“Be friends.” His gaze never faltered, and his expression was neutral enough that she couldn’t quite tell what he meant by the question. But she could tell how she felt, with his eyes on her like this. Her body was weightless and heavy at the same time, fluttering with nervous energy.

He continued: “On our first night here, you told me you wanted to be friends.”

There was something almost challenging about the word, a barely perceptible petulance in the way he dragged it out.

A quiet “I think we can be” was all she could manage.

“Okay then.” He nodded, and with one hand moved his watch down his arm, shaking it loose. His voice was low and methodical as he kept his eyes fixed on his wrist. “Is that still what you want?” He looked up at her now, a few loose locks of shiny black hair falling in front of his eyes. He pushed them back, straightening up slightly as he did. “For us to be friends?”

“I…” Her voice tapered off, uncertain. “I want—”

“Because you have so much to offer, too,” he continued, deliberately recycling her words.

The air between them had become impossibly thick, and she felt just as unsteady as she had at that last brunch before graduation, arguing over the fish they were now sharing. That day, she had known in her marrow that he felt exactly the way she did, that testing her was his covert way of showing his deep affection. And she had been wrong—so spectacularly wrong.

She took a deep breath, and it shuddered slightly as she exhaled. “I think it would be nice to be friendly again.” Her tone was even and, although her voice was quiet, her delivery was plausible.

Danial’s face had gone completely stoic, devoid of a response. Her eyes flicked downward to see that his grip had returned to his water glass, fingers tensing around it in a way that seemed to border on dangerous. Finally he nodded, raising the glass to his lips for another long drink.

Suddenly, the rest of the group came spilling onto the deck, loudly tossing their shoes aside and interrupting their conversation.

“Every other store was closed.” Sophie sighed, slinging what looked like dozens of upscale shopping bags onto a free dining chair. “This town is useless.”

Alex glanced at the aftermath of their retail spree, caught between envy and amusement that the group finally wanted to do something other than visit incredibly expensive restaurants.

“It was great,” Dev clarified, following behind her while subtly indicating to Melanie that he wanted a glass of water. “We’re just a little tired, and some of us want to get a nap in before the party.”

“I’m not going to nap,” Bee corrected, grabbing a piece of bread from the basket on the table and tearing off the tiniest piece. “I just want to lay down for a minute.”