Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

along the edge of the water. Neither of us spoke. I’d returned to him because I couldn’t walk away. I needed to know why he had come for me, but I didn’t ask. I just waited. Finally he stopped and stared down at me.
    “Do you know why I didn’t want Marcus to take you home?”
    Allowing myself to believe he missed me wasn’t a safe path for my thoughts. I shook my head.
    Jax let out a small laugh. “I’m jealous, Sadie.”
    I stood there trying to let his admission sink in. If he said he missed me, I could believe him. Jealousy, however, seemed too hard to comprehend. “I’ve stood in my room watching the two of you drive away for the past week, and it killed me each time I watched you leave with him. I would sit in my room and contemplate how I would handle it if you fell for him. How could I stay here and watch you look at him with those breathtaking eyes the way I wanted to see you looking at me?”
    He ran his hand through his long dark hair and sighed. “Tonight I couldn’t stay in my room. I watched you out here all by yourself and fought the urge to come to you. Then he came walking out, and I watched the two of you together for longer than I should have. My resolve to stay away from you broke, and I made my way out here before I could stop myself.”
    A frown creased his forehead, and he turned away. “He seems like a man who knows what he wants, and the problem is, he wants what I want. If it were anything or anyone else, I could stand back and let him take it.” His blue eyes gazed back at me. “But I can’t let him have you.”
    If he only knew how my every thought wrapped around him. “Marcus will always be just my friend. My feelings for him will never run any deeper than that.”
    Jax reached out and twirled one of my loose curls around his finger. I held my breath and watched him. Finally, after a moment, he tucked it behind my ear. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to sit back and watch you from a distance anymore. Trust me when I tell you I have tried hard to push you from my thoughts.” He stepped toward the water, focusing on something far off. “My life hasn’t been normal for years. This is the only time I get to be just me. The rest of the time, I’m on the road, and sometimes I am in the air on my way to Tokyo, Paris, or Rome. I travel constantly. My name is all over the magazines with pictures of girls I am supposed to be in relationships with, but the fact is, I have no time for a relationship. If another famous female teen is in the vicinity, our pictures are taken together. It is just what is done and expected.”
    He spoke of a guy I didn’t know. I hated being reminded that he was this untouchable idol. He turned back to me and smiled sadly.
    “It’s selfish of me, but I don’t think I can stand it anymore. What little time I have for an average life, I want to spend with you. Well, as average as my life can get. . . .” He spread his hands out at the house and beachfront property around him and gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “When I’m on the road this year, traveling from city to city, I want to have the memories of my time with you to keep me warm.”
    He held out his hands as if offering himself. “I don’t want to beg or promise you things I can’t give you. There isn’t much of me to give, but what I have is yours. This is all up to you, Sadie. If you want me, I’m yours. If you can’t do this, then I’ll walk away and leave you alone. I swear.”
    I stood and stared at the guy standing in front of me, and I knew I should tell him no and walk away. My heart reminded me with a loud thump in my chest that I would always regret not saying yes. I doubted I’d ever feel the same way about anyone ever again. I stepped forward, and he immediately reached for me and pulled me against him. We stood there, me wrapped in his arms for a while, before moving or speaking. I knew it wasn’t the smartest decision, because when September rolled around and summer was gone, I would just become the summer girl. But right now that didn’t matter.
    Loud enough for him to hear me, I whispered against his chest, “I want whatever part of you I can have.”
    His arms tightened around me. This might eventually shatter me. His lips touched my head, and I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sweetness of the moment. No one else’s arms could ever feel this right.
    “I want to spend as much time with you as I can. I don’t want to waste a minute,”