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“I’m not embarrassed.”

Her breath caught in her throat. His eyes were sapphires today, dark and glittering and endless in their depth. She could feel her pulse all over her body, from the fluttering in her toes to the faint throb between her thighs.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s … good.”

Niall put the clothes down on a stool and took another step closer to her. Cordelia felt panicky and eager all at once. Her skin thrummed, calling to him, every strand of her hair alight.

He leaned forward so that their mouths were only inches apart.

“I’m all cold and wet,” he said. “Or I’d kiss you again.”

Her head was spinning. He smelled like salt water and driftwood.

“I already kissed you when you were cold and wet,” she pointed out weakly.

“So you did,” he whispered, and then his mouth was on hers. She melted against him, her arms wrapping around his waist, her hands sliding across the smooth, damp skin of his back. Her lips parted as his tongue slipped inside her mouth, and she felt a flame ignite in her chest. She wanted more of him, of this, of everything—she teased his tongue with hers, lapping up his briny flavor. His mouth was warm and sure, his hand moving to cup the curve of her neck. She shivered at its chill.

“Right, sorry,” he said, pulling away.

“No,” she said, clutching him closer, bringing him back to her, and he chuckled against her lips, kissing her again eagerly. She pressed herself against him until—

“Gah!” she cried. Her sweater had absorbed the water on his skin. There was a dark spot on the green stripes where his torso had been. “Oh shit. Ugh, Niall!”

Niall was laughing.

“Stop, this isn’t funny.” Cordelia pushed against his chest, torn between embarrassment and desire. “Your mom is out there!” she hissed. “She’s going to know.”

He caught her hands and held them to him so that she could feel his heart beating beneath hard muscle. “Know what?” he asked, faking innocence.

“Know we’ve been … you know … kissing!”

“I’m pretty sure that cat left the bag when you jumped me on the pier,” Niall said, bringing her mouth back to his. She succumbed, her palms sliding down his stomach, his lips moving in perfect time with hers.

“I thought you were dead,” she murmured as he traced a line of kisses across her cheek to the curve of her ear.

“It was extremely heartwarming to see how much I’d be missed.” He took her earlobe in his mouth and tugged it between his teeth, and she thought she might faint right here in this broom closet.

“Wait, no, seriously,” she said, pushing him away. She could not go out there and face, well, literally everyone with her cheeks on fire and her sweater all wet. “I need to be presentable. You need to get out of those pants.”

She clapped her hands over her mouth and Niall let out a bark of a laugh. “I think I rather like Flustered Cordelia,” he said, handing her the towel. “But you’re right, we mustn’t be making out in the back room like a couple of teenagers. Go on, then. I’ll be out in a minute.”

The towel was still dry on one end and she did the best she could to get the dark spot out.

“Very presentable,” Niall said.

“I’m going to need a lot of whiskey,” Cordelia said.

“You and me both.”

He looked positively giddy, and Cordelia knew if she stayed in here a moment more she was going to start kissing him again, so she slipped out of the room and fled the kitchen. There was a bowl of stew and a steaming glass mug filled with hot whiskey and a thick slice of lemon waiting for her at the table.

“Cordie, you’ve got something on your jumper,” Róisín said and Colin snorted into his drink. Cordelia looked down in a panic, her face burning.

“Jesus, I’ve never seen someone turn so red so quickly,” Colin said. “Róisín, have you ever seen anyone turn so red so quickly?”

“I cannot say that I have, Colin.”

“Stop it, both of you,” Alison chided them, as Cordelia began to scoop spoonfuls of stew into her face, partly because she needed somewhere else to look and partly because she was famished.