Ellen hurried down the bar to someone else Maddie didn’t recognize.
Maddie scanned the room. Not much ever changed in Roswell, except that somehow it always did.
She rolled the empty shot glass between her index finger and thumb, listening to the scrape of glass against the wood. Why in the hell had she come back? Nothing good ever came from this town, not for her. Oh, right. She came back because her mother refused to talk to her until she did. That woman’s soul needed to rest already, but no. Instead, she stayed here until she wanted something, and then made Maddie go crazy until she came back.
The door opened, spilling in daylight. Shielding her eyes with a hand, two large figures eclipsed the bright white of the outside.
Rolling her eyes, she went back to glaring at the glass. She needed another drink. Her mother would find her at some point, might as well just stay put. She had nowhere else to go anyway.
The thud of heavy boots thunked against the wood-plank floor. This bar was a dive, always had been, and apparently always would be. She didn’t need to look up to know the original bullet holes were still in the mirror. Always would be. You didn’t forget some showdown from the turn of the century. No. This town never forgot a thing. And now, she’d never forget the crappy wooden floor either. More clunking. Good Lord! Sit down already.
She scratched at her forearms, her skin itching and her magic jumping up like hell’s flames were out to burn her alive. Sniffing the air, she swore it smelled like a mix of cinnamon and sweat. Glancing at Ellen, Maddie would need to ask what drink she’d made.
As the heavy boot steps grew closer, her magic started to do a conga line along her nerves.
“Son of a bitch.” She scratched her thighs, rubbed the palm of her hands over her upper arms, shivering as the annoying dance stopped at the sound of a male voice.
“Are you okay?”
A zap of magic shot through Maddie and her libido decided now was a good time to wake up. Pressing her legs together, anything to stop the warmth growing within her. The stranger's voice waking places that she’d sworn were dormant, probably dead.
Slowly, Maddie turned her head expecting to be eye-to-eye or maybe eye-to-throat to a man. Instead, her gaze traveled up and up. Stopping at the most amazing orange-gold eyes.
What kind of creature was he?
“Wow.”
His tongue ran over his bottom lip as he turned a smile on her. Maybe that scorched the panties off of every woman within a two-mile radius, but no way would it work with her.
“I’m not in the mood,” she said.
Maddie squeezed her legs tighter, her body screaming she was definantley in the mood.
She closed her eyes. No. She didn’t want him.
No, she wanted him, but she wasn’t in the mood for a one-night stand. His muscles screamed that he got what he wanted every time and left a trail of broken hearts behind him.
Maddie tried to look away as her eyes flicked to the bulge in his pants. Son of. What was wrong with her.
Nothing was wrong with her. She was a female, he was a male and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had the weight of a man on her.
Maddie just needed to breathe.
Breathe.
“Want to come back to my ship?”
Pausing her thoughts, she glared at him. His voice smooth like a river of melted caramel, but his words were like the skipping of a needle over vinyl.
“Excuse me?”
He grinned, and well damn, she liked it. She liked the way the heat swirled within her, reminding her that she was alive. But no. No way.
“Want to come back to my ship?”
“Oh, you did say that. Well, damn it. All looks and no brains. Wonderful. Dream shattered. Is that seriously your pickup line? It’s the worst pickup line I have ever heard. This is a desert … you know that right? No ship needed.”
“A what line?”
Damn. His voice was toe-curling sexy. Or maybe it was the freaking bulge in his jeans she continuously struggled to ignore.
No. Just no. snap out of it.
“A pickup line. A line used to get some dense female to engage with you,” Maddie said.
The man tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest.
Her jaw dropped. He was huge. Even his forearms were corded in muscles.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Density has nothing to do with my interest. I was asking if you would like to come home with me. Which, right now, is a spaceship.”
Damn. He was one of those Area 51 nuts.
“Yeah. That’s probably not a great idea,” Maddie said.
Maddie noticed the second mountainous man as he whispered something to her own wet dream. Her orange-eyed beast nodded and turned that heated gaze back on her.
“Perhaps I should restart? My name is Kal. This is my brother, Eadric. Do you have a name?”
She had to stop and run every retort through the mental filter in her head. Why did she attract the strange ones? The ones who didn't get the ‘go the hell away’ sign flashing across her face.
Maddie swallowed her answer, but her magic jumped and writhed against her skin as he took a step closer.
What the hell?
She needed to ignore him, but her magic refused. The more she fought him, it, whatever it was, the worse the itch grew.
This sucks. She scratched again. The static tickle wasn’t going away. Looking up, his orange eyes never faltered from her.
Creepy, if he wasn’t so damn hot.
Right. Name. Give him her name and maybe he’d leave. Wait, no. No. He didn’t need her name. That’s how you got murdered. Or, was that something else? Who cared. She wouldn’t engage in this.
“You’re not from around here obviously.” She shook her head. “No. No. I don’t have a name. My mother refused to label me as a young child. She just yelled girl for years.”
The guy nodded. “We can
