Give Me a Reason (Redemption Hills 1)

One second later, a softer, more somber song filtered through the overhead speakers.

But I didn’t feel somber or at ease.

Warmth spiraled down my spine, overheating my already sweat-slicked skin.

Tingles raced.

Prickles of need hitched in my spirit.

A glitch in my soul.

Panting, I stilled, shocked out of the trance. My eyes adjusted to the dimly-lit dance studio. Through the mirror, I caught sight of the silhouette at the back, already knowing he would be there.

That menacing, intimidating man stood just inside the double doors with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

A wicked temptation.

A beautiful wish.

Hungry eyes met mine through the reflection, a tangle of greed and awe. A shockwave of that energy blistered through the air, nearly knocking me from my feet.

“What are you doing here?” I could barely force out the question between the surprise and desire that lit.

“Needed to see you,” he grunted.

“Did you sign in?”

He cracked a grin. Sweet but at my expense.

“Always following the rules, aren’t you, Kitten?”

Redness clawed up my neck and splashed my cheeks. I was pretty sure I broke a thousand of my own rules last night. Gave in and let go.

I couldn’t begin to find a way to regret that now.

Not when Trent took a step forward and the ground trembled beneath my feet.

A tiny earthquake.

A warning of coming destruction as he advanced.

Darkness swept like shadows across the dance floor as he edged my direction. Slow. Measured. The hunter circling his prey. His eyes wild and his mouth watering.

My already heaving breaths turned jagged. Short and choppy. Nerves jumping into my bloodstream and wreaking havoc on my senses.

Excitement and confusion and desire.

Because he was every single thing I’d never thought I’d want. The exact type of man I’d never go after.

I’d wanted security.

Safety.

Peace.

Hell, I’d never even had to run from a man like him before because I’d never let myself get that close.

But there I was, my spirit thrashing and whipping and begging him to come near.

He stole forward. A dark, dark storm that gathered from the corners of the room.

Encroaching.

Invading.

Overtaking.

His breath hit the back of my neck, and it sent a rash of shivers racing across my flesh, goosebumps lifting in anticipation of what was to come.

He ghosted his fingertips down my right arm, chasing the thrill, the heady breaths jutting from his lungs curling through the air and inundating my senses.

Leather and nutmeg and man.

Lust pooled in my belly, and I couldn’t look away from that fierce, unrelenting gaze that held me captive through the mirrors.

“Think I just walked into a dream, Eden, you in here owning that floor. A fucking superstar hidden away in a mountain town, only for me to see.” He murmured it at my bare shoulder, those eyes watching me as he did. “Look at you.”

His lips barely brushed my flesh.

So soft. A tender caress.

But those eyes were hardly tender when they took my reflection in.

They were raving.

Roving.

Half-mad.

“What do you see?” I let the question free, the words wispy tendrils that curled through the dense, heated air.

His intense eyes flared, and he exhaled as he splayed a big hand across my belly covered by my leotard and moved his mouth to my ear. “I see the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Kind of beauty that knocks the breath from my lungs every time I catch a glimpse. So goddamn sexy I can’t think straight. So sweet I forget my name.”

The words were a heave and a hook.

I trembled beneath them, barely able to breathe as he continued, “I see a treasure. I see a vision. I see light and goodness and grace. I see Heaven. I see everything I shouldn’t want. Everything I don’t deserve.”

He pulled me tighter against the strength of his body. We’d begun to sway, this slow dance that twined our spirits as one. Our bodies melting into the other.

“But I also see a tragedy, Eden. Pain waiting out ahead to devour us both. I know I can’t take what I want because that kind of selfishness is only going to ruin us all in the end. And here I am, the greedy bastard standing with you in my arms because I don’t have the first clue how to stay away from you.”

I gulped. Struggled to remain strong. To stand for what I’d stood for all my life.

But somehow…somehow that image had changed. Brushstrokes painting a new picture. Something so stunning you couldn’t help but stare.

So often it were the most haunting canvases that created the most priceless beauty.

“What is it you see, Kitten, when you look at me?” It was a gruff challenge. I got the sense he wanted me to admit I was afraid after what he’d revealed last night. He craved my disgust because it was the only thing he knew.

Part of it was true. The truth that my entire being quivered with the dread. With the ideas of what his life might have looked like before. The violence and brutality.