A Lot Like Perfect

Isaiah’s palm warmed hers and she made the mistake of glancing at his unusual eyes. She sort of fell in with no lifeboat in sight. The brown one was the color of old glass, like the kind they used to make bottles out of. Lennie had a few at his antique shop that he stored up on a top shelf behind the register. They’d been there so long that the bottles were coated with dust but that didn’t keep the color from shining through when the light hit them right.

That layer of dust over Isaiah’s gaze—she suddenly wanted to know more about the enigma behind it.

And she hadn’t even started on the blue eye. That one held secrets better than a swirled marble, hinting at depths you really wanted to examine but couldn’t because the surface obscured the center. Once she’d played marbles with some of the other kids from school, but she wasn’t very good at letting go of the shiny piece of rounded glass in her hand. It was a treasure and she wanted to keep it.

“I’ll give you two some privacy here, if you want,” Serenity offered.

“That’s kind of you, but I have something else in mind,” Isaiah said and the sound of his voice broke the staring contest they’d somehow fallen into.

Aria blinked and tore her gaze from his without a clue why it was so difficult all at once. “Really? You have something planned?”

“Come with me,” he instructed and led her toward the door.

She had absolutely no problem with that idea. He could have suggested a root canal and she’d follow along obligingly because her brain had turned stupid the moment a man had paid attention to her. Plus he was still holding her hand, which would have made it hard to refuse. Sure she could have pulled loose, but why in the world would she want to do that?

In a tiny dot of a town like Superstition Springs, there weren’t a lot of places to go unless you had access to a vehicle. Caleb owned an SUV but he and Havana had gone to La Grange to talk to Damian Scott and his investors, who were building a resort near the river, so Isaiah couldn’t have much in mind in the way of destinations. But he still managed to shock her when he steered her downstairs to the second floor and then opened the stuck-in-place door at the end of the hall with a flourish.

A little befuddled, she stared at the dark staircase that led upward. “How did you get that door open? It’s been stuck shut since we moved into this place. I actually thought there was a wall behind it.”

She’d tried ten times or more to pry it open to no avail. When she’d asked where it led to, Serenity shrugged and told her maybe nothing, chalking it up to the very odd renovations the owners had done over the years. The entire third floor had been converted from individual rooms into a loft-style apartment, but the previous owner hadn’t finished the job, leaving half painted walls and rooms that weren’t enclosed. Since there were actually doors in the place that opened into spaces that went nowhere, Aria had forgotten all about it.

“Surprise.” Isaiah flapped a hand toward the darkened opening. “Don’t you want to see where it goes?”

More than she wanted to breathe. Without hesitation, she strode over the threshold and clambered up the stairs. Isaiah followed her and they stepped out onto the roof. A blanket of black unfurled above her, breathtaking and dotted with stars so beautiful it almost hurt to look at them. The quiet town slumbered beyond the edge of the roof, making it easy to imagine they were the only two people in the world.

She didn’t hate that idea.

Isaiah fetched a wad of fabric from behind an old board and spread it out, then helped her sit down on the ground cover. Utterly charmed, she folded her feet beneath her as she waited for him to settle next to her.

“You certainly know how to call on a girl,” she told him wryly. “I wouldn’t have guessed you could show me something new about the hotel I’ve been living in for two years. Gold star to you, sir.”

He grinned, his face a bit shadowed since it was dark, but the stars provided just enough light to give the place atmosphere. Except she shouldn’t be so enchanted by the magical vibe Isaiah had created. She needed to save that up for Tristan—he could enchant her more than enough when she won her bet. That’s what she should be thinking about.

Maybe she’d ask him up here to the roof.

All at once, she didn’t want to talk about Tristan. It felt…wrong to bring another person into this secret rooftop sanctuary. Plus, there was no guarantee she’d ever win the bet she’d made with Havana and Ember in the first place. And she certainly wouldn’t if she refused to broach the subject with the man who’d agreed to help her get Tristan’s attention.

It was just so peaceful up here on the roof. The interior of the hotel was too busy with all the people and history and the occasional creak or tap of the ghosts Serenity insisted shared the space with them.

“I have to admit,” Isaiah said. “I’m pretty impressed that you charged right up those stairs without knowing where they went. You’re my kind of fearless.”

His kudos put heat in her cheeks and she blessed the semi-darkness that hid it from him. There was nothing worse than having a billboard on your face that broadcast your emotions to God and everyone. “Not really. I mean, what kind of danger could there possibly be?”

“Spiders. Rats. Dead or alive, a lot of people wouldn’t want to run across either. I thought it was brave.”

“Oh. Well…okay. Thanks.” Imagine that. Isaiah, who had spent a good number of years in some very nasty places according to the stories she’d heard from Havana, thought she was brave. “Spiders don’t really bother you unless you bother them and rats run away pretty fast when they hear you coming. Dead things might be another story but it was dark and—”

“Hush now,” he instructed with a laugh. “And let me admire you.”

Oh, yeah that was so easy she could just flip a switch and stop being weird about it. But he didn’t wait for her to mull that over.

“I have a confession to make,” Isaiah murmured with so much weight she glanced at him. “I haven’t brought anyone else up here. It’s kind of a refuge. One that wouldn’t benefit from a lot of traffic, if you get my drift. So I’d love for you to keep it quiet for a while.”

He was saying she was special. That was such a doozy, she scarcely knew what to think. But she liked it. She nodded and mimed locking her lips closed. “I had that thought too. More people would spoil it.”

“I figured you’d get it.” Companionably, he leaned back on his hands to stare up at the stars. “We seem to be on the same wavelength about a lot of things.”

Yes. Surprisingly. Which she’d have totally missed if she hadn’t asked him to help her. She basked in that for a minute. “Thanks for sharing your secret with me. Now we each have one about the other.”