Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
There had been other, more pressing things to worry about since then — Gisella kissing Cameron, Leah being hurt, Finn having an absolute meltdown.
But now, we were alone on the shore — aside from the cameras I was sure were watching us still, even if from a distance — and I couldn’t wait any longer.
“So,” I said, poking him in the ribs just below his heart. “What’s this?”
Finn’s grin climbed. “You know what it is.”
My blood buzzed beneath my skin, a smile curling on my lips at his playfulness. I hated that he was like this right now, that he was all airy and light, no shame as he let his eyes devour me in my bikini. It was confusing as hell, and entirely too easy to pretend we were the people we were two years ago, that we were just flirting and teasing and biding our time until we got the other alone.
“I was right, then? It’s a firefly?”
He nodded, wiggling his toes in the wet sand as he stared at me.
“Is it for me?”
My stomach bottomed out when I finally asked.
“What? No.” He looked out at the water with his mouth downturned like the thought was absolutely ridiculous. “It’s because of the glow worms that used to fill the yard of the cabin I’d go to with me parents in the summer. It’s nostalgic. A little reminder of childhood.”
My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “Oh.”
But before I could apologize for the idiotic assumption, Finn sucked his teeth and laughed, turning to face me again. He slid his sunglasses off so I could see his glazed blue-green eyes, the colors even brighter against the sea.
“Come now, love, don’t be daft,” he said, shaking his head. “Of course it’s for you.”
The words crashed over me like a tidal wave. He said them so simply, so confidently, as if they wouldn’t mean a thing.
But they meant everything.
His grin softened the longer I stared at him, shocked from his confession. Finally, I found the nerve to speak again. But I could only manage one word.
“Why?”
Finn slid his sunglasses back on, shrugging. “Took a page out of your book, didn’t I?”
“It helped you heal from us?”
“Something like that,” he said, and his voice was hoarse now, the playfulness abandoned.
I thought we were going to let it go, but he moved an inch closer, every nerve in my body firing to life as he turned to face me again. He reached out, his fingers walking up my spine until his hand found the back of my neck. He tickled the skin there, making chills burst out from the point of contact all the way down to my toes.
“And what about this, Firefly?” he asked, voice low and gruff as his finger traced the ink I knew was there. “This for me?”
He palmed the back of my neck then, fingers wrapping around until I had no choice but to look at him. His throat bobbed, and I was thankful I couldn’t see his eyes through his dark sunglasses, thankful I had at least one small barrier between us.
I didn’t get the chance to answer him.
There was a loud chorus of cheers from where our crew was on the beach, and then Eli was sprinting toward us, sand flying in his wake. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, and he swung his arms down to scoop me up without warning.
“Dibs on Ember!”
Somehow, a laugh managed to break free of the tight knots my body had been coiled into just moments before. “What are you doing?!”
“It’s what are we doing, babes,” Eli corrected me with a drunken grin, already jogging us back toward the beach setup. “And we’re playing beer pong.”
“Oh, they’re all going down.”
“I know that’s fucking right,” he said, smacking my ass with a holler that sounded like a war chant as he dropped my feet into the warm sand.
I glanced over my shoulder at Finn, heart still racing, skin still tingling where his fingers had touched the back of my neck.
He was already walking toward the crew, the corners of his mouth pulled up in that crooked, lazy grin he wore so well. From this distance, he looked relaxed. Breezy. It was like nothing had happened at all, which only added to my confusion and unrest.
Gisella popped up beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him into her side. He let her. And jealousy sank its claws into me deep enough to break skin.
With me still watching them, Finn reached up and slid his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose — just enough to glance at me over the top of them.
The look he gave me wasn’t casual. It wasn’t friendly.
It was molten.
But I didn’t heed the warning of the imminent volcano eruption until it was too late.
POST-PRODUCTION CONFESSIONAL
CLOSE QUARTERS