Falling into You: A Falling Stars Stand-Alone Romance

by A. L. Jackson

  She gave a resolute nod and lifted her hand in a solemn oath.

  Yeah, and that would last for all of five seconds.

  Still, I hugged her tight and whispered, “That’s my girl. We just want you to be safe.”

  “It’s real hard when rules are made to be broken.” She said it with utmost sincerity.

  A soft laugh rumbled out. “You are somethin’ else, Daisy.”

  “Nope. I’m nothin’ else. Just regular o’ Daisy.”

  She shrugged.

  A giggle floated out, and I ruffled her hair as I shifted her around so I could climb out of bed. She was hot on my tail as I went into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth while she made funny faces in the mirror.

  With her right there, my life was complete.

  Full.

  Nothing missin’ except for the place inside me that called out for him. The piece of me that needed to remain silent because I didn’t need any bad ideas shouting in my ear.

  When I finished, I tipped up her chin to look down at my sweet girl. “What should we do today?”

  She didn’t get time to answer before the doorbell chimed from downstairs.

  Daisy’s dark eyes went wide with excitement, while a bolt of terror zipped down my spine.

  Would he dare show his ridiculously gorgeous face here after what my daddy had walked in on last night?

  He was lucky he hadn’t been chased off the property with a shotgun.

  But this was Richard Ramsey we were talking about.

  Of course, he was cocky enough to do that.

  Daisy jumped up and down. “We gots company. Let’s go. Let’s go. You gotsta come because you know opening doors is another one of those rules I’m not supposed to be breakin’.”

  Ugh. Did I have to? Hiding under my bed seemed like a better solution.

  “Come on!” She tugged at my hand.

  “Fine.” I followed her out, wearing only a tank and sleep pants and a heavy coat of anxiety, praying that it was a visitor for my mama. I edged out of my bedroom only to hear my daddy opening the front door.

  And all that dread doubled.

  Turbulence striking the air the second the door swung open and the shafts of bright light streaked into the room.

  A silhouette stood in the blaze of them.

  A god that had descended.

  Graced the paupers with his immaculate presence.

  The man so tall and powerful and stealing my breath.

  Safe to say, Daddy was not impressed. “How dare you return to this home.”

  But Daisy was already clamoring downstairs and shrieking with delight. “Mr. Richard! Mr. Richard! Did you come to see me?”

  She beelined for the door.

  When she got to my daddy’s side, he snatched her hand to keep her from going any farther. She popped up on her toes, leaning that way, like she was intent to do it, anyway.

  Sheer, unmitigated enthusiasm.

  Like she was immune to the violent tumult that raged and stroked through the air.

  “I already missed you so much,” she sang, grinning her grin and the man was returning one, too.

  “Well, that must have been because I was thinking about you…missing you, too.” That grumbly voice floated up to my ears.

  A whisper.

  A promise.

  Agony pierced me. The stake of an arrow. Stalling my footsteps and expelling the breath from my lungs.

  I’d warned him.

  Warned him that she loved fast and loved hard.

  She’d fall for him as hard as I had. Get swept up in the radiance of his presence. Consumed by what it felt like to stand in his flame.

  Then he’d be gone. Attention hijacked by something more interesting. Something flashier and shinier and brand new.

  Before we knew it, he’d be on to the next bigger, better thing.

  I had the sudden, sharp urge to intervene. Stop it from happening. I hurried the rest of the way down the steps, only to falter when his face fully came into view.

  When those intense sage eyes landed on me. A meadow in the middle of a raging storm.

  An eclipse fighting against the light.

  That gaze took me in like I was the piece he’d been missing.

  What he was on the hunt for.

  What he would fight for until the bitter end.

  His presence a heavy, swelling sea.

  A tidal wave that rushed.

  But it was the gash and butterfly bandage on his forehead and the massive bruise surrounding it that hadn’t been there yesterday that had me gasping and rushing the rest of the way toward him.

  Nothing but a fool.

  “Richard. Oh my god. What happened to you? Are you okay?”

  Grimacing, he shook his head. “Guess karma came to pay a visit.”

  He glanced at my father when he said that.

  My daddy scoffed. “Not soon enough.”

  “Daddy,” I chastised.

  He shot me a look over his shoulder that hiked to his ear. “What? I speak no lies. Unlike someone else around here.” He shifted his attention back to Richard when he said that.

  Discomfort bounded.

  “Don’t you know lyin’ is one of the rules you aren’t supposed to go breaking?” Daisy’s sweet voice cut through the disquiet. “Hey, what you got there?”

  She hopped from one subject to the next without taking a breath, and she freed her hand from my father’s clutch when she noticed Richard was holding a wrapped box tucked to his hip.

  She moved closer to him to get a better look.

  But the only thing I could do was stare at his face.

  That stunning, handsome face that was marred and deformed.

  Injured.

  He knelt in front of my daughter.

  My spirit thrashed.

  Richard’s expression flashed through a thousand emotions.

  Regret and hope.

  Hurt and love.

  Worry and devotion.

  Things he had no right to be feelin’.

