10
Colter
Robin gasps, looking at me. “I’ve been keeping a secret too.”
He holds my gaze, and something shifts in the air between us. Jules and Marc are frozen in the pod, but I barely register them. All I can see is Robin.
“Robin—”
“Colter—”
We stop. The silence stretches for a heartbeat.
“I love you,” we say.
The words hang in the air, overlapping and tangled together. For a moment, I’m not sure I heard him right. But then I see in his face the shock, the hope, the dawning wonder, and I know I didn’t imagine it.
“Wait,“
Robin says. “You love me?”
“You love me?” I echo.
“I asked first.”
“We said it at the same time!”
“Yes,“
Robin says, his voice cracking. “Yes, I love you. I tried not loving you but … I didn’t do it very well. I thought … I thought you didn’t feel the same way anymore.”
I stare at him and shake my head. “Robin, I’ve been in love with you since the day we met. Breaking up nearly destroyed me.”
“But you never talked about the future. Every time I brought up marriage or kids, you changed the subject. I thought you were happy with things the way they were. I thought I wanted more than you could give.”
“I wanted to give you everything,“
I say, stepping closer. “A house, a wedding, kids—all of it. I was trying to build financial security first. I wanted to do it right. I wanted to be able to provide for our family.” I run a hand through my hair, frustration and regret clawing at my chest. “I thought you knew how I felt. I thought it was obvious. But I never actually told you, and I lost you, and I’ve regretted it every single day since.”
Robin’s Adam’s apple bobs. His green eyes are shining.
“I thought you didn’t want to marry me,“
he whispers.
“I wanted to marry you more than anything.“
My voice breaks on the words.
“But last night when I said we should keep it casual, you didn’t argue.”
“Yeah.“
I laugh softly, but there’s no humor in it. “I would agree to anything if it meant having you in my arms, baby.”
“I only said it because I was scared.“
The confession tumbles out of him. “I was terrified this was just vacation brain. That we’d go back to Pine Ridge and you’d realize it was a mistake. I couldn’t survive losing you twice, Colter. It would break me.”
“It’s not vacation brain.“
I close the distance between us until we’re inches apart. I cup his face, thumb brushing across his cheekbone, tracing the freckles I’ve missed so much. “I want you, Robin. It’s always been just you.”
“I want you too,“
he breathes. “I never stopped wanting you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
A sharp slapping sound comes from behind us. I turn to see Jules and Marc high-fiving each other, matching grins stretching across their faces.
“We knew it,“
Jules says triumphantly. “We knew you two were still in love.”
“This is incredibly satisfying,“
Marc adds, practically bouncing in the pod. “Just so you know, all that scheming? Worth it.”
“Glad our emotional breakthrough is entertaining for you,“
I say dryly. But I’m smiling, and my hand finds Robin’s, our fingers intertwining like they belong there. Like they were always meant to be linked.
Then Robin’s tongue darts out to wet his lips, and every thought except one flies out of my head. “I need to spend time alone with you,“
I say, my voice low. “Right now.”
A shiver runs through him. I feel it where our hands are joined. “I’m very on board with that.”
I start pulling him toward the exit. But halfway there, I stop and turn back to Marc.
“You’re kicked out,“
I announce. “I have a new roommate.”
Marc’s jaw drops.
Jules reaches over and takes Marc’s hand, tugging him close until Marc is practically in his lap again. “I’ll take you in, sweet cheeks,“
Jules says, his voice warm and impossibly fond.
Marc melts into Jules’s side, and the look they share is so tender, so intimate, that something loosens in my chest. My best friend is in love. Really, truly in love.
And so am I.
“Come on,“
I murmur, squeezing Robin’s hand. “Let’s go.”
My cabin looks different with Robin in it. Smaller, maybe. Or perhaps it just feels that way because we’re both standing here, the air thick with anticipation and unspoken promises.
I survey the two tiny beds, then look at Robin with determination.
“Help me with this.”
Together, we push the beds until they’re flush against each other. It’s not perfect—there’s still a gap where the mattresses don’t quite meet—but it’s big enough for two people. Big enough for us.
I sit on the edge of the combined beds and look up at him, a slow smile spreading across my face.
“Want to see how we both fit in here together?”
Robin crosses the small space between us in two steps and launches himself at me as I catch him with a surprised “oof.“
Our mouths crash together, and the kiss is everything. Hungry and sweet and desperate and tender, all tangled up together.
“I have a condition,“
he murmurs against my lips when we break apart for air.
“Name it.”
“If I’m moving into this cabin”—he pulls back just enough to meet my eyes, and the heat in his gaze makes my breath catch—“you need to fuck me. Right now.”
