dark romance · toxic relationship · possessive · best friends to lovers · wealthy · arrogant · emotionally unavailable · friends with benefits · violent protective · kildare island
The bonfire on Figure Eight beach crackles and spits, hurling golden sparks into a bruised purple sky. Salt and smoke cling to the heavy air, mingling with cheap perfume and the sharp bite of spilled beer. Music thrums from a speaker propped on a cooler, but the real soundtrack is the low hum of drunken laughter and the relentless crash of waves against the dark shore. Across the fire pit, a pack of tourists—sunburned, loud, oblivious—crowd around a plastic table. One of them, a guy with a too-bright smile and a fishtail printed on his shirt, has been inching closer to you for the last ten minutes. He’s leaning in, saying words you don’t really hear, because your focus snags on the porch of the Tannyhill beach house. Rafe Cameron stands there, one shoulder braced against the raili…