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She looked down. “Just that it would be weird to talk about that kind of thing with my family, you know?”

“You mean finding a girl attractive, or about spending an entire day exploring every possible way to have sex with a person?”

“Well, kinda both.”

“You don’t need to have it figured out,” I said lightly. “You just need to do what feels right.”

She looked away. “Um… I really do need to go see my family and everything now. But… well… yeah. If Allison isn’t going to kill me for showing up, I’d appreciate being able to, you know, show up.”

I laughed. “Kill you? Never. Just promise to say something nice at my funeral.”

She grinned. “I’ll tell them all about how you were so good that Ryan wasall in, zero hesitations.”

“Sure. Go to a funeral and talk about how much your sister got laid with the deceased.”

She laughed, half standing before she sat back down, giving me a more serious look. “You know, it’s not just about getting laid,” she said. “Ryan really is seriously into you.”

Oh, god. Here I’d thought we’d evaded this subject. I shrugged. “She’s really nice. I’m enjoying it a lot too. But we all know there’s a time limit on this. I’d rather not talk about it, it just gets a little depressing.”

“Yeah, because you always avoid anything serious with anyone,” she said. “Ryan told me all about how you live on an island where nobody ever stays, and how you never have anything serious or long-term with anybody because of it. And she seemed really sad about it, by the way.”

“Stella, I appreciate it, but… I’m not looking for a matchmaker.”

She frowned. “I’m not being cute here. I just… I feel like I actually have a real family member, ever since Ryan’s gotten with you and has totally opened up. I like her better when she’s with you. You should give her a chance.”

I sighed. “You don’t take a hint, huh?”

“She travels all the time. There’s nothing to stop her from coming back here as much as you two like. Especially if she has a place to stay here, you know? Like… she likes to travel. And get away from our family, I think, a little.”

“Stella—”

“You like her, too, right? And not just as a fling?”

I shook my head. “It’s not about that. Now can we please move on?”

She huffed, standing up. “IfIcan go and talk to Allison,youcan deal with things with Ryan. Okay?”

“We’ve alreadydealt with—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, good talk. Oh, and—” She paused, looking away. “Um… thanks.”

I laughed dryly, relaxing slowly, despite the tension still stretched across my abdomen. “My pleasure,” I said. “Happy to see Allison enjoy herself too.”

“I’m afraid she’s going to run away again. But… I guess that makes you and me pretty similar, huh?”

I shot her an odd look. She shrugged, shoving her hands in her pockets.

“Okay, well, I’ve gotta go see everyone. Good luck to us both. See you, BB.”

Calling me BB and everything… I wasn’t sure if she was trying to insinuate into being like family with me, or if Allison had just rubbed off on her. Probably both.

Although apparently Allison hadn’t doneallthe rubbing she wanted. Not yet, anyway.

God, I hoped that poor girl actually got the guts to go through with it, or I’d never hear the end of her kicking herself.

Chapter 20

Ryan