Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars 4)

A grin pulled at the corner of my mouth. “And what are we supposed to give up?”

“Treating me like a child.”

Against my better judgment, which clearly was lackin’, my eyes raked her. Head to toe.

“Don’t look much like a child to me. Besides, my mama would have my ass if I didn’t act like a gentleman.” I let the tease wind into the last.

She edged farther up the staircase, and I guess I didn’t really realize all that beauty had brought me to a complete standstill until she was right there, in front of me, brushing by with a whisper of that seductive voice as she passed, “And just exactly how does a gentleman treat a woman, Rhys Manning?”

It rang of shy seduction.

A surge of that energy erupted in the air.

A silent boom that held enough power to blast through my insides.

Something that wrapped me whole and thudded my heart in an errant beat.

Fuck me.

I was pretty sure Maggie Fitzgerald had been sent to torture me.

A penalty.

Punishment.

She’d made it to the top landing by the time I finally regained coherency from the spell she had me under. I forced myself into action, hurrying behind her like a panting dog with his tongue hangin’ out.

Hell, was pretty sure my tail was waggin’, too.

When she got to the top, I called, “To the right, Sweet Thing…and then you’re gonna be the second door on the right.”

She headed that way, and I’d caught up to her by the time she made it to her room. Before she had the chance to step inside, I let loose the grumble of a confession. “That’s what I was tryin’ to do, you know?”

She paused at the threshold to look back.

Girl slaying me with a glance.

A riot broke out in my guts. This war of regret and guilt at odds with the hope and need she sparked.

Bad, bad combination.

What the fuck was she doin’ to me?

“What?” she asked.

“Respect you.”

Disbelief filled her expression before she turned and moved into her room, the disappointment in her mumbled words echoing off the walls as she dropped her bags and took in her surroundings, “Is that how friends show respect? Ignoring them for months?”

Shutting the door behind me, I set her things on the floor, and then I gave into that bit of bad behavior by easing up behind her where she’d gone to stand in front of the flowy, translucent drapes that covered the balcony doors. She’d nudged them open a fraction to look out at the view of the ocean below.

Rays of glittering light streaked through.

Illuminating the girl like a dream.

Lust jumped into my bloodstream and seeped all the way to my bones.

I had to suppress a groan. It didn’t matter that my mind hadn’t strayed from her for the last six months, that she’d affected me in a way she couldn’t, knew full well taking of this sweet, shy, innocent girl would be nothing short of savage gluttony.

My dick needed to simmer the fuck down.

Still, I was inching forward. Drawn into her space. Filling my senses with that sweet, sweet scent.

Jasmine and vanilla.

My voice was gruff when I leaned in and whispered at her ear, “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

A chill rolled down her spine and that tight body trembled.

Took my all not to press my front to her back. Not to reach out and trace the path of that shiver with my fingertips.

“But you did,” she whispered.

Girl shocked me by turning around to face me.

Stealing my breath and a bit of that sanity, too.

“But you did,” she repeated. “I was worried about you.”

“Didn’t want you to be.”

She scoffed out something that sounded like frustration. “You can’t just make that decision for me. Whether I care about you or not.”

My head barely shook. “You and I both know that whatever went down on that dance floor was crossing a line that can’t be crossed. I’m not the kind of guy you should care about. I’ll only end up hurting you. That night should have been proof enough. Only thing I’m good for is a good time.”

I forced a smirk when I said the last.

Maggie didn’t smile.

“I’m not scared.” Except when she said it, she shook. Words scraping her throat as she pushed them out.

My chuckle was rough and full of a disdain that was fully directed at myself, and I was easing in closer, so fuckin’ close because I was the fool who just couldn’t seem to stay away.

Beggin’ for trouble.

Everything about her was shy. But it was a knowing kind of naivety.

She had experienced things no one should ever have to.

Innocent except for something profound that radiated from her soul.

This girl who could do me in.

Greed consumed me, and I reached out to let a knuckle trace along the delicate angle of her jaw.

Need crackled in the air. That thing there was no chance we could acknowledge.