4. Excerpt
359 Words
Excerpt
Her eyes were round and shining. Emerald darkened to moss as she pondered his question. He held her body against his, not letting go, fearful that she would run. He wasn’t going to let her go. Anywhere.
A breeze stirred her hair. Burning strands glinted around her face, springing free from the ponytail. She looked unsure and wild and beautiful all at the same time. It was almost too much to bear. This wanting. This knife-edge. Knowing how much he was in love with her.
Love – was that was this feeling was? The need to protect, cherish, share. To accept who she was for now and forever. Was it the feeling that when she was with him, he was that better person he always wanted to be? Or was it that feeling that made him so complete, because knowing what life was without her had let him see just how empty his days had been? Was it knowing that if anything happened to her, it would cut him like a knife? Was it knowing that she might love him back – just a little.
How did she feel about him? He’d never been so uneasy in his life. Never had he hung by a thread, holding someone he so desperately wanted in his arms, but still might not be able to have. So close, yet so far.
An erratic pulse ticked at the base of her throat as she stared at him. So still and unmoving. It was her eyes that kept him riveted to the spot. Eyes that showed her emotions like they played out on a screen.
Hesitation. Fear. And … hope. His heart jumped as he recognised and placed her thoughts. He would not win the woman in his arms with the first two emotions, but her hope became his. She swallowed. Hard. He couldn’t move, didn’t want to, just in case it might scare her and make her bolt away. He just let her think and kept her imprisoned in his arms.
Where she belonged.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. Her tongue ran along her lower lip, trailing wet and warm. When she looked back into his eyes, he knew her answer.
- Writer
