Page 26 of Untraced Magic
She was the beauty.
We were the beasts.
I held her gaze longer than intended, not daring to look at her full red lips. To look down would be considered an invitation, causing a follow-on chain of events that included my lips on hers and more.
She grinned, her words slurring slightly. “Thanks for walking me home. You really didn’t have to.”
“Yeah, I did.”Before those leeches scent your blood and come back for more,I thought to myself. “No one should be out alone at this time of night.”
She straightened, folding her hands over her chest. “I can hold my own, you know.”
I chuckled to myself. “Yeah, I bet.”
She frowned. “You don’t sound convinced.”
“You’re drunk,” I reminded her.
Morgan raised a brow. “And you’re not?”
I held my hands in the air. “I never said I wasn’t.”
She wrapped her arms around her waist, and it plumped her chest. I looked away, shoving my hands in my pockets.
She must be freezing. It was well past midnight, and the bite in the air was deathly cold.
I nodded toward her door. “You should go inside. It’scold out here.”
My hands fisted the denim in my pockets as if it would keep them from escaping. From landing on her waist and walking her backwards until she connected with the door. From every bad idea her wicked eyes asked of me and more.
I held onto the material as if my life depended on it, my palms burning, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the denim would singe under my heated palms.
She tipped her head to the side, like it would help read my mind.
Finally, she murmured, “Goodnight, Tyler.”
“Night.”
She turned towards her door, glancing over her shoulder at me.
I walked away, fearing that to stay a moment longer would be my undoing.
Barreling back into our house, I eyed Wes now sitting in our upstairs lounge, an arm draped over the back of the couch. I pointed a finger in his direction. “Don’t even say it.”
I made the distance to my bedroom in seconds, slamming the door behind me.
This had to stop. This couldn’t happen again.
Except it was.
Thoughts of her consumed every part of my goddamn mind as I ripped off my clothes, attempting to ease the heat-filled tension crawling under my skin.
Who was I kidding? I saw the way she looked at me.
It was the same way I looked at her.
Tomorrow, I had to put an end to whatever this was before it was too late to stop this trainwreck. Before the ache in my pants got another human killed.
Morgan