  It didn’t matter a bit that I knew that fact. I was still frozen in them.

  Ensnared.

  The man nothin’ but quicksand.

  Eyes swimming with affection, he handed my daughter the present like he was offering a piece of himself. “Wanted to check on you. Give you this.” His voice was raw, the man taking her in like he would be the one to single-handedly ensure her safety. “My ma, my sister, and I were super upset about what happened yesterday. We were worried about you, and we wanted you to know how much we were thinking about you. Thought you might like what’s inside.”

  “Is that a present for me?” Daisy’s voice lifted five octaves and her eyebrows shot to the sky with excitement when she realized he’d brought her a gift.

  Shit.

  This was spiraling out of control and fast.

  “Yeah. It’s for you.”

  “Oh yay! Oh, Mommy, looks it, I got a present.” She took it without saying anything else and dropped to the floor so she could unwrap it.

  Paper flew as she tore it free.

  Then she was squealing more when she popped the lid from the box to reveal the pair of cute black patent leather dress shoes tucked inside.

  She squeezed her hands together and held them to her chest, her shoulders hitching to her ears. “Oh, I got new dancin’ shoes.”

  “Figured they’d be perfect for the wedding since the other ones got messed up,” Richard told her. “What do you think? You think these will work out?”

  “I love them,” she drawled in the cutest awe, hugging the shoes to her chest. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! They are my favoritist ever. Do you want to be my best friend?” she asked, way too eager when she looked up at him with all her childlike hope shining through.

  My chest panged. Dread shimmered.

  I ignored the tiny spark of joy that this was the way it was supposed to be.

  Daisy hopped to her feet. “Wait right there. I’ll be back in a flash. Don’t go anywhere
.” She tossed him a finger in the air before she darted into the kitchen.

  Tension spun, winding and surging into the atmosphere. Stark hatred from my father who was the furthest thing from a hater. His care and concern rippling from his aging body as he stood glowering at the man who had hurt his baby girl.

  A protector without weapons.

  While Richard straightened to his towering height. Lookin’ like a warrior. Something fierce and brutal coursed through his veins, though he dipped his head at my daddy in some kind of surrendered respect.

  I eased forward and touched my father’s arm. “Daddy.”

  He jumped like he’d been shocked by a bolt of electricity.

  “It’s fine,” I told him, soft encouragement in my voice.

  It was probably a lie.

  A fallacy.

  Shifting, he softly brushed my jaw with the pad of his thumb. “No, mi amor. It is not.”

  I gulped.

  Shivered.

  Because I knew he was right. Knew he was just as terrified as me after what he’d stumbled in on last night.

  Richard was worming his way in. And for what reason? What could he offer other than more pain?

  Daisy came blazing back out, waving a Sharpie in the air. “Got it! I need you to sign this, Mr. Richard. You get to first since you’re the one who made sure I got all better.”

  Discomfort flamed and lapped, driving against the energy that curled and wafted from the man. The tether that stretched and stretched. Pulling at me.

  Heartstrings that long ago should have been snipped.

  Richard took the Sharpie and shifted on his feet at the door.

  Unsure. His gaze both ruthless and wary when it traveled my way.

  “Come in, silly,” she told him, taking his hand with her uninjured one. She gave him a tug. “You got to come inside.”

  My daddy shot him a death glare. Daggers and ice and the most dastardly of curses.

  It was a wonder he didn’t drop dead right there.

  I sighed. “Just…come in and sign the cast.”

  Richard nodded, those eyes on me as he angled by my father.

  Goodness. This was a straight-up disaster.

  Daisy moved over to the antique table that sat under the window overlooking the porch. She climbed onto a chair and pointed at the one next to it. “There. You sit right there, Mr. Richard.”

  She grinned with all her might, her black hair swishing around her cherub face, dimples denting in.

  He pulled out the chair, shifted it around to face her, and eased down to sitting, gazing at her as he did. As if she were a strobe of light. A beacon in the middle of a raging storm.

  Because that’s what this felt like.

  A hurricane that gusted and blew.

  Hitting us at gale force.

  I suppressed a cry when he reached out and touched her chin, when he murmured the words, “Was worried about you. How are you feeling?”

  “Not so bad that I can’t be in the weddin’. Let’s be clear about that.” She quirked a brow to let him know that was absolutely out of the question.

  He chuckled a rough sound that reverberated through the space, though it was still filled with concern.

  Chills lifted. The man touching me when he wasn’t even looking my way.

  Why? Why? Why? Why did he have to affect me this way? Why did it have to hurt so bad?

  “We wouldn’t dream of letting that happen now, would we?” he said, smiling soft and somehow sad. “My sister is going to need your help. Not a chance someone could do it better than you.”

  “Yep. I’m gonna do the best job ever! She’ll want me to be in all her weddin’s.”

  Through the emotion, I choked out an amused laugh. “I think Emily is hoping it’s her only wedding, sunshine.”

  Yeah, I guessed I’d been hoping for that myself.

  “Oh, right, yes,” she said, nodding her head. “Together forever,” she sang.

  Richard suppressed one of those rough chuckles, his eyes cutting through the room to land on me.

