“We could just rejoin the party,” I suggest, already stepping through the bedroom door, Darren only half a step behind me. “See what they’re up to. Announce nothing and hide nothing.”
“Soft-launching our relationship in your own backyard. I like your style.”
“Our relationship. We’ll have to figure out what that looks like, I guess.”
Darren nudges me toward the stairs. “It’ll look like anything we want.”
He says it so plainly that it settles something in me, and we make our way to the backyard without getting more into than that. I can tell the chaos has quieted before we reach the patio doors, but it’s when I hear someone strumming a guitar that I realize how much changed while I was gone. I thread my fingers through Darren’s and take a long look around, smiling at a scenario I hadn’t expected, and probably should have.
Supine is crowded on the patio sofa, but three of them are taking the night off, the guitar in Sebastian’s hands while he’s the only one who sings. Stripped down more than at Trailhead, his voice is stunning, and nearly everyone else has gathered to drink, watch, and listen. Now that most of the party has moved to the firepit, Riley has relocated, content to lie on a lounge chair closerto the pool, and Drew has taken over their chair. Lucy, Dominic, and Mason are nearby, passing a bottle of vodka back and forth, and Sage is lying on the cement so blissfully that I almost miss being 21.
We walk past the firepit, and Darren squeezes my hand just as we find Noah, Beau, and Adrian getting out of the spa and toweling off. Only one of them is surprised that Darren’s mouth is pressed to my bare shoulder.
“Wait,” Noah gasps. “You two are—”
“They are,” Riley answers, gesturing toward the open chair to their left. “Now, lie down and listen to the music.”
I chuckle at the command, and while it wasn’t directed at me, I stretch out on the other side of Riley, dragging Darren with me until he’s relaxing between my legs and resting his head on my chest. Noah does as he’s told, which means Beau and Adrian claim the chair on my right, pushing it up against mine so they can curl around us somehow.
Protective. Affectionate.
Overwhelming. Perfect.
One of Darren’s hands is on my leg now, the other clasped in Beau’s, so my breath catches when I feel someone else’s fingers wrap around mine. After a few seconds, I chance a glance at Riley, but they’re too focused on Sebastian to acknowledge what their touch means to me tonight.
And really, I’m not sure I’m ready to acknowledge it either.
I just want to hold on.