(Aloe’s POV)
The beach had been everything I needed and nothing I wanted all at once. The sun had been dipping low, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange, and Blake had been there, fully present, completely untethered.
I had laughed more in those few hours than I had in weeks, letting the warmth of normalcy seep into me, even if only temporarily.
We were walking along the shoreline, shoes in hand, toes brushing the wet sand, water lapping around our ankles.
Every time I looked at him, my chest fluttered in a way I hated to admit. He was easy to be around, smooth, protective, and so obliviously dangerous at the same time. He had this way of making me feel like I could forget everything.. the world, Wakes, my life back home. And yet I couldn’t.
“Careful,” he once said, his voi
