A Summer Thing

Five things Declan can see: A broken past disappearing in her rearview mirror.

A bright new future ahead of her.

And the beautiful, mysterious, scowling, tattooed stranger standing in the middle of her best friend’s dark hallway—his stormy gray eyes, and every broken piece of himself she knows exists inside of her, too.

Four things Jude can feel: His draw to the gorgeous girl he’s not allowed to have.

Her laughter skipping up his spine.

The gravitational pull dragging him deeper, and deeper, into her orbit.

The ghosts of the past she reminds him of—someone he once loved and lost.

Three things Declan can hear: Her heart...

Five things Declan can see: A broken past disappearing in her rearview mirror.

A bright new future ahead of her.

And the beautiful, mysterious, scowling, tattooed stranger standing in the middle of her best friend’s dark hallway—his stormy gray eyes, and every broken piece of himself she knows exists inside of her, too.

Four things Jude can feel: His draw to the gorgeous girl he’s not allowed to have.

Her laughter skipping up his spine.

The gravitational pull dragging him deeper, and deeper, into her orbit.

The ghosts of the past she reminds him of—someone he once loved and lost.

Three things Declan can hear: Her heart beating louder when Jude is near.

Her mind screaming a thousand dark thoughts.

His gruff words calming her like she’s never experienced before.

Two things Jude can smell: Trouble, spelled with six letters that go the way of D-e-c-l-a-n.

Her intoxicating scent as he continues to tempt himself with what isn’t his.

One thing they can both taste: Each other, as they slowly slip from strangers, to friends, to lovers, to soulmates over the span of five summers—from a summer thing, to a forever thing.