The palms overhead are swaying in the wind, and the sun hangs low, seconds away from dipping beneath the horizon.
It’s perfect. Romantic. Expensive-looking.
My date deserves the effort.
The waitress lights a citronella candle in the middle of the table and drops off a bottle of water.
I check my phone again. Still nothing.
My nerves win, so I pour two glasses anyway. I set the bottle back in the cooler and look up just in time to see Yosh coming down the stairs.
He looks ridiculously perfect. Stone-gray linen pants and the black crochet shirt I gave him. It’s a bit see-through, just enough to tease but still dinner-appropriate. His hair’s in a half-up bun, a bit messy from the ocean wind.
Tonight there’s a different stone around his neck; not the usual black one, but something bright blue. For a second, I wonder if it’s a sapphire.
He scans the beach and smiles when he sees me. I mirror him like a lovesick teenager.
I stand as he comes closer, suddenly unsure how to greet him out here in public. There’s always someone from Arcadia lingering, always someone ready to sell photos to the gossip channels.
I want us past this hiding phase, show him off. But the ice is thin. His career’s on the line, and my controlling brother needs to stay in the dark a little longer.
Yosh stops in front of me and holds out his hand.
Alright, handshake it is.
“Hey, Sapphire,” he says, half flirty, half awkward.
“Love.”
I hold his hand too long, staring at his lips and the even softer look in his eyes.
“We can do a bro hug, right?”
He nods. “I assume we can.”
All my tension floats away the second his strong arm goes around me. I close my eyes and breathe him in.
“You smell really nice, love.”
“Considering the coordinates, I dressed for the occasion.”
“I see. You look good in my shirt.”
It makes him laugh close to my ear.
“Sapphire.”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t think this is a bro hug anymore.”
Fuck.
I release him and take a step back, probably more noticeable than I’d like. We sit. I scan the beach.
No one’s paying attention. Thank God.
“I’m surprised you managed to escape from your brother,” Yosh says.
