Chapter 4 - The One She Could Not Forget
1472 Words
Elena thought about Adrian Thorne all the way home.
It irritated her.
Not because she disliked him.
She didn't.
Quite the opposite.
That was precisely the problem.
She put her key into the lock and stood there for a moment, her hand resting on the door handle.
She should have been thinking about the expedition.
About the areas that had been closed off for generations.
About the botanical regions she would be documenting.
About the plants she might find.
She should have been thinking about everything that lay ahead.
Instead, she thought about his hand.
Elena closed her eyes.
It had been a touch.
Nothing more.
A handshake.
An ordinary handshake between two people meeting for the first time.
And yet she could still feel it.
The warmth of his palm.
His fingers around hers.
The way he hadn't let go immediately.
She opened her eyes.
"It was just a handshake."
The apartment didn't answer.
That was one of the things Elena liked about it.
She unlocked the door.
She placed her portfolio on the table.
She didn't toss it down.
Elena rarely tossed anything.
She set it down carefully, straightened it slightly, and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on for tea.
It was a habit.
Tea first.
Thoughts afterward.
That was what she had always believed.
But today, it didn't work.
She stood with one hand wrapped around her cup and stared out through the window.
The rain had started again.
Small drops slid down the glass.
Elena followed one of them with her eyes.
It moved slowly.
Without hurry.
Winding between the others until, eventually, it disappeared.
She thought about Adrian's gaze.
Dark.
Calm.
Attentive.
It hadn't been an ordinary look.
She didn't know how to explain it.
But she had felt it.
When she had reached out her hand.
When their fingers had met.
When he had looked down at their hands.
And then back up at her.
Elena drew a slow breath.
She could still see it.
His face.
The slight tension in his jaw.
The way he had breathed.
As if something had surprised him.
She set her cup down.
It was ridiculous.
She barely knew him.
Even if she wanted to convince herself that there had been something in his gaze, something in the way he had touched her hand, it was still absurd. Elena was twenty-eight years old. Adrian Thorne was forty-three. He wasn't interested in a woman fifteen years younger than him. Not in the way she kept imagining.
She had met him once.
Once.
And already, her thoughts were behaving as if she had developed a new obsession.
She walked over to the table and opened her computer.
It would be better to work.
She pulled up the preliminary information.
Maps.
Notes.
A few old reports.
Areas within Adrian's territory that had not been open to ordinary expeditions for many years.
Elena read the first page.
Then the second.
On the third, she realized she had read the same paragraph three times.
She closed her eyes.
“It will become a part of our history.”
His voice came back to her.
Dark.
Calm.
Almost too calm.
Elena opened her eyes again.
She hadn't meant anything special by her question.
She had simply asked whether the assignment was more than just an assignment.
And he had answered as if the words meant something.
As if they mattered.
Her gaze drifted down over the map.
The mountains.
The forests.
The rivers.
The places no one had seen for generations.
She should have been looking forward to traveling there.
And she was.
But another thought followed immediately after.
He's going with us.
Elena leaned back in her chair.
It wasn't an important detail.
It was a practical detail.
He was the Alpha.
It was his territory.
Of course he would be going.
And yet she felt something warm spreading through her body.
She shifted restlessly in her chair.
"No."
She said it aloud.
As if someone had asked her a question.
She turned back to the document on the screen.
Tried to read.
It didn't work.
She thought about his laughter.
That was the worst part.
It had surprised her.
A dark, warm sound that had made something in her chest loosen.
She hadn't expected him to laugh.
He didn't seem like a man who laughed often.
And perhaps that was exactly why she wanted to hear it again.
Elena placed a hand against her throat.
She didn't know why she did it.
Perhaps because she could still feel his gaze there.
It had only lasted a moment.
His eyes had moved over her throat.
Not for long.
But long enough.
She remembered it.
And her body remembered it too.
Warmth began to gather deep inside her.
Elena went still.
She pulled her hand away.
No.
That wasn't—
She closed her eyes.
His voice.
His hands.
The calm way he had said her name.
She could almost hear it.
“Elena.”
She pressed her thighs together.
The small movement did nothing to lessen the feeling.
If anything, it made it worse.
She could feel her pulse between her legs.
She opened her eyes.
"This is absurd."
She stood up quickly.
Too quickly.
The chair scraped lightly against the floor.
Elena walked over to the window.
The floor was cool beneath her bare feet.
She opened it.
Rain struck her face.
The cold air should have helped.
It didn't.
She stood with her hands against the windowsill and drew a deep breath.
She could still feel the warmth in her body.
She could still see his face.
And now it was worse.
Because her imagination had been allowed to interfere.
She imagined his hand.
Not as it had been during the handshake.
But closed around hers.
His fingers.
His warmth.
His thumb slowly moving over her skin.
Elena closed her eyes.
A small gasp escaped her lips.
She opened her eyes again.
It was only a thought.
A foolish thought.
A thought about a man she had met once.
But her body didn't seem interested in how foolish the thought was.
She could feel the warmth between her thighs.
The soft pressure.
The growing sensitivity.
Elena swallowed.
She should stop.
Instead, she remained where she was.
Fresh air and raindrops caressing her face.
And a heat she couldn’t cool.
Later, she lay in her bed.
She had tried reading.
It hadn't helped.
She had tried drawing.
That had been even worse.
At one point, she had realized she had drawn a hand.
A large hand.
Long fingers.
Strong knuckles.
She had stared at it for several seconds.
Then she had torn the page out.
Now she lay beneath the covers with her eyes closed.
And thought about Adrian.
She thought about his voice.
His smile.
The way he had looked at her.
As if he had been trying not to look.
As if he had wanted to do something he shouldn't.
Elena turned onto her side.
She could feel her own pulse.
She drew a deep breath.
It was just a handshake.
But her body no longer responded to words.
She lifted her hand.
Hesitated.
It had been a long time since she had done something simply for herself.
A long time since she had allowed herself to feel without trying to understand why.
She closed her eyes.
And imagined his gaze.
That was enough.
Warmth spread through her.
She let her fingers move slowly over her own skin.
A small sigh escaped her lips.
She thought about his hand.
His voice.
His body close to hers.
About what might have happened if he hadn't pulled away.
If he had stayed.
If he had turned toward her.
If he had said her name again.
“Elena.”
Her breathing grew heavier.
She buried her face in the pillow.
Tried to stay quiet.
But she couldn't keep the thoughts away.
She imagined his gaze.
The way he had looked at her as if she were something he wanted to taste.
As if he could devour her.
As if his calm control was something he was holding onto with both hands.
Elena closed her eyes tighter.
Her fingers moved slowly.
Carefully.
But her body was no longer careful.
She could feel the warmth building.
Her heart beating faster.
A moan escaped her.
Low.
Almost silent.
She bit her lip.
And then his name came out.
"Adrian."
She froze.
As if she had only just heard herself.
The silence in the room suddenly seemed enormous.
Elena lay completely still.
Her heart pounding.
She had said his name.
She had actually said it.
She pulled the covers over her face.
"Oh, no."
But a small smile appeared anyway.
And far away, in a territory she had never yet seen—
a wolf lifted its head.
- Writer
