When they reached the stretch of restaurants in Mission Bay, the area a buzz of pretty lights and conversation, Veni and a couple of others decided to get ice cream from the busy specialty shop on the corner, then they walked back. It was halfway during that walk that she figured out what Danny was doing.

His hand had slipped to her hip at some point, and every so often, it’d tighten a fraction, then release. She hadn’t noticed earlier because it was so subtle, but now that she was paying attention, she realized he did it every time she hit an uneven patch of footpath.

Giving her a little extra stability.

Her hackles threatened to rise—until she snapped her gaze toward him after another such incident and found him looking out across the water, his attention on the glittering reflection of the city’s skyline. “I always forget how good the CBD looks from here,” he murmured. “Makes me consider moving out here, but then I remember the traffic and nope out.”

“Yeah,” she managed to get out past a rough throat.

He wasn’t doing it on purpose, she realized, didn’t even seem to know he was doing it. She didn’t know how to feel about that. As she’d thought at the restaurant, Danny had full confidence in her strength. That thing he was doing, it was cutely protective in the way a good boyfriend might be about his girlfriend. Grabbing her hand if she stumbled or helping her scramble over rocks.

Catie was annoyed by any such thing… but now that she was past her knee-jerk response, she found she wasn’t annoyed by Danny’s unconscious gesture. She needed to think on that. Before she could, Danny stopped, turned to her… and kissed her.

Right there with the skyline of the city glittering across and to her left on the water and their friends wandering on ahead. He kissed her in the quiet space between cars on the road while the waves whispered below the seawall, one arm around her and the hand of his other gently cupping her cheek and jaw.

After it was over, they turned and walked on, and her heart… it developed another crack in its protective shield.

Given the length of the outing, Catie wanted to go back to her own place, where she had everything she needed for her comfort. Danny seemed unbothered by her decision and cheerfully tailed her home.

Once inside, she yawned—to his vocal amusement. “Look at us! Such hot young things!”

Shoving at his shoulder as she started laughing too, she said, “Round five can wait till I’ve caught a bit of shuteye.”