Free The Stars Trilogy by Eve Montelibano Page B

about you?”
    Cruz let a few seconds tick by then he stepped aside and opened the door for her.
    She gave the guy a puzzled look and stepped inside the room.
    A man was standing beside Ben’s bed. A tall, Caucasian, well-built, handsome—
    The grocery bag slipped from her fingers.
    She stood there, rooted to the floor, her entire body paralyzed in shock, her mind screaming in hopeful disbelief.
     
    Dare wanted to roll his eyes. He was used to women going star stuck on him but he didn’t need to be having some groupie action in a freakin’ hospital today. And this pretty, little Asian sweet stuff was giving him a star struck act the likes he’d never seen before.
    Instead of shrieking like a cat in heat ready to jump him, she became pale as a ghost. She looked like she’d seen a ghost, too. Her eyes were wide with an emotion he couldn’t tell. Was it fear? Horror? Shock? She definitely didn’t look excited. Not even happy.
    Strange star struck reaction. Very strange.
    She was staring at him unblinkingly. Her beautiful, somewhat familiar eyes were riveted on him, searing him with some indefinable heat. His blushing days as a sexual novice ended almost two decades ago but the way this young woman was staring at him made his skin heat up in an alarmingly unusual way.
    Goose bumps.
    No fucking way.
    He couldn’t be feeling THIS.
    But his body was humming an unfamiliar song. His skin tingled, his pores rising in response to this powerful energy that suddenly surrounded him, forcing his innermost heat to come out. It was no skin deep effect. It went beyond the viscera.
    Something inside him opened up and began aching.
    Longing.
    A vulnerable state. A weakness he hadn’t felt in ages.
    He was horrified. Every cell in his body awakened to full alert. When he embarked on conquering Hollywood and the world a long time ago, vulnerable ceased to exist in his vocabulary. He’d killed that feeling to survive.
    He’d been a dominant predator for so long. His alpha hormones automatically switched to full offensive mode.
    He marked her on sight.
    She was his.
    His game.
    His kill.
     
    Celine had thought of all the possible scenarios, all the probable circumstances that would lead to this very moment, this most awaited moment of her life, when she was finally face to face with Dare Montgomery. She had practiced all the best lines and moves worthy of a master seductress to snare him right off the bat. But all of that went kaput the moment she saw him.
    Her mind became a vacuum. She couldn’t think. Her lips couldn’t form the simplest words. She could only stare at him.
    Then it all came back like a flood, almost bursting her skull, all her thoughts of this man in the past and present, the man she had been longing to see again for almost two decades.
    Her first crush.
    Her first love.
    Her destiny.
    He was there, right in front of her.
    For real.
    Her mind was back in action, screaming hysterically. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!!! Dare…Dare…Oh God, am I staring like an idiot!? Blink, Celine. But I can’t! He is here! In front of me. In this same room I’m in. I don’t want to blink. He may vanish if I blink…Oh God, please don’t play this trick on me. I can’t bear it if this isn’t real! This is real! That’s really him right there!
    “Celine, come,” Ben’s weak voice intruded into her frenzied thoughts.
    Ben…Oh Ben, yes! He’s in the room, too!
     
    “Ben…!” she squeaked, sounding like a distressed doe.
    This would be a very easy conquest, Dare thought with perverse anticipation. Now, wasn’t it a coincidence that she was Asian? Not pure-blooded Asian as evidenced by her slanted, amber eyes, dark brown hair and fabulous skin tone, but Asian nonetheless. Not Chinese or Japanese. Malay.
    He’d never had a Malay beauty.
    Desire manifested in his body.
    It was quick and unbidden.
    Alarmed, he held his breath to stop the sudden onslaught.
    To no avail.
    Seriously?!
    He cannot believe he was sporting a