue. “I’m going to my hotel now,” he adds. His tone is at once intimate, and loud enough for the others to hear. “But I’ll be around. For however long you’d like me to be.”

Positive thought: maybe the deep crimson of my cheeks will conceal the red rim of my eyes. “Thank you,” I croak.

He bends down to press a cool, dry kiss over my cheek, cupping the back of my head. It’s just his fingertips, and I could easily free myself, but he smells good. Clean. Soap mixed with expensive fabric mixed with a faint trace of fresh sweat, probably from the plane ride. Pleasant.

“Just one more second,” he murmurs against my ear, only for me. “Don’t forget to breathe, Maya.”

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