I look up with him, surveying all the stairs. “You ready for a butt workout?”
“Never say no to training your glutes,” Klein jokes, starting on the stairs ahead of me.
The lights mounted on the walls give off a yellow-orange hue. During the day when the sun shines, the sunlight filters in through the top.
At the moment I don’t have a preference over electric versus natural light. I’m a friend of any light that allowsme to appreciate the fantastic ass two stairs in front of me.
“Do you go to the gym?” I’m trying to keep my tone light, offhand, as if I’m just making conversation.
“My apartment complex has a pretty decent gym. I use that, and then playing soccer helps.” He pauses to glance back at me, smirking. “Why? Do you like what you see?”
“It would be hard not to see it,” I grumble. “Since it’s all up in my face right now.”
We stop at the third landing. Klein motions to the next set of stairs. “Would you like to go first? I’m more than happy to stare at your ass.”
A smile pushes at my lips. “Actually?—”
A crash of thunder bangs into my sentence. I screech, throwing myself into Klein’s arms. I’m not afraid of storms, but that was louder than anything I’ve ever heard.
“It’s okay, Paisley,” Klein soothes, rubbing my back.
“Sorry,” I step back, getting my bearings. “Thunder doesn’t usually bother me, but I felt that one in my bones.”
“It’s probably because we’re inside here. There isn’t anywhere for the sound to travel.” Klein peers up at the top of the lighthouse. “We don’t have to keep going, if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” I insist. “I’ve never been to the top during a storm.”
“After you,” he gestures.
I take the lead. After two flights, Klein says, “For somebody whose legs are shorter than mine, you seem to cover the same distance as me.”
“I put my head down and power through.”
“Kind of what you’re doing here. At the wedding.”
Huh. Insightful. “I guess you’re right about that.” I stop suddenly, pivoting on the stair. Klein freezes, two stairs down and nearly the same height as me. “But I don’t think I’m putting my head down and powering through as much as I would be if you weren’t here. You make all of this feel less… sharp.”
“Sharp?”
“Yeah. It hurts less.” Maybe even not at all. In fact, I think it might be enjoyable. I like having him around, showing him what I love about the island. And the tension between us? It’s intoxicating.
“Well, Ace,” he offers a half-bow. “I am at your service.”
“That”—I lean closer, our noses separated by only a few inches—“is a place I think I like having you in.”
I half-spin on the stairs, going the rest of the way up without stopping.
“Wow,” Klein breathes in appreciation as he emerges through the small rectangular cutout and onto the top floor. “This is...wow.”
“Cape Fear,” I point east.
Klein joins me at the window, looking out at the darkened water. “Everything is lush. The treetops, so deep and green. Even the water. It’s like a grayish-blue without the sun making it sparkle.”
I like how he sees the world and describes it, and the tone of wonder in his voice as he does so. This is a man who is not afraid to feel awe. And even better, to show it.
The sky rumbles. Raindrops fall harder, tapping the outside of the lighthouse. The air inside is dank, the cobwebs in the corners moving with the breeze as it whips through.
My gaze lowers back to Klein, and I find he is already looking at me. The bruised sky makes his green eyes darker. His tongue slips out to run over his upper lip, then retreats, and he swallows. Hard. The undulation of his throat flips a switch inside of me. Thoughts of running my tongue over his Adam’s apple consume me. I’m flummoxed by how attracted I am to this man. All of me wants to touch all of him. It’s not just his body, either. It’s his mind, the way he thinks. His heart.
