Always have been.
That ache in my chest I’ve been trying to smother with alcohol and avoidance consumes me. My fingers take over.
I’m fine.
There she is. I’ve missed you, you know. You’re the one bright spot that showed up when everything else went dark.
I was starting to think I scared you off.
Scared me off? Not a chance. I’m way too invested at this point.
Besides… you’ve kind of become my favorite notification and your emotional Jenga tower is way too entertaining to walk away from mid-collapse.
Good. Because losing you might actually ruin my already questionable faith in the universe.
God, why is it so easy with him?
Why does he have to be like this?
Stupid. Charming. Ridiculously addictive in a way that bypasseslogic and scrapes at something much deeper—something I don’t want to acknowledge is even there.
And the worst part?
It’s not even about sex.
Except… it kind of is.
I know exactly how he kisses. I know the sound I make when he?—
Nope. Nope. Nope. Not going there.
I shake the thought loose with the force of someone trying to dislodge a demon.
Here I am, half-tipsy on an island paradise, still texting the man I never should’ve let inside my ribcage. Still craving the way he listens. The way hegetsme. Still wondering if he could be real.
He is real.
I toss back the rest of my drink in one go.
It burns going down. Rum. And rage.
And regret.
“You should see your face right now,” he muses, leaning over his coconut and sucking.Hard.His eyebrows bounce. “Who texted you, and how do I make them do it again?”
My fingers stop over the screen mid-response. “What?”
He gestures lazily at me with finger. “That.”
“That?”
Jeremy rolls his eyes. “The way you’re staring at your phone like it just solved world hunger and promised you a lifetime supply of orgasms.”
I scoff. “I amnot?—”
“Yousoare,” he interrupts, smirking. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you lookgenuinelyhappy while texting someone before. Not even me, and I’m a delight.”
I throw a piece of pineapple at him. He catches it, takes a dramatic bite, and continues as if I didn’t just try to pelt him with fruit.
