He doesn’t finish.
But we both know what he means.
After our arrangement ends.
My throat tightens.
“Friends are always welcome,” I say carefully.
“Friends,” he repeats.
The word lands heavily between us.
Dangerous ground.
“Well!” Maggie claps, standing up. “Time for bed!”
Everyone disperses. Callum and Jane head upstairs hand in hand, exchanging soft, knowing smiles that make my chest ache. Lachlan disappears with a smirk. Maggie and Duncan continue reminiscing as they leave. My mother follows.
And suddenly—it’s just the two of us.
Facing a night that promises to be anything but simple.
“I’ll show you your room,” I say, standing.
“Keira…”
“What?”
“For today… thank you. It was… nice.”
Nice.
That’s the problem.
Today wasn’t just nice. It was perfect.
Too perfect.
Perfect enough to make me forget, even for a moment, that none of this is real.
“You’re welcome,” I reply. “It’s part of the arrangement, right?”
The second the words leave my mouth, I regret them.
He goes still.
“Of course,” he says, his tone cooling.
We walk upstairs in silence. I show him the blue room, point out the towels, the bathroom… then turn toward my own door.
“Keira?”
I glance back.
For a split second, something in his eyes warms me—something real, something vulnerable.
Then it’s gone.
