Rough Waters: 7. Calm After the Storm

The mansion was quiet, drenched in the soft aftermath of the weekend storm. Outside, the rain had faded to a gentle drizzle, the waves lapping lazily against the shore. But inside, the storm between Ivy and Jace hadn’t softened—it had only settled into a simmering, undeniable heat that neither of them could ignore.

Ivy wondered if things would ever go back to being what they were before she and Jace... When her mother got back, what were they going to do? She didn't want to think that. When they got to that bridge, they would know how to cross it. 

She lingered in the doorway of the master bedroom, wrapped in a towel, damp hair clinging to her skin. She had tried to be normal, to pretend the tension wasn’t there, but she could feel it—thick, potent, rolling between them like a tide that refused to recede.

Jace was leaning against the dresser, shirt open, tattoos dark in the soft morning light, and eyes smoldering with a mixture of desire and something raw—something t