Page 52 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

June’s cheeks flush red even in the firelight, making her look even lovelier. Her laughter bursts out, surprised and delighted, and it hits me again, this stupid, disarming joy, sunlight through trees.

Millie smirks. “What? I’m helping.”

June glances at me, still smiling. “Is that true?”

I exhale through my nose. “Maybe I was just making sure you weren’t about to get taken out by a rogue sparkler.”

June’s brows lift. “So you’re… safety patrol?”

“Someone has to be,” I say, deadpan.

June’s smile tilts as if she’s trying not to laugh again.

Millie, on the other hand, is clearly having the time of her life.

“Uh-huh,” she says, sipping her drink. “Safety patrol. That’s what he calls it when he’s hovering.”

“I wasn’t hovering,” I say.

“You were,” Millie insists. “He was doing that intense Fletcher thing where he looks like he’s about to weld something broken back together.”

June snorts, and it’s so unguarded it knocks my heart loose in my chest.

I let my gaze stay on her a second longer than I should. “You’re settling in alright?”

June’s shoulders lift in a small shrug. “Better than I expected.”

“Good,” I say, and I mean it.

I mean it in the way you mean it when you’re not just being polite. When you’ve already decided, without permission, that somebody else’s comfort matters.

Her eyes flick to mine again, fast.

Too fast.

Checking for danger, tone, the moment someone decides she’s too much.

I’ve known plenty of people who do that.

People who check the ground before they step, even when the path ahead looks solid.

“Okay, I’m gonna go flirt with a man who thinks my art is witchcraft,” Millie says before turning away.

June blinks. “Millie⁠—”

Millie waves a hand. “You’re fine. I’m not leaving you with a serial killer, June. I’m leaving you with Fletcher. The human equivalent of a well-built bookshelf.”

Luke, passing by with a drink, pauses just long enough to add, “Sturdy. Reliable. Hot if you like wood.”

“Jeez,” I mutter.

June laughs again, softer this time, trying to keep it contained.

Millie winks at her and disappears into the crowd.

And then... it’s just us.

June shifts, fingers tightening slightly around her cup. Her eyes dart away and back again. Not nervous exactly, but braced.