If Only...

BITING OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW

I honestly do not know how much time has passed.

I'm not even sure if it's still moving in the right pace.

Because to me, everything has slowed down . . .

For once, my mind has remained blank for what feels like ages. My stature is frozen like my mind, but my eyes . . . they drift.

I watch with a lip bitten, fascinated as the muscles of his back move as his arms do, creating ripples down till his lower waist. Despite what Stella had told me on several occasions, I've never had a chance to fully appreciate that . . . slight swell of his hips just before they narrow down again.

Danny really was well built.

My eyes move back up in disappointment when they see the shadows sheathing his legs, but then follow the single drop of foamy water trickling down his throat in the mirror, over that protrusion and down the middle of his chest.

I shift, still following that droplet, and cross my arms against my belly to relieve some intensity in there. It's like an uproar. A confounded battle.

But on a more fundamental basis, it was as inexplicable as it could ever get.

I'm amazed at myself; proud even, for two specific reasons: In the past moments, not even a whisper about it has flitted by my headspace. I cannot remember the last time I was this sincerely devoted to something.

Must have been Autumn dance night seven years ago.

I draw my lips in to hide an unplanned smile. Well, those dormant parts of my brain are certainly active tonight; if not working over time. The hormones are perky too . . .

And two: I've come a long, long way from prude.

"Alexandra?"

I look up to his glowing face in the mirror with a violent jerk of my neck; like I was just waiting for him to speak. Danny stands perfectly still, the machine still at his right cheek while the other side is foam-less, but his eyes are narrowed and his face petrified.

"Are you . . . checking me out?"

What?

Busted!

"No! I mean . . . I-uh . . . I-I I'm so sorry."

I admit finally, burying my chin so deep into my neck from the embarrassment that I can swear I had heard the bones clink together.

Ugh!

"Wait a minute. You're apologizing for checking me out?"

And he breaks off into a fit of laughter; the vibrations resonating straight up through me. I steal shy glances as I weave the fabric of the chemise through my fingers nervously.

Why am I so mortified?

I'm allowed to look at him. He's my--

"Oh, sweetheart . . . "

In an instant he's there when I look up, all clean shaved and smelling amazing, taking my face into his hands.

I didn't realize that my heart was pounding until there was complete silence.

Danny strokes my cheek with his thumb a couple of times, as his eyes get buried into mine deeper and deeper . . .

I gulp.

How can he stir up all these emotions in me just by looking at me and not saying a single word?