“Blue,” Miles said, from across the table. “You’ve barely said a word since we left the amphitheater.”
I looked up from my plate, blinking myself back into the present. “Sorry,” I said, forcing a small smile. “I’ve just been enjoying myself. Being here. With your family.”
I looked to West, hoping he knew I meant it. And from the way his eyes softened just slightly, I think he did.
“Your family,” Grams corrected sweetly. “You’ve been spending time with your family. And we’re honored you’re here.”
Her tone was warm, but there was something else underneath, something I couldn’t quite read. I glanced at West again, and the slight tension in his jaw told me he’d caught it too.
“Wanna hear something funny?” Miles chimed in, pulling us all back into lighter territory.
He looked to his left, at Loxley, with a mischievous grin.
“Don’t you dare,” she warned, already blushing.
“Once upon a time,” Miles started, undeterred, “this beautiful woman—” he gestured at Loxley “—thought you were a cocker spaniel.”
I blinked. “Like… a dog?”
“Oh my God,” Loxley groaned, burying her face in her hands. “This is so embarrassing.”
“She didn’t mean it like that,” Miles said with a laugh. “Back when we were still figuring us out, I told her I had to go to ‘Blue’s rescue.’ That’s literally what I said. ‘I had to go rescue Blue.’”
West’s hand slipped below the table and rested on my thigh, fingers tightening like he was grounding himself as Miles spoke about me.
Miles looked at Loxley as though she’d invented sunlight, encouraging her to finish the story.
“So I asked him, ‘Is Blue a cocker spaniel?’” Loxley said with a laugh. “It wasn’t meant to be insulting, I promise. That was actually the moment I realized I had feelings for him. I was jealous.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I mean, he did spend a lot of time kicking riffraff out of the bar for me.”
“I’m endeared by it now,” Loxley smiles. “He can be your hero, too.”
West’s hand flexed on my thigh, this time with unmistakable possessiveness. The only one at the table not smiling. I reachedunder the table and gave his hand a small squeeze, trying to loosen him up.
“The good news is,” he said, voice darker than I’d ever heard it, “she won’t need another hero.”
His fingers laced with mine, and he lifted my hand to his lips without taking his eyes off Loxley. The whole thing was for show, but the emotion wasn’t.
Miles and Easton exchanged amused looks while I tried to remind myself that he was just pretending. He’s good at this. He's done it his whole life.
Thankfully, we drifted back into easy conversation. Loxley and I chatted across the table, and West, who had started the evening being playful, grew quiet. His mind was somewhere else. And I knew, no matter how hard I tried, that I couldn’t keep my switch off any longer.
Dinner wrapped up with the table splitting in every direction. Grams and Gramps wanted to head back to the hotel. Miles and Loxley, Easton and Jesse, all planned to walk the beach.
West said he had work to do.
“Are you kidding me?” Miles groaned. “I haven’t seen you in nearly a month and you wanna hole up and work? Aren’t you a newlywed or something?”
I could tell West just needed space. The whole evening was draining. Faking a whole life took it out of a person. But Miles wasn’t wrong either. West wasn’t doing himself any favors disappearing behind that wall again.
“I think,” I said with a sly smile, slipping my hand across West’s chest as we stood on the boardwalk, “my gorgeous husband is just anxious to get out of Easton’s jeans.” My palm dragged down his chest, stopping just shy of the belt, but leaving zero doubt about where my thoughts were. “And he’s probably even more anxious to get me out of mine.”
West’s hand found my waist, fingers brushing against my skin with the kind of slow, deliberate touch that made my breath catch. He looked down at me, lips parting, eyes full of things he wasn’t saying. He licked his lips like he might kiss me, but we both knew that would’ve been breaking too many rules.
“I can’t argue with that,” Easton said behind us. “That’s the easiest decision we make. When Max’s little ears aren’t around to hear us, I love making Jesse scream.”
That made West blink out of it. He straightened, smiled at his brother. Almost in disbelief that he had been so blunt with his words.
