Page 7 of Serenade Me

Chapter Three

Anca

His breath is so close, so loud that it roars in my ears.

Except, it’s not his breath.

It’s my blood.

Rushing.

To my brain.

To my heart.

Up my neck and to my face.

Everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Loud. Deafening.

What did he just say?

I can see all the words flashing in front of my eyes, but none of them make sense.

And the smell of him… masculine but sweet, like a thick, syrupy, dessert wine.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before.

I hold my breath to stop inhaling it. It’s making my thought process short-circuit.

I shake my head, to try to get everything to settle back into place.

That was a mistake, I think, as the side of my neck bumps up against his lips and sends something like a shiver through my body.

But it’s not a shiver.

I refuse to let it be a shiver.

I refuse to believe it was a shiver.

A shiver is a sensation born of fear, of excitement, of lust.

It was definitely NOT a shiver

It was a, um, shudder.

Yes, shudder works better for me.

He still hasn’t moved.

But I can separate the heat of his breath from the blush of my cheeks now.

So, there.

You haven’t gotten the better of me yet.

I feel him shift, and pull away from me, stretching back up into a standing position. Was he always this tall? Yeah, Anca, he grew a foot in the last 25 seconds, the voice of sarcasm taunts me.