Page 60 of Sweet Poison

Thud.

Thud.

She laughs like nobody is watching as she plays with a baby shark, her wild and carefree spirit radiating through the water. It’s enough to make my chest tighten— it feels like an invisible force is squeezing the breath right out of my lungs.

I don’t want to feel anything. Not for her and not for anyone.

As if sensing me staring, Willow glances my way, and our eyes meet. Hers full of life and mine well… I don’t really know what she sees.

A wide smile spreads across her face revealing perfect white straight teeth. She beams as she waves, her small hand cutting through the water like a gentle wave. I feel my heart stop for a moment, captivated not just by how damn pretty she looks smiling at me as if my mere presence brings her joy but by the pure happiness radiating from her. Her blue eyes always sparklewith warmth, even when she’s sad. How? She’s not real… the voice in my head whispers.

As I look at her everything else fades away. She is a lovely vision of enchantment, and I’m utterly spellbound by everything that is her.

Joy.

Love.

Magic.

“Are you having fun?” she signs, her lips moving with a bright smile. But from this distance, I can barely hear her.

Willow was always the happiest surrounded by nature and as sweet and as kind as Willow is, I truly believe she prefers plants and animals over people.

Hell, I do too.

Because people hurt her once and fuck, they hurt mine too.

Nodding, I offer her a small smile even if it hurts but that's not fully true is it? Smiling used to hurt but with Willow it doesn't. With her, smiling feels natural and… freeing.

I watch as she visibly gasps and then her smile takes over her entire face.

How rare… seeing me smile makes her heart happy.

Fucking fairy… What is this feeling in my chest?

I watch her as she goes back to interacting with the fish, her movements happy and playful. She twirls in the water, laughter bubbling up as a shark swirls around her, most likely the nightmare with creepy eyes is drawn to her sweet and kind-hearted spirit. I read somewhere that animals can sense someone’s good and bad intentions. Maybe that’s why they all have gravitated towards her and not me.

Suddenly, Willow starts to dance, lost in her own world, every movement radiating happiness. My heart beats up a storm in my chest, the unfamiliar thrill coursing through me.

And while I look at her dancing in the sea, I realize that I’ve never truly been alive until now— only during races or when I’m with her. Watching her, I feel something move in my stomach. For fucks sake… she’s given me butterflies. Goddamn butterflies.

I can’t tear my eyes away, not even when I try to force myself to look away.

I’m so fucked because slowly I’m losing myself in all that is Willow O Sullivan and her sweet magic.

When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is of her, and it's the last thing on my mind as I go to bed at night. All day, I wonder what she is doing, if she’s eaten, and whether she’s happy. She’s taken over my brain completely since the moment we crossed paths after all those years, and now she’s all I see and think about.

Now here I am, watching her dance underwater, and my heart is pounding like it’s just as captivated by the wild beauty with kind eyes and a sweet heart.

Shiiit.

An hour later,I stand near a palm tree, arms crossed, watching Willow as she kneels in the sand rearranging seashells by size and colors. Her wild brown curls dance in the breeze, and I can’t help but notice how the setting sun catches the stray bits of sand clinging to them. She’s in that tiny green bikini with lemon print that has been torturing the fuck out of me all damn day. I’ve been fighting the urge to rip it off her just to see her completely bare, but what drives me mad is that other men got to see how beautiful she looks right now.

She’s not only beautiful but her body is every man’s dream.

Her curves make me want to do filthy things to her— things that would make a whore blush.

I don’t think she knows how gorgeous she is and that makes her even more enticing. Fuck, she doesn’t even notice how most men look at her. How that bitch Ethan looks at her. Like he’s dying to get a taste of her and explore her every sinful curve.

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