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what you want? Somebody just turned up the serious meter in the room. The pressure to say what he wanted to hear made me squirm in my seat. I shrugged and looked down at the floral design on my silverware. Seriously? Another floral design? What is it about this town and flowers? I don t know. What does any girl want? Someone to love her, security, a rewarding job, kids& someday& and fun, a girl s gotta have some fun too. Really? John raised an eyebrow. I laughed. What - is that so hard to believe? No, no. It s not that. It s just& maybe a little cliché, that s all. Maybe, but that doesn t change the fact that it is something most women want. And men too, I would imagine. When I see something I want, I go for it. I take it. John s eyes lit up. I mean, you can t expect any one else to do it for you. You have to reach your goals yourself. Anyway, that s been my experience. Nothing was ever handed to me. I had to work hard for everything I have accomplished. No golden spoon in my mouth I m afraid. I paused. Was there too much of an edge in my voice? I mean, I m not bitter about my life. My lot in life wasn t the best for a while there, years ago. It wasn t my mom s fault, she has a disease. Well anyway, that s just the way I see things. You are wise and beautiful beyond your years and I agree. You re absolutely right. We have to be responsible for our own fortune, as well as our own actions. We can t blame society for our misfortune. We have to make our life better ourselves, not expect that God, the government or even our parents should do that for us. Hell yeah, that s what I m talking about. I giggled as I heard the harsh words spill out of my mouth. The wine was giving me false confidence. John took another sip and exhaled. So Hanna, what else did you do today besides getting new highlights? I cringed. The events of the afternoon had stirred up some bad memories that I had no intention of revealing to him. Nothing much, I lied. John leaned forward and tilted his head. What s wrong? You look all serious. Did something happen? I sighed. What the hell. I could tell him what happened. Remember that guy at the bar the night we met? John nodded. I was babysitting Michele for an hour today when he showed up at the house. His eyes narrowed to blue slits. Why would the asshole from the bar show up at Emma s house? Turns out, he s Emma s ex-husband, Michele s father, and he came to take Michelle to a movie. John stared at me in complete surprise. That s a coincidence. What did you do? I told him there was no way in hell he was taking Michelle out of that house and he got pretty mad about it. But I just couldn t let him take her. Apparently, he just got out of prison and Emma has a restraining order against him. A restraining order? That s some serious shit. Yeah, something about him threatening her a month ago. John sat up straight in his chair. A muscle flicked angrily in his jaw and his gaze drifted to the side. God, I knew there was something off about that guy. His eyes flicked back to me. Weren t you afraid of what he might do to you when you said no? I wasn t really thinking. All I knew was I had to protect Michelle. I threatened to call the police and he finally left, but not before smashing my phone. I pulled it out and examined the broken glass, tracing over the crack with my finger. John s eyes caught and held mine and then he spoke with quiet firmness. If that dude as much as touches a hair on any of you, he ll regret it for the rest of his life. I promise you that. Thanks, but Emma doesn t think he ll be back. He would risk going back to prison. She said it was pretty intense in there for him, the harassment from the inmates. He got depressed. It nearly killed him when he was doing time. I could see those twitchy muscles in his jaw had relaxed and he sat quiet for a while, staring, as if appraising me intently. You know, you can take a picture. It will last longer. I looked down at the table, feeling a little blood rush to my cheeks. He snorted. There you go with the cliché s again. I was just thinking of how much you intrigue me. You re not at all what I thought you would be when I first met you. I hope that s a good thing, I replied. His expression softened and he nodded. It s a very good thing. I like you& a lot. He reached out and his fingertips brushed my forearm, sending a warm shiver through my body. Then he retracted his hand as if he thought his advance was unwanted, but secretly, I wanted him to keep going. He gave a directional nod head toward the window. It s pretty warm out tonight. How about taking a walk with me down on the beach? His clear blue eyes were direct and the pull was getting stronger. He radiated a vitality that drew me in like a magnet. I d love to, I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat. I mean& that s exactly what I was thinking. After finishing our wine and John paid the bill, leaving a generous tip, we stepped outside in the warm summer night. The beach was only a few hundred yards from the restaurant, so we left his motorcycle parked there and walked. When we got to the edge of the sand, I slipped off my heels and struck out, pushing my toes deep into the soft grains as I went along. Halfway to the water, I stopped and spun around, gazing down at John s riding boots. You re not really the beach type are you? I asked, dryly. John dropped his gaze to his boots also. Is it that obvious? Kind of, but that s okay. None of us are perfect. I wrinkled my nose and tucked my hair behind my ear. The breeze was gentle and it whipped long strands of my dark hair around my face. With a deliberately casual movement, John drew a step closer to me and slipped his arm around my waist. He pulled me to his side and we walked together along the beach, the warm air sprinkled with bursts of conversation. John picked up a flat stone and threw it towards the sea, making it jump several times on the surface of water before it plummeted to the depth of the ocean. It s not that I don t like the beach. I love it, the warmth of the sun, the balmy breeze and the sound of the waves. But lying on a beach towel just to get a tan is a waste of time. There are a million other things I d rather be doing. You know what I mean? I nodded. I don t care much for tanning either. I guess you can tell by my skin color. Yeah, are you going for the vampire look? What happened? You said you wanted to get a tan while you were here. Oh, right. I guess I just got too busy helping Emma renovating her Bed and Breakfast to hit the beach, I chuckled. Hmm, I m glad. I like you just the way you are, beautiful and fair. He turned to face me and stopped. He brushed his hand up my bare arm and looked down at me. He stepped so close there was little space between our bodies. I tossed my head to move the hair out of my face and tingles of excitement flitted across my skin where his hand had touched it. The last slanted yellow-orange rays of the evening sun were upon us as I stood frozen, yet melting, under the intense gaze of his blue cobalt eyes. Caressing my cheek with the knuckles of his forefingers, I closed my eyes and let the silence envelope us. I swore I heard the pounding of my heart outside of my body. He tipped his forehead to mine and I felt the warmth of his breath on my skin as he parted his lips. They were so close to mine, yet not touching. He continued stroking my cheek, waiting, hesitating, as if he wasn t sure. My brain screamed out, kiss me. I m not Hanna, I ll tell you everything, just kiss me, I m Dani and I want you to kiss me. [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |