Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars 4)

Took me to a place where nothin’ made sense because we were the only thing there.

Together and real and whole, and fuck, it was probably the single most dangerous thought I’d ever had.

I gasped as I shook, my body trembling, hers matching mine with the aftershocks.

That energy buzzed.

Like now that it’d had a taste, it would never be sated. Instead, that shit had only grown.

Force coming fuller.

Hungry for more.

I dropped my forehead against hers.

And shit.

I grinned as I sucked for a breath, and Maggie was grinning back.

“Sorry. Didn’t bring you in here for that.”

Turning around, she grabbed the sponge I’d had and squirted more soap on it. She shot me a playful, tempting glance over her shoulder. “You sure about that, Cowboy?”

I growled. Laughter in my throat. I pressed myself against her bottom.

Shit.

Wrong move.

She nudged back.

“My intention had been to take care of you.”

She turned around, smiling slow. “Believe me, you did.”

Emotion crested, and I tipped up her chin. “Maggie.” Was a whisper from the vacancy that howled from the depths of me.

Like my spirit recognized that she was the only one who could fill it.

Then she was lathering me up, running that sponge over my body, those eyes tracing every inch as she went.

Tenderness and care. Shit, how could something feel so good and hurt like a bitch at the same damned time?

I returned the favor, washing her, rinsing her, adoring her.

This goddess who had me on my knees.

Turning off the shower, I grabbed one of the huge plush towels and wrapped it around her body, tucking it up close to her chin.

“Thank you,” she said.

I tapped her nose.

Playfully.

“Darlin’, clearly it’s me who’s reapin’ all the benefits.”

I repeated what I’d told her that first night because even getting a minute with her felt like the greatest gift.

A reprieve.

Gettin’ lost in the sanctuary of those eyes.

I grabbed a towel for myself, and Maggie moved over to her vanity while I moved for mine, two of us brushing our teeth, taking peeks at each other through the mirrors.

My smile felt impossible.

So big.

So wide.

While hers had grown sweet and shy and ripe with the questions I didn’t have the answers for.

What does this mean?

Where do we go from here?

Then she ducked into her bedroom, while I stalled, waited. Finally, I moved to her door and nudged it open an inch when I couldn’t sit still for a second longer.

She was sitting in the middle of her bed, wearing a tank and some of those ridiculously short sleep bottoms that made my mouth water all over again.

I leaned against the jamb. “Now what exactly do you think you’re doin’, Sweet Thing?”

A frown pulled across her brow, the words leaving her like playful confusion. “Getting into bed?”

“That so?”

Her teeth raked her bottom lip, and she gave a quick nod. “Yeah.”

Then I was smirking, stalking her way, and the girl was shrieking when I swung her up and tossed her over my shoulder.

Joy.

Felt the fullness of it pulse through the air.

I struggled to breathe around it, to tamp the fear it elicited, and just be fucking happy that I got this.

Even if it were only for a minute.

Even when I knew full well I couldn’t keep her.

When that dark place kept screaming at me to be careful or I was gonna fall.

“What are you doing, Rhys?” she whisper-hissed, holding back the giggles that were floodin’ from her mouth.

“Uh…takin’ you to my bed. Where you belong.” I squeezed one of her butt cheeks in my hand.

She gasped. “Rhys.”

A low chuckle rumbled out, and I carried her back through the bathroom and into my room and I tossed her into the middle of my bed.

She bounced on it.

Laughed.

Her sweet heart overflowed the space.

She smiled up at me.

Softly this time, while I stood at the side gazing down at the beauty of who she was.

“Play me your song,” she whispered.

And I doubted there was anything I wouldn’t do for her, so I sank down onto the floor and rested my back on the bed, grabbed my guitar where it was propped beside it, and cradled it on my lap.

I strummed the chords.

Let the melody wind into the space. It was supposed to be an upbeat song, but it came like a whisper into the night.

Mesmerizing.

Dragging both of us into a trance.

I could feel her shift, sit up on the bed behind me, this girl who held me in the palm of her delicate, caring hand.

I let my voice unfurl with the truth of who we were.

Didn’t know what was comin’

Didn’t know where I was goin’

Fallin’ faster

Comin’ slower

Lookin’ for a lover

To get lost under covers

In my whispers

In my ear

Wishing on a star

Hoping on a heart

And then you were there

You caught me in a dream

I think I heard you in my sleep

I think I found you in my dreams

I think I felt you in the daylight