Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars #1)(23)

“Sure am.”

His eyes moved over me. He nodded like he was giving his approval. “Cool.”

Lyrik ran a tattooed hand over the top of the boy’s head. “This is my son, Brendon.”

I lifted my chin at him. “Great to meet you, Brendon.”

“And this is my baby girl, Adia.”

Tried not to puke right there when Lyrik hiked a little girl into his arms.

Probably three or four.

Gnashed my teeth together to keep from losing it. To keep from turning around and walking out the door.

Stupid.

Fucking stupid coming here.

Managed not to flinch when she squealed and threw her arms around his neck, wiggling in his hold and staring out at me with an overdose of cuteness.

Barely forced a wave at her. “Hey, there.”

My attention got pulled to the corner of the room when I got smacked by an apprehensive aura that pulsed against the walls.

To the last of the children who’d come rambling down the steps.

This girl was probably a year or two younger than Brendon.

Wary and shy where she hung back at the base of the stairway.

Definitely one of Lyrik’s brood. Long, black hair that she had in a ponytail, though her eyes were a different shade than the rest of his kids’, like cups of black coffee had been swirled with a shot of caramel.

He sent a soft smile at her. “And this is my niece, Penny Pie. She’s spending the summer with us. Penny, this is Leif. The drummer I told you was gonna be playing with us so Uncle Zee can tour with Liam.”

Niece.

Not his kid.

I gave her a small wave.

The one she returned was leery.

Like she’d already seen straight through who I was and labeled me.

A bad guy.

Couldn’t fault her for that.

“Nice to meet you, Penny.”

Wow.

This was awkward as fuck.

Why Lyrik didn’t point me in the direction of the guest house and bypass all of this bullshit, I didn’t know. All of these introductions seemed entirely unnecessary considering I was about to split.

She nodded, seeming to contemplate what to say but stopped when someone from above called for her, “Hey, Penny. Have you seen Greyson’s bear? I can’t find it anywhere, and he needs it for his nap. I swear to God, if I left that back home, we’re all going to be in for it until grandma can get it shipped to us.”

I was slammed with what felt like a million things all at once.

A swell of energy.

Same as what I’d experienced last week.

Only this time, it came at me like a motherfucking tidal wave.

Footsteps echoed as they banged down the stairs, reverberating the floors, vibrating my legs and rocking me to the core.

Ears getting filled with a voice I’d chalked up to fantasy.

Eyes glutting on a face that nearly knocked me to my knees.

All of it damned near stopped my heart in my chest.

Seized.

A motherfucking stroke of horrible, terrible bad luck.

The angel in the attic.

The girl clamored down the stairs with a tiny boy fastened to her hip, not having the first clue that the devil had chased her to Savannah.

But I was pretty sure it was me who was in danger.

The girl a danger to my sanity. To my reality.

This girl had spun my mind in a way no one should have the ability to do.

In a way I couldn’t allow.

When she realized there was someone standing in the middle of the room, she stumbled to a stop, clinging to the railing for support.

Or maybe she’d just sensed me the same way I sensed her. Had gotten swept up by a rogue wave that could bring nothing but destruction. That fucked-up connection I didn’t want to feel stretched thin between us.

Simmering and shivering.

Crackling in the air.

Awareness pulled. A tug-of-war that demanded to be made known.

Silence descended, and that lush mouth dropped open at the same time as those sable eyes widened in shock when they landed on me.

Lust struck me.

A goddamn sledgehammer to the senses.

Clinging to the railing for support, she took me in like she was hallucinating.

If only that were the case.

I wanted to kick my own ass.

Irritation blazed through my being. One-hundred percent of it was directed at myself.

Of course, this girl was Lyrik’s sister. I mean, how the fuck hadn’t I put two and two together? The woman who’d come stumbling into that room like an apparition, demanding to know what I was doing hiding away from the party, thousands of miles away from where I belonged, but acting like she had the right to be there? Like that was her sanctuary and I’d been the one to invade it?

And shit, Lyrik and this girl could be twins.

But I guessed I’d chalked her up to being nothin’ but a figment. Too good to be true. To perfect to be real.

Eliciting things inside me that should be impossible. Something I would never allow myself to feel.

And there she stood, gaping at me from twenty feet away.

She was wearing super tight skinny jeans and a thin sweatshirt that draped off one slender shoulder.

Delicious flesh that I wanted to devour.

Black hair a river of waves tumbling around her.

A slip of her stomach exposed.

My mouth watered, and my guts fisted in want.