Before I know it, I’m standing in front of bungalow number forty-six, knocking—more like pounding—on the door.Jett, please be here.I urgently wipe away the tears from under my eyes, black streaks staining my fingers from my watery mascara.
“Hang on!” I hear him shout from behind the door. Thank God! A moment later, it swings open to a half-naked Jett. I nearly choke on my tears. “Ellie?” He looks at me with a perplexed expression. It’s half-confused, half-concerned.
Holy shit.I can’t respond because my jaw has unhinged from my face. Jett is ripped, like completely shredded.
“Ellie?” he repeats again, but I can’t draw my eyes away from his body, his glinting nipple ring, or the brightly colored tattoos running over his collarbone and down his chest like a wave crashing over the shoreline. All the time Jett and I spent together, I never so much as saw him without a shirt, and now I sort of feel shortchanged. He saw me naked every day and deprived me of the view in return.
“See something you like, sweet thing?” Jett asks flirtatiously, grabbing onto the doorframe above his head. The cuts of his muscles rippling, becoming more defined.
Um, hell yes.
“Ahhhh . . .” I finally look up into his eyes and they are dancing with humor, and possibly something else. Something hot and completely forbidden.
“What are you doing here, Ellie? Shouldn’t you be trying to reconcile with Kayne?” he asks suggestively. Oh, how little does he know. Kayne and I are nowhere near reconciling. Like not even a little.
“We got into a fight.” I bite my lip.
“A fight?”
“I threw wine in his face.”
Jett frowns. “I see.”
“I’m so confused.”
“About what?” he asks concerned.
“Everything,” I answer exasperated.
“Oh boy.” Jett releases the doorframe and steps outside. “Let’s talk.”
I nod.
Jett and I sit on the side of the wooden walkway, our feet dangling over the edge. I fiddle with my fingers silently not knowing where to start.
“Ellie.” Jett takes one of my hands in his, and I tighten my grip. I feel grounded when I’m with him. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I heave a sigh, looking over at him. You know it’s really not fair to the rest of the men in this world. Jett is too pretty and nice and intuitive for his own good. He has me gawking like a fool at his cut muscles and light eyes accentuated in the moonlight.
“What’s going on?” I repeat. “Great question.”
I gnaw on my lip, hard, nearly drawing blood as I try to figure out where to start.
“Um?” I struggle, trying to pinpoint exactly where everything went wrong. Probably when I got on the plane.
“Okay,” Jett senses my dilemma, “let’s start at the very beginning. How did you feel when you saw him again?”
“Confused.”
“Confused how?”
“I didn’t know how to act,” I admit ridiculously. “I wasn’t sure if I should kneel at his feet or spit in his face. I don’t know who to be around him.”
“Ellie,” Jett’s voice pitches. “You don’t need to be anyone but yourself. That’s who Kayne wants.”
“Myself?” I scoff. “I barely know who that is. I’m nothing but a twenty-three-year-old college freshman trying to figure out her life. That’s who he wants?”
“Sweet thing,” Jett squeezes my hand, “I’ll let you in on a little secret, we are all just twenty-three-year-old college freshman trying to figure out our lives. Kayne especially.”
