Sand scraped against my skin, but it was pleasant. It was grounding and reminded me that I was safe. Alex was somewhere close by—just to the right of me, but it was all quiet. Peaceful. The sun was setting any minute now and the ocean waves came and went, but one thing stayed constant in my mind.
Him.
“Alex?” I cleared my throat, my voice hoarse from the beach nap. I turned toward him, his eyes already on me.
“Yes?”
Every time I called his name, he responded. And it was time to ask. “Why did you come to sleep here?”
A few seconds passed and my chest shook with anxiety.
“I couldn’t…Ididn'thave a chance to stay home, and for some reason I drove here. And now I don't want to leave,” he confessed, gluing his gaze to my collarbone.
"Why couldn't you stay home?" He’d pried so much information out of me, but I knew very little about him.
Reluctantly and with an uncomfortable chuckle, he revealed the details. "Unhinged ex."
Oh. Of course.
I turned on my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows, catching his eyes on me. He was fully dressed, sitting on the beach beside me like he was my bodyguard now, andfuckif that didn’t melt all of me.
"Mm. Those are dangerous for sure. So, you're hiding out here?" Slowly, I fixed my bikini to show off a little more of my butt cheeks.
Immediately, he noticed, staring right at my ass and forgetting to blink. A jolt of logic ran through me just like last night—what the fuck was I doing? If I didn’t stop this, it would all tumble into uncharted territory. He felt it, I felt it, there was no denying anything anymore.
But why did I have to follow some invisible rule?
"My eyes are up here, Alex."
It took him a few seconds to hear me, but as soon as he clued in, he squeezed his eyes shut and dragged his hands over his face, collapsing back onto the sand.
"You did that on purpose. Don't think I didn't notice." His words were muffled by his hands, but the laugh that escaped me filled my soul with a long-lost feeling of joy.
He laughed too, and it was just us—two almost strangers sharing a good time.
Just like that, we lay beside each other in complete silence, only the ocean waves gently whispering something in the background. My gaze bounced from my towel to the sand, to his chest, lips...until I finally peered into his eyes, already watching me. The door to us being strangers was closing for good.
Powerless to look away, I rested my head on my arm and just enjoyed the moment with him. It was sucking me in like a black hole—this constant and all-consuming pull.
Like I’d been starved for a century without him.
I wanted to wrap my arms around his large body and finally breathe out. Finally succumb to the comfort I knew he could provide. I wanted to fall into oblivion anddamneverything else.
We looked into each other’s eyes, both of us lost. Both of us knowing that this was a disaster waiting to burn our worlds down.
“Jade, I…” He searched my gaze, unable to fully finish his thought, but he stretched out his arm, slowly placing his open hand on the sand and creating a loud invitation.
This would be the first deliberate touch. The firstwantedtouch. We’d touched before.
He pulled my hair.
I bit him.
He yanked me out of his car.
He hugged me when we were high—pressed me to him, his strength and warmth and dominance melting my insides.
I walked him to the bed.