I groan, my hands tightening on his thighs. “That is absolutely a condition I can meet.”
I twist and deposit him on the bed, following him down until my body covers his. For a moment, I just look at him. The dark hair spread across the pillow. The freckles scattered across his cheeks. The green eyes that have haunted my dreams for months.
“I love you,“
I say softly.
“I love you too.“
He tugs at the hem of my shirt. “Now take off your clothes.”
I grin and comply.
We undress each other with urgency and reverence. My shirt, then his. My shorts, then his. When we’re bare, I let myself look at him. The lean lines of his body, the flush spreading down his chest, the way he’s looking at me like I’m everything he’s ever wanted.
He’s beautiful. He’s always been the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
And he’s mine again.
“Like what you see?“
he asks, a teasing lilt to his voice.
“You know I do.“
I lower myself back down, pressing our bodies together. “Always have. Always will.”
He kisses me again, deeper this time, and I lose myself in the taste of him. When he rolls his hips up against mine, I groan into his mouth.
“Do we need condoms?” he asks.
“No.”
“Lube?“
he asks breathlessly.
“Let me check the nightstand. Mark must have brought some.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Unsurprisingly, baby, I wasn’t counting on getting lucky on this vacation,” I say.
“Do you feel lucky now?”
“The luckiest.“
I reach over and retrieve the small bottle, then settle back between his legs. I coat my fingers, warming the lube before pressing one gently against his hole.
“Okay?“
I ask, searching his face.
“More than okay. Don’t stop.”
I push inside slowly, giving him time to adjust. He’s so warm, so tight, and when he lets out a soft moan, it takes everything in me not to rush. When I add a second finger, he arches into my hand, chasing the sensation.
“God, I missed this,“
I breathe against his neck. “The sounds you make. The way you move. Everything.”
“Less talking,“
he manages, his voice strained. “More doing.”
I laugh softly and add a third finger, stretching him with patient, deliberate strokes. I watch his face, the way his eyes flutter closed, the way his lips part, the way his whole body responds to my touch. By the time I withdraw my fingers, he’s trembling beneath me.
“Colter. Please.”
I don’t make him wait. I slick myself up and position myself against his hole, pausing just long enough to meet his eyes.
“Ready?”
“Fuck, yes.”
I push in slowly, inch by inch, and the feeling nearly undoes me. He’s perfect. He’s always been perfect. When I’m fully seated inside him, I still, my forehead dropping to his.
“You feel incredible,“
I murmur. “You always feel so incredible.”
“Move,“
he begs, wrapping his legs around my waist. “Please, Colter. Move.”
I do.
The first thrust is slow, careful. The second is deeper. By the third, we’ve found our rhythm—a push and pull that feels as natural as breathing, as inevitable as gravity. I brace myself above him, one hand tangled in his dark hair, the other gripping his hip.
“Harder,“
he gasps. “I need more—”
I adjust my angle and drive into him, and when he cries out, nails raking down my back, the sound goes straight through me. I want to hear that sound forever.
“That’s it,“
I pant. “Let me hear you. Want to hear everything.”
I set a relentless pace, each thrust pushing us higher. The pleasure builds, coiling tighter and tighter, and I can feel him getting close in the way he clenches around me, the way his breathing turns ragged.
“Colter— I’m so close—”
“Me too.“
My rhythm falters, grows more urgent. “Come with me. Want to feel you.”
I wrap my hand around his cock, stroking in time with my thrusts, and that’s all it takes. He shatters with my name on his lips, and the feeling of him coming apart around me pulls me over the edge. I bury myself deep as I spill inside him, his name torn from my throat.
For a long moment, neither of us moves. We just breathe together, foreheads touching, hearts pounding against each other.
“I love you,“
I whisper into the space between us. “So fucking much.”
“I love you too.“
He presses a kiss to my jaw, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “I’m never letting you go again.”
“Good.“
I smile, and my chest feels so full it might burst. “Because I’m not going anywhere. Not ever again.”
I pull out gently and collapse beside him, immediately gathering him into my arms. The beds shift beneath us, and his foot slips into the gap between the mattresses.
“We need to fix that,“
he mumbles against my chest.
“Later.“
I press a kiss to the top of his head, breathing in the scent of him. “Right now, I just want to hold you.”
He relaxes into me, his body warm and solid against mine. The ship hums beneath us, carrying us across the ocean toward a new destination.
But for the first time in months, I’m not worried about where I’m going.
Because wherever it is, Robin will be there.
And that’s all I’ve ever needed.