“Em! Don’t go!” Leah tugged on my wrist until I flopped back into the water.
Well, shit.
Cameron grinned, shaking wet hair out of his face as he stretched an arm along the rim of the hot tub. “Dare, obviously.”
Bernard’s eyes gleamed. “Kiss Gisella.”
The second the words left his lips, my stomach plummeted.
I wasn’t the only one who stiffened. Palmer’s smile evaporated, his brows furrowing as he shot a glare at Bernard.
Leah froze next to me, her drunken smile melting off her face like ice cream in the hot sun. She showed her cards for only a moment before a forced smile found her lips when Cameron looked to her, as if asking for permission. She took a sip from her martini glass like she was entirely unaffected.
I knew better than to believe her, but apparently Cameron didn’t, because he turned to Gisella and arched a brow as if to askwant to do this?
Palmer tried to save it. “I don’t think Gisella will be a willing partner in that dare, bro. She’s got a boyfriend, remember?”
Gisella pursed her lips with an innocent lift of one shoulder. “Well, Finn went to bed, didn’t he?”
The entire hot tub shifted.
Fuck.
This was not good.
Cameron hesitated for all of a second, his gaze bouncing to Leah again. But when she just stared at the bubbles she was pushing together with her hands, he shrugged.
And then he crossed the hot tub, Gisella met him in the middle with a sultry smirk, and they kissed.
The cheers started before he even reached her. Bernard splashed water and Eli whooped loud enough to wake half the marina. Palmer shook his head like he already knew it was a mistake, taking a drink of his cocktail, but he watched the train wreck right along with the rest of us.
All I could focus on was Leah — the way she suddenly wasn’t smiling, the way she’d abandoned her drink on the rim of the tub and curled her arms around herself.
The second they kissed, I swore I watched my third stew break into a thousand pieces.
It wasn’t just a peck, either. Gisella hooked her arms around Cameron’s shoulders, pulling him flush against her. Cameron’s hands found her waist, his fingers splaying over the wet fabric of her swimsuit as she deepened the kiss, tilting her head and parting her lips, which just made Bernard scream louder.
That was all Leah could take.
She climbed out of the tub with no one noticing. The water streamed off her body in rivulets as she stepped onto the deck, wordlessly reaching for a towel and wrapping it tight around herself like armor. The cheers didn’t stop. No one asked why her lip trembled or saw the way her shoulders tensed as she turned on her heel and walked inside.
I closed my eyes on a long breath, the pain on her face making my own chest squeeze. Quietly, I climbed out of the hot tub, ignoring Bernard’s questioning glance and the way Cameron and Gisella were still tangled up in each other. I was already stepping toward the doors when Gisella’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Oh, relax, Chief. You’re off the clock and your stew will be fine. It’s just a little fun — nothing to be so uptight about.”
I turned, narrowing my gaze. She wasn’t kissing Cameron anymore, but she still clung to him. “You really think Finn would be okay with what you just did?”
I expected her to waver. I expected guilt, or regret, or even a flicker of uncertainty.
But instead, she just smiled.
“I know he would,” she said, her voice honey-sweet and menacing all at once. “Because he’smyboyfriend.”
Her brow ticced up in a challenge, like she only wished I’d try to fight her. But I had neither the energy nor the desire.
Maybe she did know Finn better than I did now. Maybe hewasfine with it.
Even if he wasn’t, it was none of my business.