Then we all burst out laughing.
Berk glances up at me, smiling so wide it might break my damn heart in the best way.
Yeah, she’s ours.
And nothing’s ever felt more right.
Just when I think she’s settled—her body relaxed against mine, that glow still on her skin—Berkley starts wiggling around in my lap like a restless little pixie.
I grin, watching her squirm. She does this thing with her shoulders when something’s on her mind, like her thoughts are too big to keep contained in her tiny frame. I know that look. It’s the same one she’s worn a hundred times when she wants to say something important but isn’t sure how it’s going to land.
I glance at Emerson and Rowen. They’ve both noticed too. We’ve all learned how to read her like a second language.
“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours, Berk?” I ask, brushing my fingers through her hair. “You’re squirming like you’ve got ants in your leggings.”
She bites her lip and sits up just enough to look around at each of us, clearly debating whether to speak. That lip bite? Dead giveaway that it’s serious.
“You can say anything,” Rowen says gently.
“We meananything,” Emerson adds, voice low but steady. “You know that.”
She nods, then takes a deep breath and blurts it out in one quick tumble. “Okay, so, you know you’re my first for a lot of things... and I just—I guess I need to know what I’m walking into. Like... how experienced you guys are. And if... I don’t know, if anyone should be tested or something before we... go any further.”
Her cheeks are bright red before she finishes, but she holds our eyes like the brave little firecracker she is.
And damn, if I don’t love her even more for it.
She’s not asking to judge or trying to make anything weird. She’s asking because she’s smart. Responsible.Ours.
And we all feel it—her vulnerability, her courage, her absolute trust in us not to shut her down.
We all remain silent for a moment, because this question deserves more than a rushed answer.
But inside?
My chest is thundering with one truth: she doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the only one I’veeverbeen waiting for.
Rowen lifts a hand, confessing his sins. “I’ve... kissed a few girls. Messed around. Nothing ever serious. No sex. No one ever meant anything. Not like this.”
Emerson sighs. “Same. No sex. Nothing deep. Mostly just trying to forget what I wanted. Which was this. You.”
Berkley nods, quiet but understanding. But I can see a brief flicker of something in her eyes. Hesitation maybe? A question she doesn’t know if she should ask.
So, I say it before she can.
“Not me.”
She turns to me slowly, brows raised.
“I’ve never been with anyone else,” I say simply, shrugging. “Never even kissed another girl.”
Rowen lifts an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Dead serious.”
Emerson whistles low. “Didn’t know that.”
I glance back at Berk, who’s looking at me like I just flipped her world sideways.
