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My heart hammered as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this. Because I didn’t think I could handle being in his space. Not when he made me feel as if I was unraveling.
My mind twisted and my thoughts skewed.
Dangerous ideas slipping through.
Releasing my hand, Raven stepped up to River and ruffled her fingers over the super short black hair on his head, as if she was certain he wouldn’t bite when he looked like a viper ready to strike.
Coiled and rattling.
She looked back at me with a sly wink and mouthed,told you, like she was doing me the favor of introducing me to her brother’s friends when the only thing I wanted to do was turn and flee.
But no.
I was pinned.
Chained by those menacing eyes that ravaged me where he sat. So powerful that I had no defense.
No resistance.
“Good to meet you, Charleigh.”
The scruff-laden voice knocked me out of the stupor, and I looked to where Kane sat. His long legs were stretched out in front of him and he had one arm draped around the back of the chair like he might be lounging on a throne.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Somehow, I managed the sparse, shaken words, but my stupid regard was climbing right back to the pillar of a man whose tongue stroked over his plush bottom lip.
My stomach twisted, thoughts back to the words he’d whispered yesterday.
Temptation and a threat.
“Smart girl. Not the kind of guy a girl like you should go mixin’ with.”
A smart girl would run.
Run far and fast.
And there I stood as if my feet had grown roots.
“Welcome to Moonlit Ridge,” Theo said, the man sitting low in the chair, his eyes appraising me as if he were searching to see if I should be trusted.
Which was kind of hysterical when he oozed nothing but sin.
“It’s nice to meet you, Theo.”
His attention snapped to River before it snapped back to me, and something amused lit at the edge of his mouth. “Oh, I think it’s definitely going to benice.”
I couldn’t quite make sense of whatever sound rolled from River’s throat, but I was looking that way again, unable to stop myself, then silently scolding myself for acting crazy.
This was stupid.
I didn’t need to cower. Didn’t need to let this guy affect me this way.
He’d given me a simple tattoo, for God’s sake. It wasn’t a big deal. Not at all. Except the problem was I couldn’t seem to dodge him, whatever I did.
Not in my thoughts or my dreams or my actual days since he kept popping up everywhere I went.
I guess I should have known this would be a small-town problem when I’d come here, but it wasn’t like Moonlit Ridge was that tiny. I’d thought it’d be the perfect size to both see fewer people and blend.
“Watch out for these two,” Raven said with affection in her voice, pointing between Theo and Kane. “They might be pretty, but they’ll have you out of your panties so fast, you won’t know what hit you. Unless, of course, that’s what you’re looking for.”
