He flashes a devastating smile at my brother and then turns his attention to me.
Our eyes collide, and this is when I realise it might be the end of the world. No exaggeration.
His smile falters when he recognises me, but he instantly covers it.
“Did Mum and Dad say they were fine with this?” I mutter under my breath as I tell myself not to go into cardiac arrest.
Finn nods with a chilled expression. “Yeah, they’re totally fine with it.”
“Oh… great,” I say through a wobbly smile.
When in fact this isn’t great. It’s far from great.
It’s a disaster.
CHAPTER 6
JJ WOODFORD
I’m not exactly sure what’s going on right now.
All I know is I’ve turned up at my best friend’s house for the summer, to find the girl who left my apartment a few days ago after a mind-blowing night.
No goodbye. No number exchange. Absolutely nothing.
Alarm bells start ringing inside my head as Ivy lingers in the doorway to Finn’s house. What on earth is going on here?
Fuck. Don’t say she’s his new girlfriend or something, because this is the sort of shit that would happen to me.
I suck down a troubling breath as I step close to Finn. We parted ways only a few weeks ago after our third year of university together, but we still hug like we haven’t seen each other in years.
“How are you, man?” Finn slaps my back.
I force a smile as my gaze falls on Ivy, who is staring back at me in utter confusion. “Yeah, good. Journey could have been worse.”
Finn pulls away and smiles, then beckons me into the house as Ivy steps away. Her eyes roam over my body quickly and thenglance at the wall. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip, and then she fiddles with a piece of string falling from her cardigan.
She’s nervous, that’s obvious. I guess I’m about to find out why.
Finn turns towards me as we step inside their coastal house. The air smells like lingering sea salt, especially when I stepped out of the car. A scent I’m definitely not used to living in a built-up city filled with CO2 emissions and rotting garbage.
“JJ,” Finn starts. “This is my sister, Ivy. Ivy, this is JJ.”
Okay, maybe this is worse. They’re related.
I stare back into Ivy’s bottle-green eyes. The same eyes that almost had me hypnotised when we first met. I remember the way they flared at me when I teased her at the bar, and boy, I wanted her so bad. Only to be left in my bed alone the next day.
Dare I say she looks even more beautiful than the night I met her.
I don’t know how, but she does. And it’s killing me.
These are not the thoughts I should be having now that I know the facts.
“Nice to meet you,” she blurts out.
I tilt my head slowly, but Finn doesn’t clock anything. My arm extends, and she glances down at it hesitantly for a moment. “You, too.”
She reluctantly shakes my hand for a second before dropping it like my touch has burned through her skin. She steps away and lowers her gaze as Finn presses a hand to my shoulder.
