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An Excerpt From: IN DARKNESS
© Copyright ELISE ADAMS, 2004.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave, Inc.
He remembered everything.
The heated touch of her
hand. The soft caress of her lips brushing his jaw. The feel of her sweat-soaked
skin sliding against his. The way she moaned when she came, her fingernails
cutting into his shoulders. Every second of every time they’d made love had
been burned into his brain.
He couldn’t forget. Didn’t want
to. But at the same time, his memories ate him up inside. Why had he walked
out on her so long ago? He’d had his reasons—which he thought had been
valid at the time. Now that he looked back, he realized how selfish he’d
been. How noble of him to want to protect her from himself. Where
had it gotten him?
Where had it gotten her?
Nowhere. When they’d met,
she’d been so full of promise, a talented painter with high expectations of
herself and everyone around them. She’d planned to be somebody. Someone important.
What had happened to those dreams? Had his leaving been the cause? Or was
it something else? He wasn’t so vain as to think she hadn’t lived in the
years before he’d found her again, though the idea of her dating other men—sleeping
with other men—made a knot of anger twist in his gut. Irrational, since
he’d given up all claims to her ten years ago, but there nonetheless. He
knew about her brief marriage—had found her and started watching over her
just after her divorce—but how many other men had there been in her life?
It didn’t matter. Nothing
did anymore, except getting her back.
He sat in the dark corner of
the bar, his gaze locked on her as she worked. She’d cut her blonde hair
short. It barely brushed her shoulders and fell in soft layers his fingers
itched to touch. Her skin was still the same creamy, pale color he loved so
much. Her eyes still haunted his dreams to this day…eyes the blue of the
ocean in the dead of winter, too dark for a woman with such fair coloring,
but striking in an exotic way. Mesmerizing. It had been those dark, knowing
eyes that had first caught his attention all those years ago.
They still captured him in
his dreams at night.
Her short black skirt
swished around her thighs as she brought customers their drinks. The smile she
gave a bar patron reached Jace from across the room, and he couldn’t help
the icy jealousy that sliced through him. She didn’t smile for him.
Not anymore. He sighed. He’d done nothing to deserve her smile. He’d only
managed to chase it away, at least in the end. She wouldn’t welcome him
back with open arms, but maybe she’d accept his reasons once he had a
chance to explain himself.
A rowdy, drunken fool
grabbed for her, giving her a pat on the ass as she walked by. Unacceptable.
He gave a silent cheer when Felicia turned, her face screwed up in
aggravation, and issued what looked like some kind of a threat. Good
girl. She’d always been able to take care of herself.
If this had been another
time, another place, he would have felt the need to fight for her honor.
But times had changed since the days of his youth, in so many ways, and
Felicia no longer belonged to him. Breaking the other man’s neck—no matter
how much he might enjoy it—wouldn’t impress her. Wouldn’t win her back.
And that was exactly what he
intended to do.
Tracking her down had been
easy, once he’d finally realized he didn’t want to spend any more time
without her. She hadn’t left the area where they’d met. Had been working as
a secretary in a small legal office at the time, living in a small
apartment a block away from where she worked.
Of course, he’d checked up
on her every couple of years. In the time they’d been apart, she’d
graduated college, married and divorced, and moved all the way across the
country from Connecticut to Oregon three years
ago. He’d followed, but he hadn’t let her know. He’d watched her silently
from dark corners and shadows, hiding himself from her, but there in case
she ever needed help. Being the strong woman she was, she’d never needed
him. But over time, he’d come to a realization.
He needed her.
Using a lifelong talent, he
opened his mind just enough to let her sense him. His mind slid into a
connection with hers almost immediately, effortlessly, as if ten years and
many miles hadn’t separated them at all. Longing, love, pain, and regret
welled in him, the emotions almost too strong to take. He willed himself to
remain calm or he would alert her to his presence too soon. He stayed
silent for a few minutes as he reveled in the feel of being with her again.
For an endless minute, he let himself float on the soothing tide of what
had once been their love. When the warm sensations of their connection
started to grow and morph into something stronger, he spoke into her mind.
Felicia.
Her spine stiffened and she
snapped her gaze around the room, hearing him but not yet seeing him. From
the dark expression on her face, he guessed she’d want to kill him as soon
as she found him. He smiled to himself. He had always loved that
independent streak in her. If he had to be honest with himself, he loved her.
He’d never been willing to admit that before, not out loud, not to her, but
now everything had changed. He had changed. No longer the selfish
ass he’d been when they had first met, he wanted to show her just how good
things could be between them now. He wanted to shower her with love, with
passion. If he judged by the fire in her eyes and the red splotches on her
cheeks, she wanted to shower him with knives and daggers.
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