Page 195 of Nobody's Girl

The constant current of electricity as his hand touches the top of mine cannot be denied. I bite at my bottom lip as I look at our hands on my lap.

Why does it do this to me?

I look up at him and ask, “What does your hand feel like right now?”

Leaning into me, his voice is but a whisper. “A current flows between your hand and mine. It’s happened every single time I’ve touched you.”

He’s right!

“Have you felt this with anyone else?”

Slowly, he shakes his head as his eyes look deeper into mine.

Damn it, this is too intense!

“Eden, I know what will happen if I let you kiss me, and it breaks my heart because I’ll have to break his and I do love him.”

The glisten in his eyes tells me much. “I know you do.”

A tremble runs through him and I feel it in my core.

How can that be?

“Take me home. I’m not ready for this.”

His eyes drop and he turns back to the steering wheel. “As you wish, Alyssa.”

He parks next to my jeep and I sit, waiting for him to do his thing. My door opens and he sets me free from my seatbelt, then takes my hand. The current of electricity is there as if on cue.

This can’t be normal, but it doesn’t mean love either. What I have for Kyle is love, real love. So this must be lust.

Eden is beyond hot, rich, and classy. So very worldly and so different from anyone I’ve ever known. He’s like a movie star come to life and he wants me. Of course I feel something for him, but my heart belongs to Kyle.

His arm goes around my waist and my whole body tingles as he pulls me close to his side. I want to cling to him forever, and if I lost this I know I’d miss it.

Why the hell is that?

CHAPTER 18

EDEN

Alyssa has confessed to feeling something for me. I’m so close to her deciding to be with me of her own accord. It will make things so much easier on her once she learns the truth about us and what we are.

The vibration between us is apparent to her as well. Her allegiance to that boy stops her from testing the waters further with me. I have an idea, though, and it has my plans for this evening changing.

Instead of cooking lobster for her, I want to show her how our lives will be. I’ve made reservations at a five-star restaurant in Maine.

It’s a far cry from the bar where we went to at lunch. This will show her how she should’ve always been treated like the princess she truly is.

After protesting about my invitation to fly away and have dinner with me, her mother talked her into going. I’m not allowed to call this a date or even kiss her, but I hope my actions and the serene setting will change her mind about that.

Dressed to impress, I wait for her in the living room. Toni comes in and clears her throat. She’s helped Alyssa get ready and given her one of the dresses I brought for her, though she’s told her they had purchased it and planned to give it to her as a graduation gift.

Shyly, Alyssa steps from behind the wall which has kept her from my view. Involuntarily, my heart and breath stop.

How can she be even more beautiful than before?

Soft tendrils fall from a loose pile of curls artfully placed atop her perfect head. A gold band glimmers, separating her long bangs from the many curls.