Burning Daylight (Defying the Stars, #1)

by Emily McIntire

“Don’t call me princess,” I snap. “Whatever you want…Princess.”

I love him already

“Fine, don’t tell me. What’s in a name, anyway?”

“See you when you come back.” “You’ll be waiting a while.” “Guess I’ve got a lot of daylight to burn, then.”

I don’t go back to Upside Down Rock the next day. Or the next. I do, however, spend way too much time looking for trouble in an ocean of familiar faces. But I don’t see him again.

“I hate you,” she says.

“Anything involving you and me is a good idea.”

“I like that,” I blurt like an idiot. She quiets, sending me a questioning look. “You like what?” “Your laugh.”

“I don’t normally do this, you know?” she says. The corner of my mouth lifts. “Good. I’m territorial.” “What’s that mean?” “It means you’re mine.”

“It doesn’t matter what your name is,” I finally reply. “Fate seems to love putting you in my hands, regardless.”

“You need to come home. For good.”

Oh shit

“There’s no world that exists where I wouldn’t see you.”

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

“You will never be my enemy.”

Immediately, she’s lost in her own world. I pretend I’m doing the same with my drawings, but to be honest, I can’t stop watching her. 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.”

“I’ve told you. I don’t really write love stories.” Lie. I’ve written about us for years.

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

“That sketchbook’s the east,” he whispers. “And you, Juliette, are the sun.”

“A detailed explanation of the corruption by the Calloways.” “Okay…” I wait for him to clarify more, but he doesn’t. He just stays still and silent like he’s waiting on me to put things together for myself, which is difficult to do when I have zero moving pieces. “I want you to paint it on the walls of this town.” Something sparks to life in his gaze. My face contorts in surprise. “You…want me to tag?” “Sometimes the best message is delivered by a faceless ghost. And sometimes the best way to take down an empire is when you give people a sprinkle of doubt and let it fester.” He pauses, licking his lips. “Sometimes to get rid of the rot, you have to rip everything out from the roots and start fresh.”

“Try to touch her again, and I don’t give a fuck who your dad is, or whether you own this place, you’ll be leaving in an ambulance.” Art blanches. Felicity practically swoons right out of her chair. “You heard him, Art. Get fucked.” “Felicity.” He gives a tight grin to her. “Always the opposite of a pleasure to see you.” She smiles back and tips her drink toward him. “Choke and die, Arthur.”

Lol

“Don’t saints have lips, too?” She nods, placing her hands together. “Ones they use to pray.” I move closer until the tips of my shoes touch hers, and my skin prickles from the proximity. “I’m praying to kiss you.”

“That tasted like a sin, not a prayer,”

“Then give me my sin again,”

wish we could be more, Roman.” “We are more, Juliette.”

“You will never be my enemy,”

And I know it right then, surer and steadier than I’ve ever known anything. I love her.

“Yeah, Trouble. I’ll go anywhere with you.”

“I wake up every day and try to remind myself you’re off-limits. That you’re a Calloway, and I’m a Montgomery, and it’s not possible for me to touch you, or want you, or imagine how good it would feel to wake up next to you.” My eyes burn and my fists clench at my sides. “So why say it, then? It just makes everything harder.” He exhales slowly. “Because I’m tired of pretending like I don’t feel you in everything I do.”

“And with her kiss, I die.”

“I told you, Juliette. I’m going to paint you into everything.”