AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Love was a lie.
‘I don’t need to tell you about her,’ said the woman in green, slicing through the rage always ready beneath the surface to explode.
‘Why not?’
‘Because she’s here...standing in front of you,’ she said, pulling him out of his head and back into her eyes. ‘Do you want to tell me about your mother?’ she asked, and her words were...inviting.
‘No.’
He didn’t. He wouldn’t deny his grief, but share his memories...? Never.
‘I don’t want to talk at all,’ he finished, his heart thudding too loudly. His throat too dry.
‘Neither do I.’
A gust of wind picked up the ends of her hair and threw them into her eyes. He wanted to strip off his jacket and lay it around her shoulders. Warm her.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked, before he could stop himself. ‘Do you want me to protect you from the wind?’
Her lips parted. ‘How...?’
A sluggish warmth spilled through his every vein, lodging a heavy heat in his gut. ‘With my body.’
She moved into him, so close he could feel the whisper of her body against his. She placed her hand on his chest.
‘Like this?’
‘Do you think it is safe to play with strangers in the dark?’ he asked, his tone laced with amusement and his words accusing. Because he did not like what was happening. This woman’s touch was spiralling him into a moment where he couldn’t control his responses.
‘I’m not playing,’ she said.
‘Whatareyou doing?’
‘Choosing.’
‘Choosing what?’
‘To be present.’
‘Present?’ he repeated.
‘To be present in this moment.’
He felt lightheaded. Suspended in time—in this moment. Locked into the essence of another human being. He could hear every rasp of her breath. Feel the thud of her heart as her chest rose and fell.
He was present in a way he never had been before.
‘Whoareyou?’ he demanded.
Her lips curved. Not up. Not down. But it was a movement. ‘I’m not sure I can answer that.’
Her name didn’t matter, he told himself. Hotel security could take her. Rid him of his little interloper. And then he could tighten the leash on whatever this reaction was he was having to her. Remember who he was. Who he’d made himself into.
But he yearned for it.
For her name.
‘You don’t know your name?’ he asked, despite himself.
