He gives me a sad smile. “But you don’t know if you can trust me to catch you.” It’s more reluctant observation than question. He pulls me against his chest, and we dance. “I don’t need an answer now. Just to feel you. All I want tonight is to hold you close so that jackass can’t get to you.”

We dance, letting our bodies rock to the music, letting go of this pretense that neither of us wants more. And it’s enough. For now, it’s enough. On the other side of the dance floor, Liam and Saanvi are doing the same. My sister is so happy when she looks up at her groom—there are stars in her eyes for everything he is to her. And I realize that for all the dating I’ve done since coming to Jackson Harbor, for all my searching for someone, I haven’t been looking for what they have. I’ve been scared of it—scared of what it will mean for me if I give up a piece of myself again. If I let myself love someone so entirely that I might break myself just to prove that love.

But maybe what I did for Heath—maybe that’s not what love is. Maybe love is the person who reminds you of who you are. Maybe it’s the person who helps you see yourself so clearly that you have the courage to say no when you’re being asked to give too much.

“We’re getting out of here,” Saanvi says over the music, pulling me away from my spot nestled in Carter’s arms for the first time in many, many songs. Liam’s standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. “Want to share a cab with us?”

I look to Carter, who gives me a gentle smile. “Whatever you want,” he says softly. I realize he doesn’t only mean the cab. He means us. This. Trying for more.

I nod, and he lifts my hand and holds my gaze as he presses a kiss to my knuckles.

Teagan

We don’t talk to anyone as we exit the taxi, and Saanvi gives me a knowing smile as we head straight to the stairs. To our room.

When I shut the door behind us and hear the snick that lets me know we’re finally alone, I jump on him, my hands in Carter’s hair as I nudge him toward the wall. I yank his shirt from his pants and unbutton it with shaking fingers. My thighs clench at the memory of the sounds he made earlier—the thrust of his hips as he pressed himself deeper into my mouth and the feel of his hands in my hair as he came.

He lowers his mouth to mine, and I open for him, tasting him, needing him. He groans into me, and his hands drop to my waist—gripping as if he’s afraid I’m going to disappear. And God, it’s good. His kiss, his heat, the way he pulls me closer and closer even as he unzips my dress, as if he can’t decide between getting me naked and keeping me as near to him as possible.