My forehead creases in confusion.
“What about your body?”
“I just haven’t felt like myself since?—”
“The accident?”
She nods and lowers her head an inch.
“Ivy, your body is perfect,” I say honestly.
And I can’t believe she doesn’t see it, how breathtaking she truly is.
Her eyes waver for a moment as she looks up at me.
“Do you still believe wanting something and actually having it are two different things?” I ask.
She hesitates for a moment and averts her gaze.
I hum and lean into the counter, folding my arms over my chest. Ivy’s eyes glance up and flick across my biceps beneath my T-shirt before returning to my eyes sharply.
“It’s clear that you’re still not ready,” I admit. “And I’m giving you time to think this through. Like I said, I’ll wait. But I need you to come to this decision on your own, when you’re ready to. And if there are bigger issues at hand, you can talk to me about them, Ivy. I’d never judge you, you know that.”
She stares up at me with her big green eyes, fingers fumbling together.
I lean down slowly, my lips beside her ear. “You say the word and I’m yours, princess.”
She quivers, and I hear her breath hitch. A smile covers my lips.
“I-I,” she attempts, but her head tilts backwards, and I resist the urge to clasp the back of her neck and give her a punishing kiss. My lips graze the curve of her neck instead, her pulse against my skin.
The stairs of the floor begin to creak, and I pull away from her, dampening the cloth in the sink. Ivy is still rooted to the spot, staring at me with dilated eyes. God knows if I had a minute more with her, she might have opened up to me a little bit.
“You don’t even want to see what those two brought home,” Finn comments as he joins us in the kitchen. He’s shaking his head in disbelief, and I can only imagine the worst.
I glance up at him and smile. “No sex toys, I hope.”
Finn grimaces. “If that’s what I saw, I’d be bleaching my eyeballs right now.”
A chuckle passes my lips.
CHAPTER 36
IVY THOMPSON
I’ve been sitting on the edge of my bed for the last twenty minutes.
My eyes are glued to the window, watching the white clouds sweep across the sky. No chance of sunshine today. I sigh and grab my phone and ring Daisy.
She answers on the third ring. “Hey, you okay?”
A hum mumbles off my lips. “Hey,” I say as I flop back onto my bed. “I’m alright. I need to talk to you.”
“I’m all ears.” The sound of shuffling echoes in the receiver. “What’s up?”
“I want JJ.”
Daisy laughs quietly. “Yeah, I think we all know that.”