  Connection blinding.

  I swallowed around the thickness, hardly able to stand under the force of it.

  I had no idea how long we remained like that before Richard finally cleared his throat and turned back to look at Daisy. “Let me see that arm of yours.”

  Climbing onto her knees, she angled his way and leaned her arm on the table. “There you go. Do you like pink?”

  He bit down on that plush bottom lip like he was trying to keep something on lockdown. Like he was struggling. This undercurrent of rage and desperation that I didn’t understand mixed up with his care. “Do you?”

  “Um, yes! I gotsta like pink. You know how many flowers are pink?” she said in her exuberant way.

  Another grumbly laugh. “No. Do you?”

  “Um…a gazillion million at least.”

  “Well, if you like pink, how could I not, considerin’ how much I like you?”

  I wanted to scream. Rip her away from him and keep her protected because I could feel the seams of our fabric getting snipped apart. The bindings that held me together getting clipped.

  I couldn’t let him do this.

  Weasel his way into our lives. I’d wanted him there once.

  The only thing he’d done was trample all over me.

  Worse was the way I had that flicker of a feeling.

  The dire need to believe it might be true. That maybe there was a bit of the man I’d thought he’d been, after all.

  He scrawled something on the cast, something I couldn’t make out from where I was standing. “There.”

  She beamed one of those smiles that could bring an entire town to its knees.

  “It’s pretty now.” She waved it around.

  He smiled this afflicted smile that stabbed and slayed.

  My stomach tipped and my heart did that unforgiveable thing. The thing that went haywire whenever I got into his space. That thing that made me vulnerable and weak.

  “Daisy…what do you say for the shoes?” I reminded her.

  She threw herself at him.

  Okay, that was so not what I meant. A simple thank you would suffice.

  He caught her. Awkwardly at first. Then he hugged her back about as hard as she was hugging him.

  Those strong arms wrapped around that little girl like he didn’t want to let her go. His eyes closed and that spirit I’d always felt weeping something mad.

  God. Was that all deceit, too? The way I’d felt like I’d known him to the very core? Tapped into his darkest, most private places?

  Reluctantly, he released her, his voice rough with emotion, “You’re welcome. But those are from my mother and my sister, too. Don’t forget about them. My ma will have my hide if I take all the credit.”

  Her brow quirked in question. “Your hide? You been hidin’ out? I want to hide. I love hides and seeks.”

  Richard barked out a laugh, and those eyes were searching for me from across the room, that warm sage spilling out with disbelieved affection at this child.

  In it was an apology.

  Something so stark and rippling with the secrets that I felt them knock me at the knees. I reached out to the back of the couch for support. To force myself to stay standin’ right there before I went and did something stupid like dropping to them right at his feet.

  But this was my husband we were talkin’ about.

  The man who was etched on my body, etched on my skin, etched on my soul.

  The man who was supposed to share my life. Be the other half of it. There through every success and strife. Through all the joys and the sorrows.

  The one who’d left me but never quite set me free.

  That jaw clenching, he ripped his attention away and shifted it to Daisy. “Would love to play hide and seek with you sometime. Just be careful. I’m wicked good at it. I bet we could even talk Rhys into playing with us.”

  “Oh, I would love that to the moon.”

  She grinned u
p a plea.

  He brushed back her hair.

  Slay. Slay. Slay.

  I was so not gonna make it through this.

  Affection made a wistful dance through his expression.

  I fidgeted. Shifted my feet. Hugged my arms over my chest. All of it a vain attempt at shielding myself from the potency of this man.

  “Daisy, why don’t you go have Nana sign your cast? You know she’s gonna feel left out if she doesn’t get to,” I coaxed her. Desperate to put an end to this.

  “Oh, yes! Good idea.”

  Daisy clamored off his lap and darted passed me up the stairs. “Bye, Mr. Richard. See ya tomorrow unless you want to have a sleepover tonight so we can play.”

  Uh.

  Yeah.

  No.

  Richard seemed hesitant to stand, that gaze immediately latching onto me as he pushed to standing.

  A snare.

  Hooks.

  I gulped.

  “Need to have a word with you, Violet,” he said, his voice nothing but smooth, cutting seduction.

  My father grunted, reminding us that he was still there. I’d almost forgotten he was.

  “That is, if it’s okay with your father.” Richard didn’t seem all that much to be asking, though, the force behind his voice when he pitched my father a steady glance.

  “My daughter is a grown woman and can make her own decisions,” he said, though he looked at me like he was begging me to deny the request.

  I should.

  God, I should.

  “It’s fine, Daddy.” Saying it again was nothing but heresy.

  Because that storm whipped and blew and howled. Frigid cold against the flames that leapt.

  Richard took the few steps back for the door. Hostility blazed from my father as he passed.

  He paused, wavered, like he was going to say something before he seemed to think better of it and stepped out onto the porch.

  I inhaled a couple shaky breaths, gathering myself, fortifying myself for whatever he had to say. Then I lifted my chin and started after him.

  My father stopped me by grabbing onto my elbow. “Mija.”