Authors: Steven Slavick
At first, Nina presumed he wan
ted to give the impression that, since other women found him attractive, he could do without her, which would go along with conventional wisdom. But something told her that, in this case, something about her intimidated him. S
he peered into those eyes with an unrelenting
curiosity, urging him to disclose why he might feel that way. A
few seconds later, his smile dipped into a moment of uncertainty,
and he broke eye contact with her, providing proof that she’d hit the target.
Catching that slight bit of doubt, s
he
wanted to probe deeper to discover what about her made him feel the least bit uncomfortable.
“
I’ve got to hand it to you: the whole prison concept is a new one.
”
It took a long moment before he met her gaze again, but this time his smile evoked twice as much presence as it had before. “I prefer originalit
y…
with an edge.”
The way he looked into her eyes made her knees weak. “Mission accomplished.”
“
Saying the word, ‘
prison,’
made you so
pale
that
I
thought
you were
Casper the Friendly Ghost
.” He
dropp
ed
the smile
and leaned forward. “Wait, you are friendly, right? I don’t need any
Paranormal Activity
going on.
It
freaks me out
big time
.”
Nina placed both hands on her hips. “For your information, I’m—”
“
The ‘g
h
ost with the most
:’
Beetlejuice?
”
“No. I’m—”
“
That hideous looking-chick from the
Ring
movies? She’s kind of thin, so I can see how she’d fit inside t
hose old televisions,
b
ut a flat screen? Come on.
”
“Will you just—”
“
Don’t tell me
you’re
that freaky chick from the
Grudge
films.” He opened his mouth and let out a
long crea
king sound.
“I never said—”
“
I got it!
You’re
that chick from the
Exorcist
.
Just don’t spin your head around, okay?”
He
drew closer
,
preparing to confide in her.
“
Oh, wait. You’r
e better looking than her
.” He checked her out.
“You’ve got a better figure, too
.
” Then he met her eyes again.
“
But
Beetlejuice?
I hate to say it, but
h
e gives you a run for your money
in the looks department
.
”
“You think you’re
really
funny, don’t you?”
“I don’t have to think it. I know it.” He winked at her. Then, adopting a more serious expression, he
returned his attention to the page.
And just like that, the
heightened
emotion
al
charge
between them vanished. It
le
ft
behind a trail of intensity
similar to
the way a candle wick spewed forth tendrils of smoke
after someone smothered
the flame
.
She wanted to feel the heat of
those dazzling green eyes again,
s
o she could burn their image into her mind. Just for a few seconds. Just to tide her over until she
met a man
she could count on, the kind that
cherished the idea of growing
old with a woman he took
pride in calling his wife.
Nina
just stared at him, wondering what to say, what to do
.
She hadn’
t felt this insecure
since middle-school,
when she “flirted” with boys by
ignoring them and looking at them only after they walked away
. (What about that st
rategy seemed ingenious? And what about that approach would have encouraged boys
to approach her?)
She reflected on those questions as this man
resumed
his work without further comment
. With no other way to get his attention, other than pestering him while he didn’t want to be bothered,
she
decided to un
-
wrap
the sketch she held
to find out what he’d drawn
.
Without even looking her way, his hand shot out and clu
tch
ed her wrist.
Alarm
ed by
t
his quick reaction, she almost jerked back. Who grabbed a stranger like that in public?
And how had she mistaken him for a charming artist?
She was about to retract
h
er arm and bolt away from him, b
ut when she met his gaze, she saw gentle eyes that pleaded with her
to refrain from looking at his draft.
Then his grasp
slacken
ed,
and he narrowed his eyebrows, overcome with a sensation she couldn’t read.
She may have failed in that endeavor, b
ut it turned out that she didn’t need to
analyze his feelings. She felt them
.
Everything abou
t this interaction seemed strang
e
: first, his disinterest in her and an unwillingness to even look her in the eye,
followed
by
moments
of great humor and now he searched
her
eyes with an
appeal of …what
exactly
?
These hot and
cold
emotions both
fascinat
ed
and
startl
ed her because,
despite his unnerving behavior, she
still found him
intrigu
ing
.
