His mouth curved. “Point stands,” he said. “We decide when we tell them. Not the internet. Not Dom. Not anyone else. If you’re not ready, we keep it ours a little longer.”
The knot in my chest loosened by a fraction.
“Okay,” I said.
He leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth—light, quick, like punctuation.
“Besides,” he murmured, “I’d like to keep at least one secret to ourselves while our deranged friends turn oursexcationinto a group holiday.”
I could see it already. Ivy pacing with her phone in one hand. Kimi raiding our fridge with a glass of whiskey in one hand. Marco heckling at least one of us and it backfiring. Lucy… well, I couldn’t speak to her. Maybe taking notes for a song.
Intrusive chaos. The kind that crashed through your doors and rearranged the furniture and somehow made the place feel more like home.
The thought was terrifying and comforting all at once.
I laughed. “As tempting as that sounds, I’m not going to delay marrying you because our family is coming tohelpus. They can be our witnesses, mon amour.”
“They can be whatever they want,” he said quietly, thumb brushing my jaw. “I’m still only looking at you.”
Heat crawled up my throat, ridiculous and instant.
“Let them sign the paperwork, drink the champagne, start ten different scandals while trying to stop two,” he added. “As long as you say yes when it’s just us, I don’t give a fuck who else is in the room.”
My chest did that stupid, aching squeeze it always did when he talked like that—like the vows were already written somewhere under his skin.
“We should shower,” I said. “And find real clothes. If they’re landing tonight, they’ll be here soon.”
He looked me over, from messy hair to flushed chest to my bare legs.
“I’m very comfortable with your current outfit,” he said.
“Rug gremlin chic is not the impression I want an international pop sensation to have when she sees me,” I said, flailing my arms. “I have to act… chillée.”
He blinked. “Chillée.”
“Yes,” I snapped defensively. “Like… chill. But in French. Elevated.”
“That is not a word,” he said, biting back a smile.
“It is now,” I argued. “I am très chillée. So relaxed. So normal. Definitely not about to spiral because my best friends and an incognito popstar are invading my sex island. She’s avirgin! I don’t want to corrupt her!”
He huffed a laugh. “You just put an extra ‘é’ on the end like you’re seasoning a personality trait.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Garnish the anxiety. Make it fancy. And I’m sorry, did you miss the part where I said they’re invading oursex island?” I jumped to my feet, legs burning from our hike today. “If they’re here, how are you inhere?” I pointed toward my vagina, and his eyes dropped, darkening with lust.
“They’re not going to stay here with us, love.”
“Ivy literally said she was coming to our villa. Do the mathematique, Cal.”
“You are absolutely unhinged,” he murmured, completely unbothered, andfuck, why was that nonchalance so goddamn hot? “My unhinged, but still.”
“Unhinged and correctly concerned that our holiday-honeymoon—holymoon? honeyday? moonday?—is about to have significantly less sex,” I shot back. “We haven’t even used the spreader bar yet. Do you understand the level of injustice?”
His gaze dragged slowly up my body, heat licking over every inch. “Trust me, baby,” he said, voice gone rough. “If the sex stops, it won’t be because of them. I’ll fuck you quiet with a house full of people if I have to.”
A shiver chased down my spine. “That is not helping my heart rate,” I muttered. “Or my ability to walk in front of company.”
His eyes sparked. “Okay. You need to relax.”
