Excerpt:
By the time they reached the stables, the rain had turned into a deluge, soaking them to the bone. Adam swung the door shut behind them, breathless, the wet strands of his hair plastered to his forehead. Water streamed from his clothes, his shirt clinging tightly to his chest and arms.
Leah leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath, her laughter breaking through the steady drum of rain on the roof. “You’d think between the two of us, we’d know when a storm’s coming by now.” she teased, her voice light despite the tension still thrumming between them.
Adam didn’t respond at first. His hands moved to his soaked shirt, and in one fluid motion, he pulled it over his head, tossing it across a beam to dry. Leah’s laughter faltered, her breath catching as she took in the sight of him—bronzed skin glistening from the rain, every line of his muscled chest and arms a testament to years of hard, honest labor. She could see the curve of his collarbone, the way his skin stretched over the strong lines of his shoulders and felt her pulse race.
Leah couldn’t tear her eyes away, her breath catching in her throat as she tried to focus on wringing out her dress. But the sight of him, standing there with the storm raging outside, felt like more than she could bear. There was something unspoken between them now, something that had lingered far too long in the shadows.
“We look a sight,” she said, trying to inject a note of humor, but her heart was racing, not from the run, but from the nearness of him.
His green eyes fell on her form, tracing every line and curve. The way her dress clung to her, molded against her shape, made his pulse quicken, a fire sparking low in his belly. Every inch of her felt like a temptation—her damp curls framing her face, her skin flushed from the run, her eyes bright with the thrill of the storm. The air was thick, charged with everything he’d held back for so long, every glance he’d forced himself to look away from, every touch he’d denied.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, his jaw clenching as he tore his gaze away. The war between what he wanted and what he believed was right had never felt so brutal.
Leah looked up then, catching him staring, her lips parting slightly, her gaze softening as she held his. The vulnerability in her eyes made his heart clench, and he felt his resolve waver. The space between them felt charged, heavy with all the things he could never say aloud. The heat of her gaze, the gentle slope of her shoulders, the way her body moved as she wrung the water from her hair—all of it burned into him, branding him with a need he could scarcely contain.
1 comment:
Thank you for having me.
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