Page 13 of Moonlit Temptation

Always protecting me, even if it was from himself.

I watched as he smoked the cigarette.

The little stick was a taunt.

His words a dare.

It’s not good for you to do.

I had to try it.

If only for the fact that I had this ingrained need to do things that were bad for me.

Smoking.

Saint.

Two vices I shouldn’t want, two vices I couldn’t get out of my head, and my lips had touched neither.

What would happen if they did?

My first taste of being on a skateboard made me a goner. Would I be addicted like that?

Or would it be worse?

My feelings already consumed me like a storm. If I ever acted on them, the end result would rack up more damage than a natural disaster.

“I like your dress.” Saint’s eyes on me felt like a caress, though nothing screamed sexual in his stare. Didn’t stop the flutters from going off in my stomach nonetheless.

The dress, which was a bell sleeve number that stopped inches above my knees and had cutouts around my waist, was the only wearable article of clothing in my backpack. Everything else inside was bras and panties, just like I feared.

“Is this your way of trying to distract me from the place we just vacated? Pepper me with compliments?” I ran my hands over the dress and his eyes followed.

“Maybe.” His lips quirked.

“Well, by all means, then. Lay them on me.” I held out my arms, ready to catch them all.

His eyes danced with mischief. “Or maybe I said it because I like the color.”

I glanced down at the fabric. “It’s white. You hate white.”

“I don’t hate it.”

“Yes, you do.” Hearing his words perfectly in my head as I quoted, “‘It’s too boring. Plain and boring, basic…’”

I trailed off, watching as Saint’s brows pinched together.

“When did I say that?”

Remaining silent, I chose to turn attention to my nail beds. I was in need of a manicure.

“Madeylane.”

Slowly, I picked my head up. Not fully meeting Saint’s eyes until he tilted his head and I jolted with what rested in them.

An intensity that I had never seen before. A seriousness I couldn’t put a name to.

“Awhileago.”

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