Summer Nights

"You drive me insane. You challenge me. You read more than anyone I've ever met. You make me laugh when I'm not supposed to. You've got this look like the world better not mess with you-and at the same time, this... sadness you try to hide like it's your job."

His voice cracked then. Just a little. "But I see it. I see you. And I like you. Not in a passing crush kind of way. I like you in a can't-write-a-damn-song-without-thinking-of-you kind of way."

Silence. Just the hum of the storm around them.

Jada's lip trembled. She didn't even try to stop it.

Daniel stepped forward one more time, close enough now that he could see the water running down her collarbones. His voice dropped low, breathy.

"I know you've been through things, Jada. I know I don't have a right to ask for anything from you. But... if there's even the smallest part of you that feels what I do-"

She moved. Just a fraction.

A breath. A blink. A tremble forward.

Daniel stopped talking. He didn't want to beg.

But damn if his heart wasn't already in her hands.

"Say something," he murmured. "Please."

And finally, finally, Jada whispered, voice breaking:
"You really wrote that song... about me?"

His smile was soft, crooked, soaked through with relief and something wild.
"Yeah, Wildfire. Every line."

A small laugh slipped from her lips-wet, breathless, and sweet.
"You're a lot, Daniel Winters."

He stepped even closer, now barely an inch away.
"Yeah," he said. "But you make it worth it."

They clash hard. She thinks he's arrogant. He thinks she's cold. But behind the walls? Fire. Tension. Longing. And that classic, slow-burn hate that's actually just desire with teeth