Burning Daylight (Defying the Stars, #1)

by Emily McIntire

My only love sprung from my only hate, Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love is it to me That I must love a loathed enemy. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ROMEO & JULIET

“You won’t even tell me your name. You appear out of nowhere, in the middle of the woods, wearing baggy clothes and covered in tattoos.” I give him another once-over. “You definitely look like you’re hiding something.”

“You’re right. I do sound dangerous. Feel free to frisk me.”

“Guess I’ve got a lot of daylight to burn, then.”

“Once is still a small thing.” “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

“That’s oddly profound.”

“Winnie the Pooh sa...

“Leave it to a stuffed bear to make you sound enlightened.” “There it is.” He grins. “...

“It was so brief, I thought maybe I dreamed him up.” “Do you dream of me often?” he asks, eyes glinting. “That’s not what I meant.”

“God, you’re like a lost puppy,”

“Does that mean you’ll pet me if I’m a good boy?”

“Not that I’m complaining, but how do you know where I live?” I ask. “I saw you at the coffee shop,” she admits. “And…followed you.”

“So, you are stalking me.” “I am not stalking you.” “It’s okay, Princess. Really, I like it.”

“It feels, I don’t know, homey. Like Sleepytime tea or something.”

“Good. I’m territorial.” “What’s that mean?” “It means you’re mine.”

“Fate seems to love putting you in my hands, regardless.”

His sketchbook rests on his leg, one ankle slung over his opposite knee, and the tattoos on his arms flex with every stroke of his pencil. A lock of hair falls over his forehead, and he absentmindedly brushes it back, his tongue swiping against his bottom lip.

It's giving Leo in titanic

“Is this your thing? This blanket charm with every girl who stumbles through your door?” “You didn’t exactly stumble.” He looks up, amused. “You stalked; let’s not rewrite history.”

“Besides, I know about you,”

“Oh? And what could you possibly know?”

“I think you’re lonely.”

“When something’s out of your comfort zone, you lash out with insults, cross your arms, and do that little squint with your eyes like you’re trying to convince yourself you don’t care.”

“You chew on your bottom lip when you’re overthinking, you twist your fingers together when you’re nervous, and every single time you’ve smiled…like actually smiled in my presence, you look surprised, like you had forgotten what it felt like.”

“What is it about you?” he murmurs, his gaze dragging over me like he’s starving.

He tastes like trouble,

“You just said this was for the best.” “Yeah, well, you weren’t supposed to agree with me,” she snaps.

“Well, what the fuck do I look like, a mind reader?”

“God, this was a terrible idea,”

“We argue like a married couple.”

“You say that like you don’t start all the fights.” She groans. “...

“I’m glad you came to see me,” he says. “Little full of yourself, Trouble. How do you know I’m not here all the time?”

“Not likely.” “Why’s that?” “I’ve been coming here for years. If you had been around, I’d have noticed.” “Maybe you just didn’t see me.”

“Impossible.” “Is it?” “There’s no world that exists where I...

He glances both ways, then shifts us without a word, putting himself between me and the street.

“Rude.” I arch a brow. “What if I want to walk on your left?” He doesn’t look at me when he replies, “Then you’ll have to be mad about it from the safe side.”

“Roman Montgomery,” I murmur. “Why did it have to be you?” “I’ll be someone else, if it makes you forgive me.”

“Say you forgive me.” I glare at him. “No.” “You are mad.”

“Fine!” I half shout, and then repeat quieter, “Fine. I forgive you.” A beaming grin spreads across his face, and he easily pulls himself back up, throwing one leg over the railing and then the other until he’s standing right in front of me on my balcony. “I knew you cared.”

“Are you out of your mind? You could have killed yourself.”

you hate me, then I’m as good as dead, anyway.”

“Then we’re enemies.”

“You will never be my enemy.”

“Even if we have to pretend we are?”

There’s nothing good in my life…except when I make Juliette Calloway smile.

She’s… Well, I think she’s kind of everything.

“You’re my favorite secret, Juliette.”

“Flirting with you is the best part of my day.” My heart flutters.

“It’s so strange,” I admit. “What is?” “Seeing your art and feeling like you’re painting pieces of my soul.”

“And how would you write me?” Like he’s a light in the darkness, a northern star to my night.

“I think I’d paint you into everything.”