Being around her felt like balancing on a high-wire without a net underneath to catch me when I slipped.
Exhilarating and dangerous.
So forbidden I might as well have been watching her through bulletproof glass.
She sucked at that straw, and for a moment, her eyes flashed their sorrow.
Danced their demons.
I got the distinct sense that she had an unobstructed view of mine, too. Like she could see straight into me and find all the things I couldn’t allow her to see.
“How are you doin’, Mags?” She’d been through some shit.
Crazy shit. The culmination going down just this last week that had sent us all reeling. Maybe that was part of the reason I’d brought her here. Feeling like maybe I could step in and be something for her. A reprieve. A distraction.
Maggie pulled back from the straw, and her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip as her head pitched to the side, taken by a swell of grief.
“You want to know how I really feel, Rhys?”
I swallowed the lump that grew in my throat. “Yeah. Think I do.”
She glanced away before she was staring me down with those charcoal eyes. “I feel broken. I feel freed. I feel this huge amount of relief that the chains are actually gone and now I can finally live, and at the same time, terrified that I don’t know how. But I’m ready to try.” She kept her gaze locked on me.
So real. So genuine. So different.
There was no missing the agony that burned from her spirit or the hope that shined from her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Maggie,” I told her. “So fuckin’ sorry.”
Her brow pinched just a fraction. “Don’t be because I’m not.”
“You’re kinda amazing, you know?”
Shyness crept over her face, and she fiddled with her empty glass. “You don’t even know me.”
I edged forward. “How’s that, I thought we were friends?”
I let the ribbing wind into my tone, lovin’ the way redness splashed on her cheeks.
She shrugged a little, peeking my way. “You know what I mean. But…I want us to be. Friends. Good friends. For you to know me.”
She rushed the last like a secret.
Like she might regret the words later.
If she got too close, she would.
I drained the rest of my beer and set it on the table before I eased out of the booth, pushing to my full height. I moved over to her side.
My shadow eclipsed this petite girl where she looked so tiny tucked in the booth.
Wondered if she could sense the danger. Way she saw deeper. If there was some kind of warnin’ going off in her mind to keep her distance and something that lured her to me at the same time.
I extended my hand. “C’mere, Sweet Thing.” She stared at it before she set hers in mine.
Energy crackled.
A snap in the air.
Motherfuckin’ flames.
Shit.
This girl.
She tipped her chin up my way as she climbed out to stand, and there was something playful that took to her expression. “You wanna dance with me, Cowboy?”
“Cowboy?” I said it like I was offended. “I thought I made it clear it’s Stallion…Stallion, baby.”
She giggled, and she tipped back her head, smiling that smile that nearly dropped me to my knees. “I think I’m gonna find me one of those, Rhys. I’m gonna find me a cowboy and move here to Dalton, have about five babies and own about ten horses. Buy a big old house that always needs work. Get away from LA forever. Leave it all behind. Doesn’t it sound nice?” It was a hum and a slur and the whisper of a dream.
Chuckling a rough sound, I curled an arm around her waist. “That so? Sounds like you’re gearing up for one of those mistakes.”
“Or maybe it would be the best thing I could do.”
I pressed my nose to her temple.
Fire.
I was no longer playing with it, I was dancing in it barefoot.
I led her to the dance floor, anyway. Like I said, I wasn’t so good at making prudent choices.
I was all about the greed and gluttony.
Around us, couples two-stepped, a crush of bodies sliding and twirling and grinding.
I pulled Maggie into my arms.
That fire was doused in gasoline.
My insides went raw with a brand of need I’d never experienced before.
Like a fool, I ignored it. Pretended that it didn’t matter.
That my fucking heart didn’t flutter when she laughed.
That I wasn’t grinning right back when her smile grew wide.
I dipped her and she squealed, girl laughing and laughing while I continued to spin her round and round.
“You’re a natural, you know. You’ve got country in your soul, darlin’. Think we need to run out and get you some boots.”
She grinned up at me. “And one of those cowboys, too?”
I chuckled even though I couldn’t stomach the idea of passing her off to one of these pricks.
Thought of someone else’s hands on her made my vision turn red.
So I danced with her instead like that was what I was meant to do.
When the band shifted into a slow song, Maggie didn’t hesitate to loop her arms around my neck. She rested her cheek against my chest. “What do you want in this life, Rhys?”
We were barely moving, just swaying from side-to-side. “For my band to make it. Nothin’ else matters but that.”
It’s what we’d been working toward for what felt like our entire lives.
“Well, that and for my mama to be happy,” I said on a bout of wistful laughter. “I’m gonna bulldoze her old house and build a big one in its place. That’s my goal.”
Maybe set fire to it and torch all the horrible memories hidden inside.
Maggie rumbled a sound of affectionate disbelief. “Haven’t you realized yet that your band has already made it? Six months from now, you’ll be heading to Savannah to record your big album. Everyone’s going to know your name, Rhys Manning.”
She stared at me like she was proud.
“That’s the plan. I mean, who could forget me?” I let one of those smirks take to my face.
Redness pinked those cheeks, but she didn’t look away when she whispered, “Impossible. You’re unforgettable.” Then she grinned, mischief winding into her tone. “Have you seen these women eyeing you? Hell, I’m probably going to have to walk home with all these girls who want to get with you. I think three or four of them are currently trying to figure out how to lure me into the bathroom so they can shank me. Get me out of the way so they can get close to you.”
I pulled her closer. “You really think I’d ditch you?”
“Um…let’s see…your friend’s little sister who begged to tag along, or one of these gorgeous women who would know how to handle a man like you?”
Uneasiness flooded her expression, even though she kept her tone light when she asked it.
Trying to play and pretend like it didn’t matter and hating the idea of it, too.
I felt it.
Knew it.
Two of us were treading those treacherous waters.
Reaching out, I let my fingertips flutter along the angle of her cheek, right over that dimple that I’d been dying to touch.
Playing that reckless, greedy game.
“No contest, Mags. No contest.” I forced some levity into my words before I went and said something I couldn’t take back. “Besides, haven’t you heard it said, friends before fucks?”