Cassie stared helplessly at her. She wished she could understand what was going on, why this man made her feel so strange and excited and frenzied. She desperately wished that she could go back in time, wished that she had never come to B’s and S’s tonight. She wished for many, many things, but none of them were going to come true within the next minute. And even if they did come true, she had the unsettling feeling that he still would have found her. That he still would have walked into her life.
That realization did nothing to ease the tight knot of anxiety crushing her chest.
No matter how much she didn’t want to, she had to face this. Whatever this was. She had never run from anything before, no matter how much she wanted to, and she was not about to start now. No, she was not a coward, but she was shaking like a leaf.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders, and faked a bravery she did not feel as she fell into step beside Melissa. Melissa’s gaze was steady upon her, but she didn’t ask any questions. Chris moved beside them, a dark look in his eyes as he continued to shoot Cassie disgruntled looks. For someone that was so good at reading people, he was frustratingly oblivious to her emotions right now. Clenching her hands tight, her nails dug into her palms as they moved swiftly toward the corner of the building.
Though she tried hard to fight it, her gaze was drawn back to the stranger as surely as a magnet was drawn to metal. He stood silently amongst the shadows, but the light from B’s and S’s was enough to highlight his perfect, hard features. The world seemed to slow again, fading away, blending into nothingness as his presence filled her universe.
Like a black hole, she could not resist falling into him, becoming lost to him as she was sucked in. He was the moon, and she wanted to gravitate toward him as she became trapped within his fierce, compelling pull. And like the moon with the earth, she needed him to survive. And she wanted him! Slowly the hollowness inside her began to mend itself again, she became whole once more. It was right, she was right in a way that she hadn’t been in so long. He healed all of the hurt and loss and confusion that had been enshrouding her, choking her.
Suddenly she couldn’t recall why she would even want to fight against the strong draw he had over her. Couldn’t recall why she shouldn’t just throw herself at him right now. No matter how pathetic and crazy it would be. For some strange reason she was certain that he would not deny her, that in fact he would eagerly accept her in his arms.
He was magnificent, his face hard and beautiful all at once. His strong jaw and firm mouth were clenched together, a muscle twitched in his cheek as his emerald eyes blazed into hers. His wavy black hair was wind tossed and disheveled as it fell around his chiseled face. The boyishness of his tussled hair added an almost vulnerable air to him that she was sure he did not possess.
Shifting slightly, his lithe muscles flexed and flowed fluidly beneath his jacket and the tight black t-shirt he wore. He reminded her of a dark panther, lurking within the shadows, hunting its prey. For that brief moment she truly enjoyed the fact that she seemed to be his prey. It became difficult to breathe through the anticipatory constriction in her chest; her skin tingled with the fierce urge to touch him.
“Hey,” Chris greeted, nodding to the stranger. Chris slowed slightly, his head tilted to the side as he studied the man curiously, apparently trying to get a read on him.
The man nodded back, but his gaze didn’t leave hers. Cassie could not stop herself from slowing her pace, her body tensed as she moved past. She had to force herself not to stop, not to reach out and touch him, not to run her fingers through that thick, tempting hair. Her body was alive with electricity; her nerves sparked and fired, thrumming with her fierce desire to feel him.
For a moment she thought that he was going to touch her as he moved subtly again, his body coming within centimeters of hers. Every molecule inside her screamed for his touch, she needed his touch. Though the two of them did not make contact, she could still feel the warmth of his skin against hers. Instinctively, she knew that to touch him would be the most exquisite thing she would ever experience.
She had never imagined that she would feel like this about someone. She had never thought it was possible to be this lost, and found, all at once. And she had been found. He had found her, and he was not going to let her go. The thought was frightening, as was the certainty that immediately followed it.
“Cassie! Cassie!”
The call of her name was like a bucket of ice thrown onto her. It slammed her harshly back to reality. The strange spell shattered around her, snapping her head around as her gaze focused upon Marcy. For the first time, Cassie was actually thankful for Marcy’s obsessive, overeager ways. She needed a reprieve from the stranger in order to gather her wits again, and calm the racing of her fiercely pounding heart.
Marcy thrust a piece of paper at her as she came to an abrupt halt in front of Cassie. Her leaf green eyes were bright and enthusiastic as she grinned up at Cassie, her pretty face aglow in the light coming from the restaurant. “My cell number, call me later so that we can go over some ideas.”
Cassie stared at the paper, unable to fully form a coherent response. She managed a brief nod as she shoved it into her pocket. “Hey Marcy,” Chris greeted, nodding to her as he grinned brightly.
Marcy turned five shades of red, a bashful smile spread across her lips as she ducked her head. Chris’s grin grew even wider; he folded his arms over his chest and rocked back slightly on his heels. Melissa rolled her eyes, shoving at him as she pushed him forward a step. “You can flirt some other time,” she muttered, soft enough so that Marcy couldn’t hear.
“Tomorrow,” Marcy said quickly before hurrying away.
Cassie glanced briefly back at the man, not surprised to find his gaze still focused intently upon her. She thought that she should be unnerved, or even a little frightened by his intense scrutiny of her, she wasn’t. In fact, she was still thoroughly excited and entranced by it. She found herself unable, and unwilling to move for a moment, but Chris tugged her sharply forward, his displeasure with her still apparent. The man quirked a dark eyebrow at her, but other than that he remained completely still.
She allowed herself to be pulled away, not because she wanted to leave, or flee from this stranger anymore. No, she allowed herself to be pulled forward simply because she didn’t know what else to do. And no matter how much she wanted to, she could not stand there gaping at the stranger like a complete idiot. Which is exactly what she looked like.