“We have an audience,” she whispers, nodding toward her family, who appears just as mesmerized by our kiss as we are.
Her eyes keep returning to my lips like she’s already planning our next kiss.
“That was ADORABLE!” Violet yells. “And your audience was loving every single second of it!”
“What!?! I thought you were just recording it?”
“Nope, Pops, I went live with it. Oh, I mean, we’re live with it.”
“Live? And you’re still recording?”
“Yes.”
Poppy drops her head onto my shoulder and lets out a laugh that vibrates against my collarbone. “Well, there goes the strategic part I promised you.”
I lift her chin with my fingertips, tracing the delicate line of her jaw. “Worth it,” I murmur against her lips before capturing them again. The world narrows to the soft pressure of her mouth, the gentle sigh that escapes her.
“Definitely,” she whispers as we reluctantly pull away.
“We should probably head back,” she smiles. “As much as I’m liking this, I’ve never been much into PDA.”
“PDA?”
“Public displays of affection.”
“Oh, yeah, right,” I say, covering the fact that I had no idea what it was until she told me.
I take her hand, and we begin walking toward shore, her fingers threading through mine like they belong there.
Like we’ve been doing this for years instead of days.
We wade back to shore together, and I’m hyperaware of every point of contact between us. Her shoulder brushing mine. The way she adjusts her grip on my hand. The small, private smile she’s trying to suppress.
Violet descends on us the moment our feet hit dry sand.
“Oh my gosh! That was so cute! Like, disgustingly cute.”
“High praise,” Poppy says.
Her sister hands Poppy her phone. She begins to watch the footage Violet captured.
“The angle’s good,” she murmurs, more to herself than us. “Natural. Candid.”
“Is it candid if it was planned?” I ask.
“Everything’s planned. The art is making it look like it isn’t. And besides, it wasn’t all planned, was it?”
I stand behind her, looking over her shoulder at the video. At myself, carrying her into the water. At the kiss, soft and certain, framed perfectly against the turquoise blue ocean.
We look like a couple in love.
Perhaps because we are.
“No, I guess it wasn’t all planned.”
There are so many comments.
EXCUSE ME WHO IS THIS MAN
