Shiloh nearly leapt off
the sill as his hand touched her knee. It took every ounce of willpower she
possessed to remain seated and appear undaunted by the gesture. “I am…much
better now…thank you,” she said, becoming more unnerved by the presence of his hand
by the minute. Oh, this was not good, not good at all. The longer it remained there, the stronger her impulse
to bolt became. Oh, no…
What was it about this man that rattled her so and with so little
effort on his part? Sharing the same air with him was enough to send her pulses
to the moon—and her mind somewhere else, something new for her. Being this
attracted to a man was beyond her realm of experience. She didn’t know what to
do with it—or about it. Should she do anything? Should she pretend indifference?
And why wasn’t he so deeply affected?
It wasn’t fair.
Still confused, she gave
him a weak smile, intent on backing up her previous claim with the gesture. She
feared it failed miserably. When Micah returned her smile and lifted his hand
from her knee, she felt precisely one second of relief before he shook her
world again by caressing her face in parting. She stumbled
back against the frame of
the window, her lips parting on a startled breath as a lightning bolt shot
through her at his touch. Something flickered in his eyes at her reaction—pain,
perhaps—and he retracted his hand, balling it into a fist as he turned away
from her, preparing to depart.
In an instant, she
realized her mistake. Along with it came the knowledge she couldn’t let him go
away angry or upset. After everything he and his family had done for her, she
owed him that much. She grabbed him by the shirtfront to stop him, and a shock
of awareness shot from her hand directly into his heart, just beneath it. She
could see it in the gaze he leveled on her then, could hear it in his breath
trapped within his lungs, feel it
in the missed beat of his heart. But then, all sense abandoned her, and her heart skipped a beat as he held her hand firmly to his
chest with one of his own and lifted the other to her head, anchoring it
against the window frame. Slowly, his eyes never straying from hers, he leaned
across the space separating them. His lips brushed hers, like a whisper, before
he withdrew, tilted his head to the side, and advanced again. This time the
kiss was fuller, penetrating her every defense, both physical and emotional,
but still not long enough for her. He retreated once again after a fraction of
time and hovered before her, scarcely an inch away. Watching her. Waiting.
Her heart beating a
frantic tempo now, Shiloh abandoned all of her reservations and her good sense
to swoop in for a more vigorous kiss. So vigorous, in fact, she knocked him off
his perch through the open window. Only quick reflexes honed to perfection at
the Institute prevented her from tumbling after him.
Bracing herself against
the sill, she leaned out the window as far as she was able and watched his
descent from the slanted roof to the ground below. She lost sight of him the
moment he slid beyond the reach of the light from her window. But then she
heard him land with a thud —and a howl—on the ground in front of the back porch
when he failed to catch himself on the roof edge. She clasped a hand over her
mouth to silence her reaction and waited. When he didn’t rouse right away,
panic shot through her and she leaned out another few inches.
“Micah? Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he answered after
a few moments, appearing beyond the overhang of the roof as if to prove it to
her. “Nothing hurt but what’s left of my pride.”
Relief coursed through her
at his statement, and she allowed herself the laugh she’d literally held back
before. Her mirth was cut short, however, by his next words.
“Hey, Shiloh! We’ve got to
stop falling for each other like this.”
His laughter followed her
as she ducked back into the room. She could still hear it even after she closed
the window, though not as well. Oh, Lord. She
rested against the cool pane of glass and touched her still-tingling lips with
shaky fingers. Was she? Falling for
him? Was that what this crazy-mad feeling inside of her was?
The question plagued her
long into the night.
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