page35 (2/2)

Matt watched her, his eyes bright, focused “You know she’s alive?”

“As far as I know” The old bitterness welled up in her, coloring everything in bleak shades of gray and black She put her hand to her chest, feeling the pounding of her heart

“You have no idea where she is?” he asked and she shook her head

As if he could read her, as if he knew her, he began the first part of “Für Elise,” thetheir cocoon against the world Thicker Denser

The music went on until it was just them, just this moment She didn’t want it to end

She shifted, her robe sliding open across her legs, which gleaers fuled to an end

Quickly, afire with sos under her She could feel hi her, like sun on her skin, and she was thrilled and slightly unnerved by his attraction

“Where’s your father?” she asked, filling the silence with the first thing she thought of

He said nothing, so she leaned around the edge of the chair to better see hi at her so hard it was as if he were trying to absorb her

His eyes glittered in the darkness, touched with so feral that called out to the buried wildness in her

She couldn’t breathe Didn’t want to if it would shatter this moment

The longer he watched her, the hotter the fire building in the room became until she couldn’t look away She couldn’t look ahen he stood and walked to her chair as though he owned the room The world Never in her life had she seen someone so masculine he practically prowled It made her feel small and feminine

Womanly and damp

He crossed the rooht, and she couldn’tTransfixed by the hard hot look in his eyes, her mind shut off

He stopped in front of the chair, his pant leg brushing the edge of her robe She should say so But she knehat he was doing and she wanted it

A kiss His lips against hers His breath on her skin