Chapter 2 The Heat Between Us

The summer sun poured like molten gold across the coast, spilling into the tiny beach town where laughter carried on the wind and everything smelled faintly of salt, coconut oil, and temptation. That morning should have been ordinary just another day of sand between my toes, ice cream dripping down my wrist, and the ocean calling like a siren but then he walked back into my life.

Ethan.

I hadn't seen him in almost two years, not since he moved away with his family, leaving behind a silence that used to taste like unfinished words on my tongue. He was the boy who had once been my shadow, the boy whose smile had lit up my every season, and now... now he was no longer a boy.

He was a storm I wasn't ready for.

His shoulders looked broader, his hair darker and longer, falling into his eyes the way I used to brush it back for him. His jawline was sharper, his presence deeper, and when those ocean-colored eyes landed on me, I felt every hidden summer of longing crash back to shore.

"Lila." His voice was deeper too lower, rougher, like it carried all the secrets he never said.

I swallowed, my body warming too quickly. "You're back."

"For the summer," he said, his gaze tracing me in a way that made my knees weak. "And maybe... for more."

The air between us thickened, charged, hotter than the July sun above. Every beat of my heart betrayed me, every glance burned. I had spent so long pretending that what we shared was just friendship, but in that moment, standing in front of him with his eyes locked on mine, I knew there was nothing innocent left between us.

That night, the town's summer festival glittered with string lights and music that made the air tremble. I should have been with my friends, laughing, dancing, pretending to be untouched by his return. Instead, I found myself drawn to the pier, where the ocean sang its endless lullaby and where he was waiting.

He leaned against the railing, his white shirt open at the collar, the sea breeze tugging at his hair. He looked like a sin the universe wanted me to commit.

"You came," he said softly, his lips curling into a half-smile that always made me ache.

"Maybe I shouldn't have." My voice trembled, though the words were braver than I felt.

"Then why are you here?"

Because every part of me burned for you. Because no matter how many times I told myself to move on, no one else has ever set me on fire the way you do.

But instead, I whispered, "I don't know."

He pushed off the railing, stepping closer, his body heat mixing with the salt air until I was dizzy. His hand brushed mine, not enough to hold, just enough to remind me of everything we used to be and everything we could become.

"Lila," he murmured, "I tried to forget you."

The confession nearly broke me. "Did it work?"

His breath caught. His eyes God, those eyes searched mine like they were starving. "Not for a single second."

And then his mouth was on mine.

The kiss wasn't gentle. It wasn't soft. It was years of silence breaking, years of desire igniting. His lips were fire, his hands desperate, pulling me against him as though the world would fall apart if he let go. I melted into him, every nerve alive, every inch of me surrendering to the truth I had buried too long.

We kissed like we were drowning, and the only oxygen left was in each other.

When he finally pulled back, his forehead pressed to mine, his voice was rough, dangerous, tender. "Tell me this is wrong, and I'll stop. Tell me you don't want this, and I'll walk away."

But the words wouldn't come. Because it wasn't wrong it was the only thing that had ever felt real.

"I can't," I whispered.

The way his hands tightened at my waist told me he was just as undone as I was.

"Then I'll never stop."

The pier spun, the festival lights blurred, the ocean roared, and for the first time in years, I stopped pretending. I wanted him. I wanted this. I wanted to burn.

And with Ethan's lips claiming mine again, hotter, deeper, more consuming than before I did.

That night was the beginning of everything we swore we couldn't have and everything we couldn't resist. The summer had just started, but already, the fire was unstoppable.

And deep down, I knew: the summer we burned was only just beginning.