We’re achingly gorgeous. All of us.

“Av?” Lex touches my arm, and it startles me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I tell him. “I’m good.”

But when I look toward the dock again, we’ve vanished.

Cole points toward something winking in the sand. A tiny bit of polished glass. Milky white. He picks it up and offers it to me. And I slide it into my pocket.

Another lucky charm.

The others start toward the cabins. Val walks between Jude and Lex, the three of them holding hands. Jude lets go for a minute to spin on the boardwalk. And he’s so graceful. Lean and muscled. I think about what a waste it is for him to become an accountant.

Lex looks back over his shoulder to smile at me, but Cole is pulling me in a different direction. “Come on,” he whispers, and when I hesitate, he gives me a huge grin. “I know someplace we can be alone.”

My stomach flip-flops, but I let Cole lead me away from the others, toward the rock jetty at the end of the beach. Along the cliff-side path into the tree line. Up the rocky hill toward his house.

I stop when we reach the tiny graveyard. Stones upright again tonight. Fresh flowers. My feet don’t want to move. “Cole?”

He tugs on my arm. “We shouldn’t stay here.”

He leads me to the tall fence at the bottom of his yard again. To the gate with the broken latch. I follow him through, and he closes it. We stand and look at the sea laid out below us. It churns and tumbles and foams at the bottom of the cliff.

I tremble as the fog swirls around our knees. I feel the kiss of it against my skin. But it’s Cole’s kiss I’m desperate for.

He’s so close, and suddenly I have to touch him again. To bridge those final inches between us.

You make the choice to see where this is going.

You light the fire.

I put my hands on his face and pull him to me. His hands go to my waist, and it’s like his palms are electric. I feel the little sparks they give off. We’re both still wet.

Water. And electricity. It’s dangerous. But I don’t care.

Our lips meet.

Then our tongues.

It’s gentle at first. Tentative.

Until it isn’t.

I slip both my hands into his hair, letting my fingers get lost in those dark waves. I felt him tense up, but then he relaxes and pulls me closer. I’m dizzy and lightheaded, but I don’t want to break away for air.

Cole presses me backward until I feel the rough wood of the fence behind me. I let myself melt against the boards as he deepens the kiss.

He slips his hands under my shirt to rest against the bare skin of my stomach.

Rough.