You're Like Heaven to Touch

"You don't really like to open up, do you?"

The words startle me, seemingly jagged and impure in contrast to the light and beautiful atmosphere we were in. "I didn't say that."

Asher snorted, "You didn't have to."

I was quiet for a moment, looking out to the beach and resting my cheek on my knee. "It- It's not that I don't like to," I struggled to find the words good enough to explain. "I just think, maybe, I don't know how to anymore."

Asher stares at me for a moment, eyes filled with an emotion that I can't put my finger on. I turn to face him properly, almost gasping when he appears much closer than I remembered. Before I can turn the moment into a joke, he speaks.

"Well, if you ever want to learn again, I'll always be right here, Willa. I'm always right here."

*

Willa Montgomery didn't expect to be uprooted for her last summer before college, but two weeks in, here she is: Santa Monica, California.

Willa hasn't had the best life as of recent, and with the impending damage of her parents messy divorce getting harder and harder to avoid, her mom decides the best place for her to be is anywhere but home.

Enter Sylvia Edwards, Willa's mother's best friend since middle school, and Willa's godmother. Sylvia is more than glad to host Willa for the entire summer, opening up her beautiful home to her immediately. And with that beautiful home comes the beautiful Asher Edwards, and a whole bunch of memories Willa wasn't even aware she had.

Living in a house with Asher, the sweetest yet most persistent guy to exist is both heartwarming and dangerous all at once, because soon enough, the barriers Willa spent years building around her fragile heart are coming down- and fast.

Willa had never realized how frozen she was until Asher started to melt her ice. With eyes like oceans, a smile like honey and a touch like heaven.

cover by @stylesoftimothee