Nina didn’t have freaky fetishes.
She didn’t have any sexual hang-ups like
using whips, chains, or even
handcuffs. She simply enjoyed sensuous physical affection: soft, deep kisses that made a soul connection; the tantalizing sensation of lips pressing against her neck and shoulders; the graceful caress
of fingertips across her stomach, her inner thighs, and…
She shook off the stirrings of a fantasy that often enticed her and concentrated on the matter at hand: w
hy did
this man affect her? S
he didn’t
even try to convince herself to leave.
And she didn’t know why.
H
e set
his gaze on her again,
making
her stomach flip.
S
he couldn’t look away. She tried, but
with his searching expression
s
o
full of
curiosity
, she wanted to see whatever conclusions he arrived at.
His fingers stroked
her skin as they slipped up her forearm, sending
bolts of
e
xcitement
through her.
Then, as if realizing
that he’d engaged in i
nappropriate
behavior,
he released her and flinched as
though
breaking that connection stung
him
with the rapidity of an
electric shock
.
Nina
looked at him, astonished.
H
e looked at her,
not like he knew her, but like he
understood
her
in ways that only
came upon
after years of deep friendship.
Just as astonishing
, she couldn’t understand how a simple touch
could send
a current of
elation
through her veins.
The man also seem
ed astounded by their chemistry. He raised
his eyebrows
and
dre
w back from her
,
as
though she’d
chant
ed
a
Wicca
n spell
. “What was that?”
She just shook her head, raising both hands to biceps that were toned from daily workouts at the gym. Without his touch, she felt cold. Not physically. But emotionally.
He glanced at his hand and turned it over to inspect his knuckles. Seeing nothing supernatur
al or worrisome, he
remained serious
, “Do we know each other? Have we met before?”
“No.” This situation
made no sense
. But on an elemental
l
eve
l, she felt comfortable, if
a
little uncertain
, by the
prospect of whatever this
bond
might mean.
How could a look
and a touch evoke
such
chemistry?
She’
d experienced a similar
yearning
before with a few other men – how could
she not after twenty-six years? But
even if she multiplied th
e
power of each of those instances
by one-thousand,
the result
wouldn’t
come close to
the magnetism she felt with this man
: her entire body tingled with an awareness that made it seem like
, until now,
she’d been walking around all these years half-asleep.
“Then why do I feel like we know each other?”
he asked.
“I don’
t know. My name’s
Nina
Gilford.”
“Doesn’t sound familiar. I’m
Nick
Malloy. I went to
Ellis Middle School. After that, Elgin High. Then I got my Bachelor’s at Western Illinois University. Could
we have met
at any of those schools?”
“No. I went to Wredling Middle School. Then East High before going to Northwestern.”
She looked at the wrinkled page in her hand, but the
rendering was on the other side.
For some reason, she didn’t want to turn it over to look at whatever he’d sketch
ed. Doing so
now
felt like
an invasion of his
privacy. Yet before meeting his gaze and
making physical contact,
she wouldn’t have felt the least bit awkward
about
taking a look. “This must be pretty important: you toss
ed
it away like trash, but when someone picks it up—”
“Not just someone…you.”
That comment should have made him seem creepy. But the unguarded way in whic
h he looked at her made her consider him
e
ndearing.
And once again, she felt that unadulterated
awareness that told her that she could trust Nick. Despite having only just met him, she couldn’t get over the inexplicable assumption that failing to trust him would result in sadness…for both of them.
“I didn’t mean to freak you out or anything.
” He shook off the weird sensation they had experienced.
“
Bu
t
I can’t get what’s in my head onto the page. That’s never happened before. I’ve never been locked up like this. And then…you.”
“Oh, thanks. Such a charmer,” she said, cracking a smile. She downplayed her interest to prevent placing too much
emphasis on the connection they
both
experienced.
“But
you’re not doing it right.
Try this.
”
She scowled the way the Evil Queen might upon crossing paths with Snow White
and said, “You!” Then she broke into an easy smile. “
See the difference? That’s how people usually react around me. But
be prepared; i
t’ll take
hours of
practice
to perfect it.”
“
I
could never look at you that way
.”