But I didn’t. Instead, I let out a shaky breath, tilting my head up to meet his gaze fully. “Blake⁠—”

He didn’t let me finish.

One second, we were floating, the space between us thinning like a thread about to snap. The next, his hands were on my waist, and he was dunking me under the water.

A shocked gasp never made it past my lips before the cold swallowed me whole. I surfaced with a sharp inhale, rubbing the sting from my eyes, blinking rapidly as I tried to shake off the shock. “What the hell?”

Blake was already laughing, chest rising and falling with it, his eyes bright with mischief.

I glared at him. “You’re actually the worst.”

“Oh, come on.” He reached out with a grin, ruffling my hair. Water dripped down my face as I glared harder, but he only chuckled. “You were getting all serious on me.”

I was. And maybe that was the problem.

Scowling, I lunged at him, shoving a wave of water straight into his face. He barely flinched, shaking his head like a wet dog before retaliating, sending an even bigger splash in my direction.

I shrieked, stumbling back against the pull of the tide.

“You are so dead!”

“Catch me if you can,” he challenged, already swimming backward, that damn smirk still playing on his lips.

I didn’t think twice.

I chased after him, kicking against the waves. We spent the next few minutes like that—splashing and trying to one-up each other. Blake always had to turn everything into a challenge or competition, even something as simple as a splash fight. I wasn’t sure if it was the rush of winning or just the need to push my buttons, but either way, it made me want to keep up.

Eventually, the exhaustion caught up to us.

I let myself float for a moment, breath coming hard, staring up at the stars scattered across the sky.

Blake treaded water beside me, quieter now. “You happy, B?”

I turned my head to look at him, the wet strands of hair clinging to his forehead tempting me to reach out and push them back, but I stopped myself. “Yeah,” I admitted, the words slipping out more honestly than I expected.

He nodded, gaze drifting out toward the horizon. “Good.”

Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten.

Before I could say anything, he spoke again, his voice softer. “Thank you.”

I frowned. “For what?”