Page 24 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
He wouldn’t back out on her, though. “Okay.”
As they walked to the garage, he kept his fingers tangled in hers, waiting for her to let go, but to his surprise, she didn’t. When they reached the garage, she seemed to squeeze his fingers even tighter. The shame he felt for scaring her the night before made him ache.
Turning to her, he could see the terror on her face too. “I’m so sorry about last night.” He sighed. “I’d like to say I’ll never hurt you or scare you again, but I think I’d be lying. I’ll try, though, I promise.”
Charlotte glanced at the bike. “I know. I think it’s less fear and more nausea. I don’t want to throw up on you.” A tiny nervous chuckle popped out.
“I’d deserve it.”
Pulling her hand free, she balled her fists in his shirt and pulled him down to eye level. “You wouldn’t. You made mistakes. Everyone does that. Yours just happened to be caught on film, which makes them feel bigger than they are. You don’t deserve to be hurt or betrayed or…not loved.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “You’re a good man. I refuse to let you be anything else.” She took one hand from his shirt and poked the spot over his heart. “You have a good heart. I know you do.”
How could she say that? He just couldn’t grasp it. “You really believe that? Why? You had to have seen all the things I’ve done. What I did to my parents and grandparents. I scared you half to death last night because I was petulant and unforgiving.”
Circling her arms around his chest, she laid her cheek against it. “Someone needs to believe it about you until you believe it. If you’re never given the chance to change, you never will. You’re trying, and people need to stop shoving you back in that box.”
The lump in his throat had him gasping for air. He wasn’t sure he believed her or that he could ever see himself as a good man. But he’d certainly try. If nothing else, just so he didn’t disappoint her.
She set her chin on his chest and looked up at him. “Now, are we going on a bike ride or not?” She smiled.
With one swift move, he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet, and buried his face in her neck. “Thank you.”
Charlotte pressed her cheek against his head. “I like you, Malakai. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Laughter poured from him, and he leaned back. “Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“You’re very tiny to be making such demands.”
A smile spread on her lips, and it hit him that he’d made an error. Those pink, luscious, most adorable kissable lips were far too close. The war he’d been having was now nuclear, and he was defenseless. “You know, when we finally start leaving the house and begin pretending…they’re going to expect us to kiss.”
For a moment, Charlotte just stared at him. In a poker game, she’d clean house, because he had no idea what she was thinking. Her gaze lowered to his lips and back up. “We did tell Octavia we’d sell the relationship.”
“Can’t exactly do that if we break our noses trying to kiss in public,” he said, moving his lips closer to hers.
She shook her head, closing a little more of the distance. “No.”
He’d never been afraid of kissing a woman, especially once he was signed and on tour. But this one spooked him. Kissing her was going to change the equation. This kiss held the potential for more, something substantial. Something he’d wanted and never felt worthy of…and if he was honest, still didn’t feel worthy of it. Charlotte wasn’t just some woman, and he was falling for her.
Another tiny move closer, and this time, she’d drawn closer too. Their lips touched, and song lyrics floated to his mind. That was a first. Not only that, it had been a long time since he’d been inspired enough to pen a new song. He touched his lips to hers again, and the notes almost wrote themselves.
Her arms circled tighter around his neck. There wasn’t a time he could remember a woman holding on to him like that. He’d been held before, but there was always something selfish under the surface. With Charlotte, all he could feel was her need for him.
Tiny, tentative kisses turned hungrier until he deepened the kiss, and the world ceased to exist for him. He’d never wanted to drown in someone as much as he wanted to lose himself in her. She saw something in him no one else saw. Goodness. He wasn’t even sure that had existed before the addiction, and having a taste of it, he wanted more. A lot more.
When his lungs burned, Malakai broke the kiss and set his forehead against hers. “Think that’ll pass the Octavia test?”
Charlotte took a few long drags of air and replied, “I think so.”
“I guess we should take that bike ride, huh?”
Her eyes opened, and she leaned back. “I guess so.”
Malakai nodded and set her feet on the floor. “Okay.”
The emptiness he felt with her absence was tangible. What would it be like to know it wasn’t temporary? That at the end of the day, he’d be holding her again?
It was probably lack of oxygen that had him thinking things like that. His luck…life…didn’t work like that. Life was more like rabid squirrels annihilating whatever ducks he’d manage to wrangle into a pond.
