The tide crept closer, lazy and unbothered. A wave reached just far enough to kiss the edge of Kimi’s towel and made him swear under his breath in Finnish. The moon climbed higher. Someone refilled our glasses again. The playlist shifted into something quieter, a piano line threading through the murmur of the ocean.
“Scale check,” Callum murmured against my ear.
I let my eyes fall closed for a second, breathing in salt and wine and him. “Nine,” I said. “Nine and a half when I think about you nearly ignoring the door.”
His laugh puffed warm over my cheek. “Regrets?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Ask me again when Marco is snoring in surround sound.”
“I do not snore,” Marco denied.
“Liar,” Ivy said.
“You snore,” he shot back. “Like a gerbil in a blender.”
“And you like to be the little spoon when you’re drunk,” she snapped.
“I’m very concerned about Marco’s balls beingles twisty-estby Ivy Sinclar,” Callum taunted, and I giggled. “You hangin’ in there, mate?”
Marco glared at Callum. “When did your accent become so thick?”
“Ask her,” Callum said, nodding at me. “She’s the one who keeps begging for the Scottish to come out.”
I rolled my eyes, heat licking up my neck. “Tell the goddamn truth, Fraser.”
He huffed a laugh. “Fine. Since my fiancée agreed to marry me on a beach in Greece,” he said. “Apparently the ring came with a free dialect upgrade.”
I went smug on instinct, tilting my chin up a little. “For the record,” I drawled, “I beg for a lot more than that, but I do not think you guys want to know what I was really begging for.”
Marco slapped a hand over his heart. “I didnotcome to Greece to get bullied by your sex life,” he said. “I am a delicate flower. Have some respect.”
“Rule five,” Callum pointed out. “Unhealthy amount of affection, comments kept to a minimum. You were warned.”
“This is abuse.”
“It is not abuse,” I chided. “It’s a sexcational hazard.”
Kimi choked on his wine. “That’s not a thing.”
“Well I, for one, did not sign up for live-action porn,” Ivy chimed in, swallowing the last of her wine.
“You’re in the splash zone,” I told her with a saccharine smile. “Front rowsexpérience.”
“Please never say that again.”
Lucy choked on a giggle. “I love you people,” she said weakly. “You’re insane.”
“Bienvenue au club,” I said. “You’re stuck with us now.”
She smiled at me across the circle, a little crooked, like it didn’t quite fit yet but she was trying it on. “Good,” she said. “I think I need you.”
The words hit me somewhere low and unexpected. Maybe because I’d been there. New. Overwhelmed. Pulled into someone else’s orbit and not sure if I was allowed to stay.
Callum’s fingers traced the band of my ring, slow and reverent. “We’ll keep the bubble up,” he said quietly, just for me. “For you. For them. For us. As long as it takes.”
I tilted my head back and looked up at him, silhouetted against the stars, curls haloed by torchlight. “You can’t keep the world out forever,” I murmured.
“No,” he agreed. “But I can make damn sure it knocks before it comes in.”
