Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars #4) - A.L. Jackson Page 0,46
body took note.
That river of black was coiled on her head, a little wild and untamed, a few errant pieces dripping down around her slender shoulders like all those stars.
Girl nothing but a motherfuckin’ wish.
The impossible kind that I knew better than longing for.
Didn’t matter.
Longing smacked me right across the face. Something that just came fiercer each time she stepped into my space.
“Hey there, Sweet Thing. Whatcha up to?”
I went for casual when my heart was thrashing a riot in the middle of my chest.
“Hey. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
I chuckled. “I think we already established there is nothin’ to interrupt.”
So what if I couldn’t help bring attention to the awkwardness downstairs earlier. Needing to clear up any runaway thoughts about me and Mel she might be having. Which was fucked in itself.
Maggie laughed a small sound, her gaze enchanting me in the night. “I did just walk into your room without an invitation.”
“Well then, Sweet Thing, consider yourself invited. Seems to me we might be crossin’ paths a bit this summer, yeah?” I said it as playfully as I could, doing my best not to imagine all the types of crossin’ paths I was aching to do. “No need for us to tiptoe. You good with that?”
Maggie gnawed at that plump bottom lip. “Yeah. I think I’m good with that.”
My fingers continued to move across the frets, the melody barely breakin’ the dense atmosphere. Couldn’t look away as she came closer.
The girl was a sculpture written in the shadows.
Art hung on the wall.
Place was decked in luxury. Extravagance and wealth. No doubt, she was the most precious, priceless piece.
I kept plucking at the strings, and she kept moving across my room like the bare-boned song had her enraptured.
Tendrils of it wrapping her in that same dream.
She stepped all the way out onto the balcony on bare feet.
I gulped, staring up at her where she stood.
Beneath the stars.
Beneath the darkness.
Beauty.
That’s what this girl was.
The raw, untarnished version of it.
My gaze got stuck on her, wondering how the hell to wade through this.
How to ignore the energy that crackled in the sea breeze. To ignore the lure that I couldn’t understand.
She slipped onto the ground to sit opposite me. She rested her back on the half wall, and she stretched out her feet.
Shit.
Even those were cute.
She rocked her heels where they rested about an inch from mine.
Like we were drawn again.
Needing to get closer in any way.
For a bit, we just rested in the song I was weaving.
Way too comfortable.
Finally, she whispered, “Then why does it feel like we’re tiptoeing, Rhys?”
I blew out a sigh. Since I was going gold with the foolhardy confessions today, I might as well break the record. “Probably because I’ve been thinking all sorts of things I shouldn’t be thinking about you.”
Attraction flashed.
A shockwave of it.
Fuck.
This girl.
“And why’s that? Why can’t you be thinking those things?” There wasn’t a hint of timidity in her voice. Vulnerability? Sure. Want? A fuck ton of it.
A rough chuckle tumbled out, and I paused my playing to scratch at my beard. “Think you know the answer to that, gorgeous.”
“Do I?” she challenged, charcoal eyes flashing beneath the moonlight. “Because of Melanie?”
Apparently, I wasn’t clear enough.
“God no. Might give the girl hell and mess with her every chance I get, but Mel and I are nothin’ but friends, Maggie.”
And not the kinda friends that Maggie and I seemed to be, either.
Rejection radiated from her. “Is this that whole age gap thing? Because you think I’m too young?”
“Maggie.” Air heaved through my nose.
How was I supposed to answer that? Because yeah. She was fuckin’ too young for me. Had her whole damned life ahead of her and she didn’t need the likes of me makin’ her trip or stumble.
“I’m sorry I’m being so blunt. I just…” Nervously, her tongue swept across her bottom lip, and her gaze darted to the side as she whispered, “Yesterday…”
Yesterday she’d almost been hit by a car.
Yesterday I’d almost kissed her.
Yesterday I’d touched her in a way that had been both innocent and obscene.
After that, I’d forced myself into accepting that was something I couldn’t do again, which had been reiterated times a thousand by Melanie in the kitchen this afternoon.
Maggie brought that penetrating gaze back to me. “I need you to know something, Rhys. I need you to know that yesterday meant something to me.”
At that, her voice trembled. Emotion warbled through the mind-bending beats.