Dallas cocked his head curiously at that. “What’s yours?”
“Mine? It’s not that interesting,” Mel replied, laughing. “I grew up in a suburb outside of Houston. My dad left when I was little, leaving me and my mom to fend for ourselves.” She shrugged. “It was hard, but we survived. She still lives in that small Houston home. I send portions of my paycheck to help out every once in a while.”
He listened intently, seemingly drinking in every detail as she told him more about her childhood and upbringing. It had never felt so right to tell someone about her past before.
After a while, she came to a stop and laughed. “But you’re probably more curious about why I ended up here, right?”
Dallas nodded, his eyes exactly the same color as the sunset. Whether it was because they were reflecting it or they were just that bright-orange and amber, she wasn’t sure.
Mel inched closer to him. “Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to find evidence of the supernatural. I’ve heard so many stories, but stories are just stories without proof.” She shrugged. “I’m a reporter. It’s my job to be skeptical, but I can’t help but wonder at the idea that there are things out there that just can’t be explained, you know?”
His eyes narrowed slightly at that, but he didn’t say anything.
“The world is so big, so special.” She continued. “I have to think that there’s more to it.”
Dallas cocked an eyebrow and held up his beer, gesturing out at the town and the waning sunset. “What about this?”
Mel turned and cast her gaze once again on the beautiful, quiet view of the horizon, then back at the gorgeous man next to her. Two things that the city life had never been able to offer her, with its roaring noise and never-ending humdrum.
Maybe Houston wasn’t the place for her.
She nodded slowly, inching a little closer to him. “I think this would be more than enough for me, living a quiet life with all this space and close friends and…” She trailed off, then nudged him in the shoulder. “Hot company.”
His eyes met hers, and once again, she couldn’t help getting lost in their warm amber glow.
In that moment, any thoughts of her troubles with her cameraman or her curiosity about the possible story were gone.
Right now, it was just her and this hot, sexy man sitting on what felt like the top of the world.
A man unlike any she’d ever encountered before. A man that looked at her like she was special, who protected her without question, and who gave her ideas she knew she had no place having.
As if he could sense her intense interest, Dallas scooted closer toward Mel until they were hip to hip, even the light contact sending tingles of something curious up her back.
Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her eyes off his face. Those sculpted lips with the defined cupid’s bow. His eyes, which shuttered slightly with interest as he looked her over.
Just once couldn’t hurt, could it?
Mel leaned toward Dallas, her body magnetized toward him, unable to stop the momentum built from days of hot tension between them.
For the barest moment, he waited as she leaned a little farther. Sitting next to him, though, he was a great deal taller, and she’d practically have to stand up if she wanted to…
Then with a quick motion that was direct and sensual, Dallas came down the rest of the way, his lips meeting hers in a soft, warm kiss.
It was instantly electric, even the light contact seeming as if it could connect her to him down inside her soul.
She’d never kissed someone and felt anything remotely like this. Like there was something more to this than just friendship or even lust.
Something… magical.
He deepened the connection slightly, and Mel moaned lightly against him, unable to help even her own reaction to him.
To her shock, he pulled back, and his eyes practically glowed the color of the sunset’s warmth as it surrounded them. His eyebrows were raised slightly, either in shock, surprise, or something else entirely.
“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?” she asked, backtracking even as her body screamed for more of what they’d had in that moment.
There wasn’t even a pause, though, as Dallas’s mouth crashed over hers, rougher and more erotic than before. She gasped, lips parting, and his tongue slid into her mouth, exploring and teasing her until her hands were grasping at the front of his shirt for balance.
When he pulled away a moment later, she was breathless, her brain going haywire with what had just happened.
She’d just kissed Dallas. Or he’d kissed her. Either way, there were no words to explain the intense happiness that had gone from warm interest to intense arousal in a matter of moments.
“Wow… I didn’t know it could be like that,” she said, afraid she’d melt into a puddle and fall off the water tower if she got any more turned on.
Dallas grinned at her, and the genuine fire in his gaze made her want to experience everything with this man. So much more than just kissing.
But as she turned to face the sunset, grateful for the moment they’d shared, she felt Dallas’s hand cover hers, squeezing lightly as they both watched as the sun fell past the horizon and the light above turned from orange to red to purple and blue.
She didn’t know where this was all going. Her story. Her connection to Dallas. All the unanswered things in her heart and mind.
But one thing was for certain. She’d come here to this remote place to find a story, one she’d been looking for a long time.
Only now, it seemed she was in danger of finding an altogether different story.
One that could be dangerous to her heart if she
