Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars 1)

“Leif.” It was a plea.

He gave a sharp shake of his head as he curled his hands around my shoulders to peel himself off of me. “Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to go.”

“Please . . . don’t leave.”

He didn’t meet my eye when he tore himself the rest of the way free and stumbled two feet back. “God damn it,” he spat toward the floor as he quickly turned to face the opposite direction.

“Leif.” I touched his back.

He jerked, shoving off my hand, and he whirled back around. The disgust that lanced through his expression did little to conceal the greed that blazed in his eyes.

A violent, sparking fire.

“We can’t fucking do this, Mia. This can’t happen.” He jabbed his finger toward the ground.

“Why not?”

He laughed a bitter sound. “I already told you, Mia. Don’t you fucking get it?” he bit out. “I don’t have what you need. I see you. See right through you, and I am not that guy.”

“You don’t have any idea what I need.” My voice quavered. God, I wanted to scream. Punch him. Beg him to stop playing this game.

“No. Maybe I don’t. But one thing I do know? What you don’t need is me.”

Without saying anything else, he turned and stalked across the room and out the door, leaving me standing in the exact spot he had left me before.

My chest palpitated with a frenzy of convoluted emotions that careened through my body.

Need and anger and confusion.

This insane attraction that I was pretty sure was going to ruin me.

I couldn’t be this reckless. Wrapped up in a man who didn’t even want me.

Our intensity fire.

But where there was fire, there was ash.

Dust and debris.

And he was right.

The last thing I could afford was to be consumed.ThirteenLeif“Here, here, assholes. You better be ready to make some magic because this boy can already feel it bleeding from his pores. It’s about to go down.”

Ash Evans grinned all his damned dimples while he plucked at his bass where he sat on a stool in the middle of the recording studio practice room. We were all down in the basement of the mansion Baz had purchased out on Tybee Island, about thirty minutes outside of Savannah.

The house had belonged to their manager before they decided it would be better suited to host the bands that Stone Industries produced.

House boasted an expansive living space—kitchen and great room and offices—plus there were two master suites on the main floor and six on the top. Not to be forgotten was the killer studio on the basement floor.

But what really made the place unforgettable? It was the view of the ocean out back.

I doubted it took a whole ton of convincing to get bands to spend a couple months in this place.

“This coming from the asshole who we were waiting on for the last thirty minutes.” Lyrik tossed Ash a smirk as he hooked his guitar strap over his head and situated it on his shoulder. “Practice started at noon. Sharp.”

“I was busy.” Ash cracked a grin.

“Busy?” Lyrik was nothing but incredulous.

“Uh . . . I think you forget how hot my wife is. And I found myself in need of a little inspiration this morning. Don’t judge me. You’ll thank me later. Almost as profusely as I was thanking Willow. You wanted magic. Here it is.” Ash winked, all kinds of smug.

I had to stop myself from busting out laughing. Was pretty sure it went against protocol to laugh about a man’s girl, especially when I couldn’t exactly consider myself tight with the band.

But still, there was no missing the closeness—the complete easiness—that radiated between them.

Lyrik chuckled a wry sound and scratched his index finger at his temple, flashing the words on his knuckles of that hand that were inked with the word sing. “And you think it’s any easier for me to pry myself away from my wife? Sometimes we just gotta make the sacrifice.”

“All of you are pathetic,” Austin piped in from where he was flipping through a tattered pile of notebooks strewn across a grungy coffee table. “Won’t be more than two or three hours before your girls come over for the barbeque. Think you can handle it.”

Ash tossed a pick at him. Austin deflected it with a swat of his hand. “Dude. Are you for real right now? Your wife is in the room right next door, watching through the window on the couch. Talk about pathetic, man. She’s got you wrapped tight.”

“She’s just making sure I’m on key. Here to offer advice if we need it.” Austin shrugged in innocence.

“Liar!” Ash accused, pointing at him.

Lyrik laughed. “All right. All right. Can we just get this shit over with so we can get on with our day? Don’t think any of us want to be in here any longer than we have to be. Have better things to do.”