Katherine Garbera - Bound by a Child

She’d have to lose to Allan. She’d have to show him that she could be vulnerable, and she’d have to admit it all out loud.

She sucked his lower lip into her mouth and bit down, and then rubbed her tongue over it to soothe it. She didn’t think she could do that. But when she felt his hands tightening in her hair for a moment and a low groan issued from the back of his throat, she realized she might not have to.

He pulled his mouth from hers. She opened her eyes to look up into his intense gaze, and shook from what she saw there. He might want to pretend that she was nothing more than an old enemy to him, but the truth was there in those dilated pupils and in the flush across his cheekbones.

She almost cursed out loud as she realized there was no winner in this. No outcome that could be decided other than the truth. She was attracted to him. And though she’d hoped that maybe kissing him would distract her from the lonely feeling in her soul, it hadn’t worked. In fact, she really wanted to just curl up next to him and forget about challenges and the world outside, and take some comfort in his arms.

If he hadn’t made this a contest and if she’d been a different sort of woman—the kind who was okay being emotional and needy—then she’d be able to just rest her head on his shoulder and admit that she hadn’t ever felt this scared and alone before.

“So...” he said. “That was more than I expected.”

“Me, too,” she admitted. “I guess we underestimated how much we’d enjoy each other.”

“I sure did. Tonight especially, I...I enjoyed kissing you, Jessi.”

“Me, too, Allan. I don’t think you’re my archnemesis anymore.”

“That’s good. So what are we going to do about this? Is it just grief? Did we turn to each other because our friends are gone?”

She shrugged. A part of her wanted to say yes and make this about the tragedy that had brought them both together. But she knew that would be a lie. And lying even to herself was something she didn’t like to do.

“I really don’t know,” she admitted.

“Me, either. I have always been able to... Never mind. The real question is what are we going to do about it?”

She didn’t have an answer. There wasn’t a clear solution. He had surprised her and made her realize that there was more to this man than she’d previously thought. Because if he’d been all ego, then he would have swaggered away from her. But he was sitting across from her, looking just as perplexed as she was.

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