Adea
The sound of chirping birds rouses me from sleep. I should not have been sleeping soundly next to the enemy. I can see an orange glow through my closed eyelids and I know the sun is high in the sky. The warm rays caress my cheek and spread down my arm. My eyes flutter open and the room comes into focus. What time is it?
There’s movement beside me and when I turn my head to the side, I’m met with two orbs of darkness staring back at me. I’m caught off guard by the fact that he was already awake and I somehow didn’t notice.
Shane is propped on his elbow gazing at me as if we’ve done this a million times before. I ignore the whisper that says we have. His gaze is dark and full of heat. A delicious shiver makes its way down my back.
A small smile spreads across his lips and I know he’s aware of the effect he’s having on me. Something in the air shifts as we gaze into each other’s eyes. We don’t move, we’re both present in this moment.
The sun rays shine through the window and a ring of light surrounds him. His hair looks lighter, almost brown. I want to laugh and cry all at the same time. Shane looks like a devious fallen angel that’s got his sights set on me.
The irony is not lost on me. Shane is the farthest thing from an angel, if anything he’s the devil in disguise. Who has been chasing after me through time, through decades, and maybe even centuries.
It makes me sad and for a moment, I’m angry with Ethan. He didn’t have to curse him to live a life like this. Couldn’t he have still found happiness, if not with me? Why did he rob him of that?
I can’t let myself wander too far down this path of thinking. That Ethan and this are not the same. I don’t want the past to pour into the present. Just as I’ve tried to push thoughts of Shane away, I need to push negative thoughts of Ethan away too.
The devil is breathtaking and I can’t figure out why he’s looking at me the way he is. What I do know is there is an ache with every beat of my heart. Can it be blamed on this newfound knowledge, or did I feel it even before I knew?
I’m stuck in between these conflicting thoughts, and if I’m being honest with myself, conflicting feelings. His gaze dips and I lower my chin to follow his gaze. My cheeks heat as I realize I’m completely naked.
We went to bed naked, together. My breasts are on full display and I fumble for the sheet. Pulling it up below my chin in an attempt to cover myself but it’s too late. He already saw and I shouldn’t even be feeling shy after last night. He’s already seen me completely naked. Way to go Adea. There’s no point in being shy now.
He chuckles as he prowls closer and I lean further back. Nope. I will not be putting myself on display any more than I already have. This show is over. I squeal as he pounces. The bed below me dips.
Shane hovers over me, my heart rate speeds up as he pushes his way between my legs. When his knees are firmly on the bed, my thighs tremble on both sides of his torso. I feel a tinge of annoyance when I can’t get them to stay still.
With every breath I take, I breathe in his scent. My toes curl and my breath catches in my throat as I look up at him. Muscular arms on both sides of my head leading up to his chiseled ink-splashed chest.
He didn’t always have those, my gaze linger before dropping to the pierced nipples directly in front of my face. My mouth waters and I shake my head. Bad, Adea, bad. Although, I can’t be blamed for looking.
They’re just there in front of my face. Before my thoughts could stray any further down the path of wicked temptation, I make my way back up. Past his sharp jawline and thick lips.
When our eyes locked just in time for something hard to physically drop onto my belly. Oh no, he did not. My eyes widened at the same time that Shane’s lit up. The bastard, he knew exactly what he was doing.
“Good morning, Ady.”
Good morning, my ass. His I-just-woke-up voice was lower and huskier than usual. It was full of temptation and sin. I needed to pull myself together. His gaze held a warmth I tried not to melt in.
Slowly, Shane lowered himself until I could feel his breath on my cheek. I was trying hard not to fall for it but the feelings of the past were trying to crawl their way into my chest, into my heart.
“Good morning,” I whisper.
I recognized it as the feelings I’ve been struggling with since first arriving back in Half Moon yesterday. I didn’t want to feel it whenever I was around Shane. The feeling just meant something wholly different now that I knew what we had before.
Did he know everything?
Is that what drove him?
Or was he being driven by natural instincts?
The longer I was here, the worse the torture would get. I needed to make this quick. It had only been yesterday and yet it felt like a lifetime ago. In the span of twenty-four hours, so much had happened. I hadn’t been awake that long and didn’t have a clue as to what was happening right now.
A small voice whispered that we could help but I quickly shut that down. All of that happened long ago and from what I know of today, there are no witches. Shane was not someone I needed to help. He was not someone I should… not someone I should put the effort in for.