by Madeline Ash
She stared, dismayed. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’ve never been smart enough.’
‘That’s bull.’ His interest was the problem, not his intelligence. But it was too late now. ‘Where will you go?’
‘No idea. But Beau’—his brother—’reckons I’m the only person in our family who has a hope of succeeding, and he’s not going to let me throw that away by ending up like him.’ He gave a halfhearted smile. ‘I said his life looked good to me, and he told me to get a grip and punched me in the face. Strangely, that silenced the mind noise for a second, and I realized he was right.’
Stevie grimaced. Brotherly love came in all forms.
‘I don’t know what I’ll do.’ He exhaled hard. ‘But I’ll find something. Get on track. Make myself better.’
Stevie nodded, hiding a chill of premonition. By moving away with no family and no support, the odds were against him. Good habits were hard to make, and bad habits hard to shake. Her stomach dropped as his future all but materialized before her.
A better life wasn’t in the cards for Ethan Rafters.
‘Good luck,’ she murmured, looking down.
His hands found her again, pressing along her waist, her back, drawing heat from her core and calling it forth to her skin. Her body sighed, and she leaned into him as he said, ‘I want to become the kind of person you’d want to stay around.’
She frowned. ‘I’m really not your type.’
‘You define my type.’ He lowered his lips to her neck and dragged them across her skin. Reaction zapped through her veins and throbbed hot between her thighs. He kissed the hollow behind her ear, sending shivers over her scalp. ‘You’re tough. You do whatever the hell you want, and you do it unapologetically. You’re you, and not many people go through school as themselves.’ His hold tightened, thrilling her hormones with a simple slide of his hand over her bottom. ‘Your smile drives me wild. When you hang out with Felix, he makes you laugh.’ Jealousy tinged his words. ‘Some days, it travels across the oval. It’s so infectious that sometimes the guys ask what I’m smiling about. Your outfits are sexy. And your hair—damn—it’s the coolest thing.’
His attention shifted in the dimness, roaming over her blonde spikes. Stevie managed to haul in a half-breath before he locked eyes with her and reached out. Large, gentle, his hand spanned across her scalp. Warmth flooded her, chased by arousal, as his fingertips tightened, massaging slightly, and shivers rushed down her neck, her spine, mellowing her muscles.
Her inhale was ragged. The underside of his wrist rested against her cheekbone, his skin hot, and she gave in, pressing her lips to his pulse. The pad of his thumb stroked her temple, and she closed her eyes for several sweet heartbeats.
‘I didn’t want to leave without telling you the effect you have on me,’ he said.
She opened her eyes, pained.
He smiled ironically. ‘Too deep?’
‘A little.’
A little too deep, because now she knew this went beyond attraction on his end. And she...she was blinded by infatuation. She didn’t know what she’d think of him if she could see clearly. ‘Ethan—’
‘Do you want to go inside?’ His murmur cut her off; cut them both off from the conversation.
Stevie pressed her forehead against his, knowing it was now or never, with sunrise spreading pale grey across the eastern sky. Finally surrendering to the physical pull that had commanded her for so long, she whispered, ‘Yes.’
It was how they were made to end, after all.
Find out what happens next...
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About the Author
Madeline has always lived in Melbourne. She is emotionally allergic to spontaneity, and yet doesn’t mind the weather that drags her into rain when she’s planned for sunshine. She likes to call this her wild side.
She’s a Virgo, vegetarian, and once had a romantic suspense-style dream in which the hero was a shredded lettuce sandwich and the villain was a cherry tomato. The tomato got away. She took the dream as a sign that she’d better stick to writing contemporary romance.
Her stories have spunky heroines, strong heroes, and as much dialogue as she can cram in. As for why she writes romance, she’s in a long-term relationship with the genre and writing such stories makes it happy.
Visit her website at MadelineAsh.net
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