Page 1 of Nail Me Down

Chapter 1

Holly

"What are you do—are you ok?" His black eyes lock in on me. Black. Hard. Like they always are. Except there’s something different in them right now. Something burning. And they’re pinning me down, but I don’t feel trapped. It feels…good.

Time has stopped.

I’m no longer thinking about the fight my boyfriend and I just had.

"Holly, are you ok?" His feet inch forward and stop at the threshold of my open front door. His hand reaches up, not to touch me, that would be crazy for Ford to do. Instead, it lands on the doorframe and he leans in like he genuinely cares.

Which…throws me off. Because this is Ford, my boyfriend’s best friend, and he’s never been anything but cold and distant toward me.

"I’m fine." I answer the question he asked but know he was originally going to ask something totally different. I could hear his tone on the word you, almost accusatory. "What were you going to ask me?"

"Did he…" He stops and closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath like he needs to collect himself.

"What were you originally going to ask me, Ford?” Hands are on my hips, blocking his entry. Not that he is trying to move past me. “When I first opened the door?" I’m feeling more myself, braver now, the earlier fight not deflating me so much. And I’m feeling the sassiness in me rise up.

But he’s just as bold. “What are you doing here?”

“Excuse me?” I cock my head at him and his eyes drop. There. That’s our usual back and forth. “This is my house, you know?”

“Ya, well…Damon invited me over to hang out.”

“He’s not here.”

His eyes fly to mine and I swear I see a look of panic flash through his eyes, but then it’s gone. His voice trails off as he grabs his phone to text him, “What a dumbass…”

I couldn’t agree more considering the stupid argument we just had over my bathing suit—of all things.

“He’s on his way back. He…um…just went to pick up a few things.” I don’t tell him that Damon’s actually driving around because he needs space after the stupid argument we had. Which, in all truthfulness, was just him yelling at me saying I shouldn’t be wearing this bathing suit.

“Speaking of which…” I grab Ford’s hand and pull him inside.

“Speaking of what?”

“Nothing—” I snatch his phone and he recoils in horror at the physical contact. Yup. That’s more our norm.

“Give that back.” He just sticks his hand out waiting for me to return it.

“Sure. Just take one—no, two—photos of me. I need to send them to Dakota.

“What?” His voice cracks and he clears his throat, which just makes me grin.

“Take two—”

“I heard you. But I’m not taking—” he stumbles and points to me, now standing in my kitchen “—photos of you like that.”

“Like what?” I narrow my eyes and glare at him. “In a bathing suit? I’m not asking you to keep them on your phone—”

“Good. Because I wouldn’t,” he cuts me off so fast my tongue feels sliced in half.

Damn. His words sting. But I don’t care. Maybe Damon was right about the bikini top I’m wearing—No.

“Just take the pictures, send them to Dakota for me, and then delete them. I need to know what she thinks of this for our day at Lake Bliss this week.”

“Why don’t you just do it?” Already he’s stepping away from me, pocketing his phone.