“Uh…you as well, Henrik. Good ride?”
Henrik crossed his thick arms over his chest and beamed. “The best. I love long, hard rides.”
Javier’s jaw went slack for a fraction of a second before he cleared his throat and poured all his attention on me. “Good. That’s good. Zara, do you have a minute? I’d like to talk to you about something.”
“Sure,” I said. “I just need to finish up.”
He nodded once. “I’ll be in the office.”
I waited until he disappeared then whirled around to face Henrik. “What was that?”
He pointedly examined his nails, buffing them against his shirt as if they weren’t filthy dirty. “I have no idea what you could mean.”
I walked up to him and gave him a shove. “You made Javier blush, Henrik. Are you…is he…?”
His eyes lit up like the Fourth of July. “You saw him blush too, right? Isn’t it cute? Oh my god, he’s—” He bit down on his lip, cutting himself off.
I jabbed a finger at him. “Are you and Javier having a thing?”
He nodded toward the door. “Don’t you have to go? He’s waiting for you.”
My hands parked on my hips. “I wouldn’t want to keep your salt-and-pepper daddy waiting, would I?”
This time, Henrik blushed, telling me everything I needed to know. Before I left to talk to Javier, I said, “I promise I won’t say anything to anyone.”
He looked left and right. “Anything about what?” Then, quieter, he said, “Thank you, liebchen.”
That night, Cormac fed me, made me come, then gave me the stars.
All I had to do was tell him how much I loved the sky at night here, and he sprang into action, moving cushions and blankets onto the small deck at the back of the guesthouse.
The way he cared for me was incredible to me, and like second nature to him. I was tumbling constantly, headfirst, wild and crazy. Falling and falling in love with him. I couldn’t help it. It was inconvenient, but there was no way to stop it.
Not that I wanted to.
Cormac made it so easy. We already had our rich history and a once-in-a-lifetime deep friendship. But I was seeing another side of him. He was showing me what it would be like to be his. And it was…so beautiful.
We’d started our stargazing lying side by side, Cormac pointing out constellations and planets, things his granddad had shown him as a kid. Eventually, he rolled onto me, his head on my stomach, his arms and legs slung over me. My own Cormac-shaped blanket.
Absently, I threaded my fingers through his thick hair as I counted the stars above us. Frustration curdled my gut. I didn’t have enough time to count them all. Not enough time to doanything I wanted. And each star I counted meant there was less and less of it.
“I thought you’d relax out here,” he murmured against my belly. “I hear your thoughts churning.”
“Just counting the stars.”
And thinking about my conversation with Javier. The impossibility of it. Wishing he’d never said anything at all. I was tempted, oh so tempted.
“It’s more than that.” He lifted his head, his forehead crinkling as he looked at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t ready to share what Javier and I had talked about. Not until I came to a decision. Maybe that wasn’t fair, but it was the way it had to be.
I ran my fingers along his cheek and jaw. “So cute.”
I caught his mouth curving as he dropped his head back down to my stomach. “You say ‘cute.’ I hear ‘devastatingly handsome.’”
“That too,” I agreed. “Definitely that too.”
He hummed, snuggling his body into mine. It was perfect. The stars and Cormac all around me.
