Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars #4) - A.L. Jackson Page 0,56
pressing at his underwear. “Seems someone caused me a bit of a problem that needs to be taken care of this mornin’. Mind if I hit the shower first?”
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip, redness streaking. Part of me wanted to go for him, beg him to let me do the honors.
On a groan, he shook his head, like he’d seen the whole reel of images flit through my mind. “Thought we established we’re not goin’ there, Sweet Thing?”
I gave him the slightest nod. “Shower is all yours.”
I started to leave when I thought better of it and looked back at him just as he was rising from his bed. “I wish you saw yourself the way I do.”
His expression turned grave. “And I’d be horrified for you to see who I really am.”
Saddened confusion bound my forehead, and I gave him the gentlest smile I could find, and I started back toward the bathroom.
“Maggie.”
Hope slicked down my spine, and I slowly turned when I felt him come up behind me. I frowned when he took my hand and pressed something to my palm.
“Thinkin’ you might want this.”
He said it with more understanding than I could fathom as he curled my fingers around the folded duck that I’d been clutching in my bed last night when I’d been drifting in and out of a torturous sleep.
When I’d felt the demons spinning through the darkness.
Catching up to me once again.
When I’d chanted over and over that I was in control. That I got to shape my life. I guessed I’d been realizing the shape I was forming it into was dangerous.
That I might not make it through to the other side.
Still knowing it would be worth it.
I swallowed around the rock lodged at the base of my throat. “Thank you.”
I turned and started into the bathroom.
The man shuffled in behind me. I shifted a bit to the right toward the vanity on the far side where I kept my toiletries, while he went left toward the enormous shower at the far end of the bathroom.
Before I had the chance to grab my things, he turned on the showerhead.
The patter of the water falling to the marble filled the room, and I looked up and caught his reflection in the vanity mirror just as he was shrugging out of his underwear.
His ass bare.
Round and perfect and oh my god.
I froze for a beat. Jaw coming unhinged.
From over his shoulder, Rhys tossed me a grin and then he stepped inside.
It took me a second to gather my senses off the floor. To remember what I was doing.
Hands shaking, I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste from the vanity and went flying into my room.
I shut the door behind me and leaned back against the wall.
Heart a battering ram at my ribs.
My mind was still trying to catch up to what had transpired during the breaking day. It took a second to realize the biggest smile split my face.
Holy crap.
Rhys had touched me.
For a moment, I relished in it.
In the memory that I would take with me forever.
In the burn of his fingers still singeing my flesh.
Finally, I pushed off the wall and moved for my door so I could slip into the powder room at the end of the hall and brush my teeth.
I yelped when I flew out into the hall and ran smack into a hard body.
Royce.
Royce who was still spun up over my fall a couple days ago.
Royce who’d been flitting all around me. Worried. Watching me in a way he shouldn’t.
Royce who was looking at me like he had been one hot second away from kicking in my door.
Stumbling back, I pinned a smile on my face. “Oh…hey, hi, Royce. Good morning.”
Smooth.
Real smooth.
A frown furrowed his brow, and he looked to the open door behind me. “Where were you? I’ve been knocking for like ten minutes. Was gettin’ worried about you.”
Of course, he was.
My mind raced through what to say. What to offer. It wasn’t like I was a child and couldn’t make my own decisions.
But I could still hear his plea of a demand from the day we’d first gotten here. When he’d asked me point-blank to stay away from Rhys.
When he’d warned I didn’t need the kind of trouble that boy would bring.
Disquiet and a newfound desperation wound through my spirit.
Undoubtedly, my brother was right.
Rhys was trouble.
He was probably going to hurt me.
I heard the faint sound of the shower echoing through the walls.