Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
“This is amazing!” Starlight says from my shower.
I snicker and clutch the clean towel in my arms tighter and lean against the bathroom doorway. “It’s just water, Starlight.”
“Yes, I know, but like the snow, I have never seen it from below! I see rain fall from the clouds, but I do not get to see it hit the ground.” His face appears in the gap between the shower curtain and the wall. “Look!” He holds up two palms full of water like it’s diamonds.
I can’t stop my grin. “Wow. That is amazing.”
He scowls adorably and disappears. “I had no idea that there would be so much mud. I apologize for sullying your clothes.”
“No worries. It’ll wash out. So, hey, uh, like I mentioned earlier, I need to go into work today. You’re welcome to hang around here. You can go through all my stuff if you want. I don’t care. Or, I don’t know, I could show you how to use my laptop. You could listen to music or—”
The shower curtain is ripped open, Starlight standing naked and dripping before me.
“Oh!” I turn my face away, but the image of his perfect body is already burned on my brain.
The sight of him knocks the breath out of me.
I don't know if it's because he's not human or what, but I've never seen anyone so beautiful. I don’t know that I’ll forget those pecs, those abs, that Adonis belt for the rest of my life.
“Here you go.” I hold out the towel to him, his warm fingers brushing against mine as he takes it from me.
After what I think is enough time for him to dry off, I turn back to him as he’s knotting the towel around his waist in a slightly inefficient way that leaves him with an opening over one leg. At least he’s mostly covered.
“This is very soft,” he says, taking the edge of the towel between his fingers.
I laugh. “Right, well, enjoy, I suppose. I left some clothes for you on the bed.”
Like it's coming from another universe, a distant one, I hear the front door open and close.
“Mason?”
Starlight and I glance at each other, but instead of panic, like I know I'm wearing on my face, Starlight looks overjoyed, his mouth pulled into a huge grin.
“Is that Mackenzie?” he asks me, and then he's gone down the hallway.
“Wait! Star!”
At the end of the hall, he glances back at me, his eyes wide, and I think it's because I inadvertently gave him a nickname.
And then I hear Mackenzie scream, “What the fuck?”
I rush down the hall and stand in front of Starlight, blocking her view. “Hey,” I say casually, like I can convince her that she hallucinated the man behind me.
Her eyes are wide, and she has her fists up like she's preparing for a battle. As if Starlight would hurt her. I think the only fear would be him accidentally breaking a rib hugging her too hard.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, redirecting her attention.
And I think it works for a second. Her eyes go from Starlight, who is tall enough that he can surely be seen over my shoulder, to me. She can’t resist explaining herself. “You haven't been answering your phone,” she says, her voice high and incredulous.
She stands on her tiptoes to look behind me, but I block her view again.
“Yeah, sorry, I've been busy—”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she cuts in.
“Thank you for understanding. Let’s grab coffee tomorrow and catch up.” I take a step toward her to try and herd her toward the still-open door, but she ducks around me so I'm staring at the empty living room and she's behind me. Right in front of Starlight. I spin around.
“Who are you?” Mackenzie asks.
Starlight is grinning. And I think he might be glowing.
“I am Starlight,” he says. “You must be Mackenzie, Mason's sister.”
“Yeah, I'm Mason's sister,” she says distractedly. Her eyes are taking in all of him, and when they drop to the V of his waist that's disappearing into the towel, I step forward and give Starlight a gentle shove.
“Why don't you go put on some clothes, yeah?”
Mackenzie and I are watching out the window as Starlight carefully picks up leaves and inspects them. He hasn't discovered the squirrel yet at the base of the tree that's watching him. I'm kind of excited for the moment when he does.
“So, he fell from the sky…”
I cross my arms and glance over at her. “What, you think I’m lying? That he painted his skin the exact color of the sky?”
Her eyes shoot up to the sky and then back down to him, like she’s comparing.
He's discovered the squirrel. He straightens up to his full height, his hand going over his mouth like he’s trying to hide his smile.
A fondness spreads in my chest like warm wax.
“And, um, why exactly did you bring him here?”
That's a great question. “I guess it never occurred to me not to. I mean, it's sort of my fault that he's here,” I tell her. “At least, you know, the way he tells it. If we hadn't been messing around in the woods that day, he'd still be up there.”
“You're making a lot of assumptions about something you don’t understand.” She's probably right about that. “So, what are you going to do with him?”
“Well,” I sigh. “I have to figure out how to get him back somehow, but we've been a little distracted today.”
“Distracted how?”
My eyes slide over to hers at her tone. “Don't ask it like that.”
She shrugs. “What? I'm not asking in any way.”
“You're being suggestive.”
“I am not. It's just… you know, look at him.”
Oh, I'm looking. The guy has no interest in putting on a shirt, ever. And he's out in the snow, barefoot, in nothing but a pair of my swim trunks. He looks ridiculous, but also really hot.
“Okay, well, he's also the sky.”
She shrugs. “So? This is already a weird enough situation. Might as well make the most of it.”
I roll my eyes and turn away from the window. I can’t look at him while I chastise her. “Are you suggesting I fuck him?”
She throws her hands up. “I’m suggesting that you have fun with this very odd circumstance. I think he likes you.”
“You've known him for three minutes.”
She shrugs. “He looks at you like… I don't even know. Like you're made of glitter.”
“Because he’s never seen a human up close before. He’s fascinated by the leaves, for fuck’s sake.”
“He doesn't look at me like that.”
I can neither confirm nor deny that because I don't actually remember right now what he looked like when he looked at her, only that he was very happy to meet her.
But it doesn't matter. She's being insane, which I immediately tell her. “You're being insane. He is a supernatural creature. And I clearly fucked around and found out. And now I need to get him home.”
She nods, all of her joking gone. “Yeah, probably. But where to start?”
“I have some ideas, but I have to get to work. Do you think you could stay with him while I’m gone? I don’t want him to get lonely.”
She watches him out the window, her mouth turning down in a sympathetic expression. “Sure. We’ll have fun.”
I squeeze her shoulder. “Thanks so much, Mack. I don’t need to be gone long. I’ll be back before bed.” I turn and head for the door.
“You are leaving?”
I spin back around. Starlight is standing in the back doorway, looking at me like I told him I ran over his new squirrel friend. His face tugs at that fondness that’s settled in my chest.
Fuck. I don’t want to leave him.
But I have to.
“Just for a bit. I have to go to work, remember? But Mackenzie is going to hang with you while I’m gone.”
I honestly expected him to perk up at this. I thought he’d be just as happy to be with her as he is to be with me. But he doesn’t perk up. He just nods slowly.
Before I can talk myself into staying, I turn and leave.