BETH IS A BEAUTIFUL FLOATING VISION. Her
black hair drifts on the surface of the water and the peaceful smile I love graces her lips. Her eyes no longer have their glazed guard. They are as calm and deep as the ocean. For the first time ever, Beth is letting me see her soul and if I had any doubts before, they’re gone. I’m in love with Beth Risk.
Beth blinks and the smile fades. Several
raindrops plop into the pond and the sound of the incoming storm taps against the trees. Beth sinks and I catch her before her head goes under.
“Let me go!” Her grip isn’t nearly as tight as I carry her onto the shore. The light rain becomes steady and quickly saturates my hair.
I place Beth on her feet and my heart
plummets. She’s slammed shut her walls.
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She pivots on her feet and darts toward
Scott’s tree line. Beth trusted me in the water.
She cares for me. I know it. The promise I made to her is forever—I will not let her go. I chase after her and grab her by her waist before she steps into the woods. “Dammit, Beth! Stop running from me!”
My pulse hammers through my body. She’s
been running from me from the moment I met her. No matter how hard I try to hold on to her, she finds a way to slip out of my grasp.
Not anymore. Not today.
Water streaks down her cheeks and her hair clings to her head. She shivers violently in the warm fall storm. I rub my hands up and down her arms.
“Let me go,” she again yells over the rain.
“No.” I move my hand to her cheek. Those
eyes that looked so peaceful moments before are crazy with panic. I want her to trust me. I want her to feel what I’m feeling. “I’m in love with you.”
“No! Please. Just don’t!” Her lower lip
trembles and she unsuccessfully smacks at the hand holding her waist.
“Tell me why you’re fighting me. What are HC TITLE-AUTHOR
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you scared of?”
Beth’s fingernails dig into the skin of my arm. “I’m scared of nothing.”
“I love you,” I say again and Beth’s panic rises in intensity. She pushes at my arms. The words scare her. She’s scared of love. “I love you, Beth.”
She raises her face and fire rages in her eyes.
“Stop saying that!”
“Why?” Without meaning to, I shake her
gently. I want her to say it back. “I’m in love with you. Tell me why I can’t say it to you.”
“Because you’ll leave!” she screams.
Beth’s chest heaves as if she ran a race. My hold on her tightens. Rain beats against the pond and the trees, creating a strange deafness from the world surrounding us.
“I couldn’t.” Never. Leaving her would be like tearing off my own arm. I’ve never been in love before. I thought I had been, but I wasn’t.
This overwhelming, encompassing feeling is love. It’s not perfect and it’s messy as hell. And it’s exactly what I need.
She steps back and the pouring rain makes it impossible to keep my grip on her slick arms, but I do my best to hold on. My heart aches.
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Beth’s doing it again. She’s walking away.
Desperation seizes my muscles. If she leaves, I’ll lose her for good and I can’t. Not when I just found her. “Don’t walk away from me.”
“I have a gypsy soul.” Beth yanks her hands out of my grasp and stumbles backward. “We won’t work.”
Why is she always slipping through my
fingers? “You’re the one leaving me. Not the other way around.”
She wraps her hands over her stomach as
she continues to walk backward. “I’m sorry.”
Anger erupts from deep inside and takes
control. I don’t lose and I won’t lose her. Beth turns and runs for the forest. She’s fast, but I’m faster. I grab Beth by the waist, yank her to face me, tunnel my fingers into her hair, and kiss her.
She tastes like fresh rain and smells like crushed roses. I don’t care that she’s not kissing back. I move my lips against hers and hug her body to mine. I love Beth and she needs to know that. Know it in her head. More importantly, know it in her heart.
Her fingers lightly tickle my neck as I taste her warm lips. She answers by hesitantly HC TITLE-AUTHOR
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kissing my lower lip. Beth tilts her head and we both open our mouths. Her tongue meets mine and I swear the world explodes around us. Her hands tangle in my wet hair and she presses her body into me. She roams my back, and my fingers hungrily touch the soft contours of her waist, then drift lower, gliding along the curves of her thighs. I won’t let her go. I won’t.
I love her.
Beth gasps for air as she pulls my head
closer to her body. My lips trail kisses down her neck and I savor each delicious taste of her skin.
Her hands slide to my chest, curl into fists, and she pushes me away as she takes a step back. “I can’t do this!” And she runs off into the rain.