“Sensitive there,” I note against her skin.
“Shut—” She gasps against his lips as I do it again. “Shut up, Finn.”
“Never.”
Malrik breaks their kiss, silver eyes finding mine over her shoulder. There’s heat there. Want. But also something softer. Something that saysthis is rightandthank youandI’ve been waiting too.
I lean forward, catching his mouth over Kaia’s shoulder, and for a moment we’re all tangled together—her between us, him kissing me while my hands are still laced with hers, everything overlapping and messy and absolutely fucking perfect.
“You’re going to kill me,” I say when we break apart. “Both of you. This is how I die.”
“Dramatic,” Malrik murmurs.
“It’s a valid concern.”
Kaia turns her head, catching my mouth in an awkward angle that somehow works. “If you die,” she says against my lips, “I’ll find a way to resurrect you just so I can do it again.”
“Kinky.”
She bites my lower lip in retaliation.
Gods, I love her.
The thought crashes through me with the force of a tidal wave, and for a second I can’t breathe around it. I’ve known for a while. Maybe since the beginning, if I’m being honest with myself, which I rarely am. But knowing it andfeelingit are different things, and right now I’m feeling it so intensely that my chest actually aches.
“Hey.” Kaia’s voice goes soft. Her hand lifts to cup my cheek. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere.” I swallow past the sudden tightness in my throat. “I’m here. I’m so fucking here, Trouble.”
She studies my face for a moment—really studies it, with those violet eyes that always see too much—and whatever she finds there makes her expression shift into something tender.
“Good,” she says simply. “Stay.”
“Always.”
Malrik’s hands are moving. I can feel them through the water—one tracing up Kaia’s side, the other reaching past her to rest on my hip again. He doesn’t rush. Doesn’t push. Just touches us both with the same steady certainty he does everything.
“Finn.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to touch her. And I want you to watch.”
My brain short-circuits.
“That—” My voice cracks. I clear my throat. Try again. “That works. That’s—yes. Watching is good. I’m excellent at watching. Gold star observer over here.”
Kaia laughs—actually laughs, bright and surprised—and the sound breaks something open in my chest.
“You’re ridiculous,” she says.
“You love it.”
“Unfortunately.”
Malrik’s hand slides lower under the water, and Kaia’s breath catches. Her fingers tighten on mine. Her head falls back against my shoulder.
“Oh—”
