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“Should I get some wine?” Kieran asked, jumping to his feet.

Lena groaned and nodded. “Yes, please.”

“Be right back,” he said as he hurried into the kitchen.

While he was gone, I forced myself to speak. “How about dinner? Want to order takeout?”

“You haven’t eaten?” Lena looked surprised.

Before I could answer, Kieran returned with two glasses of deep, red wine, handing one to her and offering the other to me. I shook my head and waved away the glass. My mind and body were already buzzing from what had happened earlier. I didn’t need a glass of wine and risk getting too talkative if Lena asked anything incriminating.

He shrugged and sipped from the glass, and my stomach lurched with lust, wanting to kiss him again, to taste the wine on his lips. Fucking focus, I chastised myself.

“We haven’t eaten,” I answered finally.

“Then yes to takeout. What do you two want? Is Chinese okay?”

“Always,” Kieran said.

I laughed softly. “I’ll get the menus.”

“I can do it.” Kieran started to move toward the kitchen again.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ve got it.” I was careful to skirt the table in the opposite direction of Kieran and a few moments later, when I returned to pass out menus, I made sure not to let my hand brush his lower back the way I wanted it to.

Once we’d ordered our dinners, Lena launched into a story about how a new employee had almost had their computer hacked and had put the network at risk, thanks to entering their password into what they’d thought had been a real invoice but had instead been a phishing scheme.

“Luckily, we managed to catch it before the hackers got in to do any damage,” she said finally.

It didn’t take much longer for our food to arrive and soon enough, we were digging in, Lena carrying the conversation for all three of us. She didn’t seem to notice that Kieran was quieter than usual.

“Do you think this place will be open for Thanksgiving?” Kieran asked as he finished off an egg roll.

Lena frowned and shook her head. “I have no idea, but you are not sitting here alone eating Chinese takeout on Thanksgiving.”

With a little laugh, he waved one hand in the air dismissively. “It’s fine. I never go anywhere.”

“Well, this year, you’re coming with us,” she said.

“I’ll be fine here. Honestly.”

Lena shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

Kieran glanced in my direction. For reasons I couldn’t quite identify, my heart pounded. It felt like his decision mattered—a lot. “Okay,” he said eventually. “I’ll come along.”

A rush of relief coursed through me, along with something else. Happiness, maybe. A lightness, an excitement I didn’t really understand. I nodded and cleared my throat. “Now that that’s settled.” I heard the gruffness in my tone, but instead of adjusting it, I stood and began picking up empty takeout containers.

“Oh, don’t be such a grump,” Lena said lightly. “You know you’ll appreciate having someone else pick the music for the drive.”

I exhaled sharply through my nose. “You’re not wrong there.” With that, I headed into the kitchen to toss the empty containers.

When I returned, Lena was standing. “Alright, kids. It’s bedtime for me.” She smiled brightly. “Thanks for taking care of the dishes. Need anything before I disappear for the night?”

“We’re good here,” I said.

“Goodnight, then.” With that, Lena headed to her room and a moment later, the click of her door latching echoed down the hallway.

Once again, Kieran and I were alone. My chest was tight and a part of me wanted nothing more than to reach out for him. “You don’t have to come, you know,” I murmured. “For Thanksgiving, I mean.”