When the music changed, neither one of them pulled apart, and they danced through a few more songs before she lifted her head to look up at him.
“I need a drink,” she said as she pitched her voice over the music and the crowd.
“Then let’s go.”
He reluctantly released her but rested his hand possessively against her hip. They walked out of the room and into the kitchen. She lifted a cup from the stack on the crowded, white tile countertop and poured herself a glass of tap water.
Standing at the sink, Melanie stared out the window and into the backyard. There were people out there, playing beer pong and sitting in the shadows. Suddenly, the stifling heat of the house hit her again, and she yearned to be out there with them.
She poured herself another glass of water before turning to Kyle. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest while he watched her. Her breath caught a little as those magnificent eyes perused her. Everywhere his eyes touched, her skin prickled with awareness.
Afraid she would throw herself at him and desperate to be free of this oppressive place, she asked, “Do you want to go outside?”
Kyle lowered his arms to hold his hand out to her. He smiled when she took it and followed him out the back door. Though it was a hot July night, stepping outside was like walking into air-conditioning after being inside the house.
A couple of dozen people were already outside. Kyle didn’t understand why there weren’t more crowding the small patch of mostly dirt lawn, until he realized all the kegs were inside.
Music drifted from someone’s phone, and most people were gathered around the ping-pong table as they tossed balls at the cups set up across from them. People cheered or groaned as balls either hit or missed.
The people not gathered around the table were seated in the few white, plastic chairs set up outside. He was fine with that as most of the chairs didn’t look like they would hold the weight of a cat, never mind him.
Overhead, the floodlights attached to the house lit the broken brick patio, gray porch, and the beer pong players. Melanie sat on the steps and set her glass of water beside her. Kyle settled next to her and tilted his head back to take in the thousands of stars in the clear night sky. In the distance, he heard the steady hum of traffic and the blare of a horn, but it was far quieter here.
“I love fireflies,” Melanie said.
Lowering his gaze from the sky, he spotted a couple of fireflies flickering in the bushes crowding the wood, stockade fence.
“They’re some of my favorites too,” he said. “At my family’s home in Maine, you can sometimes see hundreds of them.”
Melanie bit her lip as she restrained herself from asking more about him. If she asked questions, then he would ask them too, and she’d have to start lying almost immediately. She’d asked him about attending college inside, but she blamed the tequila. However, her buzz was beginning to wear off.
“I used to catch them all the time with my brothers and sisters. Sometimes we’d have a competition to see who caught the most,” he said.
“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” she asked and then winced.
Okay, maybe the tequila wasn’t as out of her system as she believed. She mentally slapped herself in the head a few times. Coming out here with him was a bad idea. She was fine with him while people and loud noise surrounded them. Out here, it was too easy to be lured into conversation.
“Nine,” he said.
“Nine!” she blurted.
He chuckled as he placed his foot on the first step and draped his arm over his knee. “Yep, nine. And it was certainly interesting to grow up in my house. What about you? Any siblings?”
And there it was. The whole reason she didn’t ask questions was they were suddenly directed back at her. But, to be fair, that was how conversations worked. She was a freak with a messed-up childhood and a whole history of crap she’d prefer to keep hidden.
“No,” she said.
He didn’t understand why his question bothered her, but the clipped tone of her voice told him it wasn’t something she wished to discuss. He waited for her to say something more, but she didn’t. A young woman’s cheers broke the silence between them when she sank her ball into the last cup.
Deciding to switch topics, he returned to something Melanie had been willing to discuss earlier. “What are you going to college for?”
“Social work. I’m on track to graduate at the end of the fall semester. I plan to get my masters afterward, but I’ll have to find a job and work my way through doing that.”
“That sounds interesting. Where do you want to work?”
“I’d like to either work in a school or with foster kids; I haven’t decided yet.”
It was only her home life and family she didn’t discuss, Kyle realized. He could work with that. Not everyone came from the happy household he did, so he saw no reason to push her for more details.
Her eyes slid to him and her mouth pursed as if she were fighting against something. Then, her shoulders sagged a little.
“What about you?” she asked. “What do you want to go to college for?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’m not sure school is for me. I mean, I liked high school, but it was never really my thing. I attended because it was expected of me and graduated for the same reason, but then I moved to Boston with my sister, got a job as a bartender, and I like doing it.”
“Then why are you thinking about college?”
He wasn’t really thinking about college, but he would attend if it meant getting closer to her. “It’s something to do.”
When his gaze ran over her, she gulped down some water to cool herself. She failed miserably.
Determined to keep herself distracted from leaning closer and kissing him, she tried to think of something else to say. She had so many questions for him; she tried to think of the safest ones to ask if they got turned back on her.
“I’m Kyle Byrne, by the way,” he said as he held out his hand. “I know we met before, but I don’t think I ever properly introduced myself.”
“Melanie Hall,” she said as she shook his hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Melanie.”
“You too, Kyle,” she said, and she meant it.
He released her hand, and they both turned their attention back to the yard and the flickering fireflies. “So, you live with your sister?” she asked after a couple of minutes.
“Not anymore. She recently moved in with her fiancé, but I still live with my older brother and his girlfriend, Aida.” Aida was so much more than a girlfriend to Julian, but he couldn’t tell her that. “What about you, any roommates?”
“I live with my friend Lucy.”
“On campus?”
“No, we have an apartment not far from here.”
“How long have you been friends with Lucy?” he asked.
“Most of my life.”
And without Lucy, she never would have survived the worst times of her life. That reminder was a cold dose of reality on what was turning into an amazing night.
She set her cup down and yawned before rising. She doubted she looked as casual as she was trying to act, but it was time to get out of here. “I should probably head home.”
“I’ll walk you.”
“Oh no, that’s okay; I’ll be fine.”
Kyle rose to stand beside her. “It’s late, and I’d like to make sure you get home safe.”
But am I safe with you? She’d seen enough true-crime TV—she was a bit too obsessed with watching stuff on serial killers—and she’d witnessed enough crazy in her life to have some serious trust issues.
However, she didn’t get any creeper, bad guy vibes off Kyle, but people thought Ted Bundy was a good guy too.
Still, as much as she preferred not to face any more questions, she wasn’t ready to say good night to him either. She’d had enough self-defense training over the years to hold her own, even against a guy who was almost a foot taller than her. And she also had a stake and some mace on her.
She didn’t think he’d try anything. She’d led a really screwed-up life until she turned eighteen, but it had also made her a good judge of character, and Kyle seemed like a truly decent guy. Which was why she should stay away from him, but for the first time in her life, she wanted to be a little selfish.
That might be the cheap tequila talking, but it sounded reasonable enough to her.
“Okay,” she relented. “I have to find Lucy before we go.”
“Lead the way,” he said and waved his hand at the back door.