The summer after Shiloh graduated was a blur of parties, gifts, and family trips. But the thing he’d been waiting for most was the Hawaii vacation his family planned for the end of August.

And it absolutely lived up to the hype.

The rental house was gorgeous—wide windows, ocean air drifting in at all hours. The beaches were unreal, and every person he met there seemed to be nice without even trying. The food? Easily the best he’d ever had. It was already shaping up to be the perfect trip.

Then his mom dragged him to a luau.

At first, he didn’t mind. The show was actually beautiful—the hula dancers moved like they were born in rhythm with the breeze. But then the fire dancers came out, and Shiloh’s attention snapped straight to one of them.

He was young. Actually, he looked his age. And god—he was ridiculously attractive. The kind of attractive where Shiloh forgot how to blink for a moment. His mom must’ve noticed, because she nudged him. Hard.

“That boy’s handsome, right?” she whispered, eyebrows wiggling.

Shiloh went silent. His face felt hot, and for a moment he regretted ever coming out to his family—this was exactly the kind of teasing he hadn’t anticipated. But after a few steady breaths, he managed a weak, “Yeah. I guess.”

Which was apparently all the encouragement his mother needed to become his personal romantic manager. It took far too much convincing before he finally muttered out a strained, “Fine. I’ll talk to him.”

When the show ended and it came time to receive their food, fate—good or bad, he couldn’t tell—decided to play along. The fire dancer was the one serving their table. And of course, his mother nudged him again. Then again. Then—shove.

Shiloh caught himself right before he face-planted into the table.

The dancer smiled at him as he set the plates down, and that smile alone gave Shiloh just barely enough courage to speak before he walked away.

“Hey—uh,” he blurted out, voice sounding much too loud in his own ears, “I just wanted to say you’re like… hot. Super hot.”

The night at least hid the way his face was burning.