Gwen felt her face flame. She opened her mouth, fumblingfor something — anything — to defuse this mess before Lillian could read too much into it.
And then Maggie’s hand was on her cheek.
She turned Gwen’s face toward her and pressed her mouth to hers. The kiss was firm, unapologetic, the kind of kiss that left no room for argument.
The cabana erupted in cheering and whooping and Lillian’s nearby laugh.
Gwen’s heart stuttered. She hadn’t tasted Maggie’s lips in months, but her body knew exactly how to respond: a sharp pull low in her stomach, the urge to lean in, to let it last.
She didn’t. Couldn’t.
When Maggie pulled back, Gwen blinked, pulse hammering. Maggie just smirked faintly, as if to saySee? No big deal.
Across the way, Lillian arched one perfect brow, amusement glinting behind her shades.
Gwen was caught between her wife’s mouth, their friends’ chaos, and Lillian’s cool gaze, feeling like she might actually combust.
Maggie was on her feet before Gwen could even recalibrate from the kiss. She tugged off her cover-up in one impatient sweep, dropped it onto the couch, and snatched a glass of champagne from the table.
“God help us,” Gwen muttered, but her voice was lost under the shrieks from the pool.
Maggie raised her glass in mock salute, then sauntered to the edge of the water, hips already swaying to the beat.
Gwen’s chest went hot, traitorous. Because of course Maggie looked incandescent with her bare skin gleaming in the sunlight, hair wild, grin loose and easy in a way Gwen hadn’t seen in months. She hated how magnetic it was. Hated how impossible it was to look anywhere else.
A commotion of cheers and whistles rose from the cabana next to them, and when Gwen turned, she saw two bottle girls in matching bikinis pop the tops off massive champagnebottles, spraying twin arcs of fizz over the heads of two men who pumped their fists in triumph.
“Ohhellyes,” Pete said, practically vibrating, already half out of her chair.
Danica pressed a palm to her chest like she could physically hold Pete back. “No. Don’t even think about it.”
But Pete’s eyes had gone glassy with desire, locked on the foamy spray. “That could be me.”
“Exactly,” Danica said firmly.
Gwen’s gaze drifted back to the pool. Maggie was dancing and laughing with her head tilted back, champagne flute lifted in salute to the wild scene next to them. For a moment, Gwen let herself forget the distance between them, the sharp edges of the last year. For a moment, all she saw was the woman she’d married, sunlight burning across her shoulders, joy spilling out of her like it belonged to Gwen too. And god, Gwen missed her. Missed her in a way that was marrow deep. Missed her so much it almost felt like drowning — sitting there, dry and steady, while Maggie was just out of reach.
CHAPTER 11
Maggie
The afternoon had startedout rowdy in the plunge pool. Danica, Kiera, and Izzy had claimed a corner, knees tucked, drinks balanced on the ledge, and were busy playing a tipsy version of truth or dare. The dares were ridiculous — Izzy had already dared Kiera to swim the width of the plunge pool with her sun hat on, and Danica had been made to try to whistle the Backstreet Boys with a mouth full of ice cubes. Maggie slid in between them, already buzzing, ready to play.
“Truth or dare?” Izzy demanded, wiggling her brows.
“Truth,” Danica said, and she ended up confessing that she once kissed her chemistry lab partner just to get the answers for a quiz. Kiera dared Izzy to sip champagne through a snorkel. Maggie dared Kiera to cartwheel on the slick deck, which almost ended in disaster for herselfanda plate of nachos.
The laughter was constant, shrieks echoing across the water. Gwen, Pete, and Lillian stayed in the cabana, half participating, half doing their own thing. Pete and Lillian had fallen into easy conversation, catching up like no time hadpassed, while Gwen pretended to be distracted with the drinks menu but kept sneaking glances at the pool.
When it was Maggie’s turn, she lifted her chin. “Truth,” she said, like it was its own dare.
Izzy’s grin went sharp. “What’s the wildest place you and Gwen have ever…” She waggled her brows, “You know.”
Maggie choked on a laugh. “That is not fair.”
“Perfectly fair,” Danica insisted. “You chose truth. Them’s the rules.”
Kiera looked both horrified and delighted. “Oh my god, please don’t answer, but also please answer.”
