“But it hasneverfelt like this. It’s never worked, and it’s never affected all three of us as intensely in the same way like this. Sean and Hunter and I—” He looked away. “We’ve been through alot together — the kind of things that make us closer than brothers. Back in Afghanistan, we saw things and did things…” He trailed off again, his face going tight.
I leaned forward, resting my hands on his arms and squeezing as I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I didn’t know you guys fought.”
“Marines,” he said, turning back with a thin smile. “It sucked. But it made us close and made us what we are today. We came back, started investing, figured out what we were good at, and turned the whole thing into Camelot Holdings.”
I stroked his arm. “Why Camelot, by the way?”
Damien grinned. “It’s a stupid inside joke. We called ourselves the knights of the round table when we were over there. It was the first thing we thought of when trying to come up with a company name.”
“My knights,” I said softly, kissing his cheek again. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through.”
“I’d say the payoff was worth it.”
I grinned. “Yeah I think you’ve all done pretty well for your—”
“I meant meeting you, actually.”
I blinked, my heart flip-flopping suddenly as I met his gaze.
“I mean it when I say we’ve never felt like this, Ari. I don’t know what this all is yet, but I know none of us ever want it to stop.”
He kissed me then, before I could say a word, and I let myself melt against him.
“Look, why don’t you soak a little longer, and then go change?”
“Into?”
“There’s a dress on your bed.”
“What’s the plan tonight?”
Damien stood and grinned. “Tonight, we wine, dine, and take you dancing.”
“All for me, huh?”
“Tonight, Arianna, we treat you like the queen you are.”
He winked as he started to move towards the door.
“Hey, Damien?”
He turned back.
“Thanks. For telling me, I mean.”
He held my gaze another second and smiled before ducking from the bathroom.
***
And wine and dine me they did. Dinner was fresh caught seafood overlooking the very ocean it’d been fished from, washed down with phenomenal wine, and topped off with laughter and lingering touches and kisses from all three of them. A live island band took the stage as dinner was cleared, and before I knew it, I was being brought out on the dance floor to be twirled, dipped, and swung by all three of them.
I couldn’trememberbeing this happy. I couldn’t remember ever feeling as close to perfect as I did surrounded by them — laughing, kissing, and just having the time of my life with the three of them.
My knights.
***
Later, we were back at the cabana, all of us lounging on the big open deck that jutted out over the water. I was laying draped across the three of them, watching the moonlight and stars flicker across the waves as we sipped cold beers and just sat there in perfect silence.