She met my gaze immediately, reading it, and lowering her camera. “That was great, guys.”
Jessie lifted his head too, blinking like he was coming back to himself, then cleared his throat.
“That’s all we need,” Sadie added. “We got some beautiful shots.”
I bent my knees and sat up, slipping out of his grasp. Jessie did the same beside me, still looking a little flushed. Sadie knelt in front of us and turned her camera around, scrolling through a few of the photos, and my heart refused to slow.
But then I looked. Really looked, and they were incredible.
Wewere.
The scenery was beautiful, sure, but it was what was happening between us that stole my breath. The way we looked at each other. The way we fit. The way something quiet and electric sat in every inch of space between us.
My pulse was still racing as I glanced at him. His attention stayed on the screen, a soft, almost dazed smile on his lips, still half caught in whatever we’d just shared.
I didn’t want it to end.
I wanted more.
I wanted to know what he tasted like.
CHAPTER 03: JESSIE
The photos were still glowing on Sadie’s screen. She was talking about edits and timelines, about when we’d see the final versions, but my brain couldn’t hold on to any of it. I hoped Danny was listening, because all I could think about was him.
Those intense green eyes. The way his stare almost felt like too much when it was fixed on me… and how I craved it the second it was gone.
This felt like something. I didn’t know what yet, but it wasn’t just attraction. There was more there. You could see it in the pictures, and it was coming from both of us.
So why did he pull away?
He’d asked me a million questions. He’d listened. He’d offered pieces of himself, only to refuse a kiss. It didn’t add up.
Maybe it was me. Or my job. Or the fact that I worked for his dad. Maybe I was just stuck in my own head. Nervous about my ridiculous crush on a twenty-two-year-old that was growing way too big now that I’d actually met him.
Fuck. This was stupid.
Danny brushed the sand from his shorts as he stood, leaning in to hug Sadie goodbye, and I shot up, dragged back into reality.
“Thank you for signing up,” she said. “I loved meeting you.”
“Same,” Danny replied, smiling. “I can’t wait to see them.” His gaze flicked to me before he shifted his weight.
After I said goodbye and thanked her too, I watched Sadie walk away from us, her retreat quietly marking the real end of the date.
Everything felt off-balance.
What now?
Were we just supposed to go back to our lives, like nothing had happened, after spending the whole morning with our hands on each other?
“Do you have to go back to work?” Danny’s voice pulled me out of it.
“No,” I said too fast. “No, I… I got the day off. For this.”
Hope bloomed in my chest as he glanced down at his feet. Then he looked back up, lips curving into that devastating, playful smile. “Wanna hang out?”
I couldn’t stop my own smile from breaking through. “Where?”
