In Search of Grace (10 page)

             
Seth stared at her in a completely new light.  His sister
would spend day
s devouring
the
G.A.
Darling books, and he constantly teased her.  Never would he have
imagined this
shy, unassuming woman sitting next to him was the famed author of all of the Romance books in his
sister’s
home.

             
“So you were writing at 4:00
am?
 
Creative
burst of energy I imagine
?
”

             
Alex shifted uncomfortably.  She did not like the
half-truth
that she had told him last night and decided that the best
tactic
was to change the subject.

             
“Are you close with your sister?”

             
“Yes, very close. We are only one year apart, so neither one of us could ever imagine not having the other.  She is married now with t
wo great kids.  They live in up
state
New York
.  I used to get down quite often, but since buying this house
.  I’ve
not had as much time between work and construction.”
  Just talking about Jennifer made him miss her.

             
“What about you? 
Do you have a
ny brothers
or
sisters?
”

             
Alex shook her head and stood up abruptly.  Seth watched as
her internal
door slammed shut in his face.
 
Sensing
she was setting to run again
, h
e stood up
with her. 

             
Now,
standing so close to h
im
,
Alex realized that she
only had to lean forward to
touch
him.

             
Reaching behind her,
Seth
pulled the
elastic
holding
her hair up and watched as it fell down to her shoulders
framing
her face.  His hand mov
ing
up
,
placing
some
strands
behind her ear as he had done
before
while c
upping
her face in his
hands,
looking
deep in her eyes
,
searching
.

             
Alex swallowed
hard.
 
“I need to go.” Her voice faltered as she stared at his lips
as they moved slowly closer to hers.

             
“
Do you
,
rabbit?
”
His voice whispered softly, his breath fanning her face. 
“
I want to kiss you
,
Alex. 
May
I
?”

             
She had never wanted someone to kiss her as badly as she did at that
very
moment. 
V
ery
gently,
his mouth
settling on
hers
,
m
oving softly
across her lips
testing
for
any
resistance
,
while
tasting.  She
was
so
sweet
and
smelled like flowers and sunshine
to him
. 
He felt her
move closer
.
  Moaning
,
he moved
his
hand
s
from her face down her arms.  His thumbs
brushing against
the side of her breasts before settling on her hips
as
Alex
shyly
reached around his neck and pulled his kiss deeper. 
Seth groaned. 
He
certainly
was not
going to say no.  The intensity picked up
.  A flame ignited inside of her after remaining dormant for years
. 
She let out a whimper
,
then
tightened her grip on him when she felt him step away, not wanting him to stop.  Seth touched his
forehead
to hers while closing his eyes. 
He felt weak.  Clearing his throat he looked at her face now flushed with
the
beginnings of
desire.

             
She was surprised at how much she
wanted more.  The breeze had cooled
,
and she shivered. 
Now she knew that h
e tasted as good as he looked, but she knew this was crazy
,
and she was playing with fire.
 
I
t ha
d
been so long since she felt such an intense desire…or any desire for that matter.
  The thought frightened her.

             
“I really have to go…” she hesitated feeling
awkward
.
  This time he did not stop her.

             
Her breath came in short bursts, her lungs
on fire,
ready to explode.  Rushing through the
trees,
she stumbled over the roots and fell to her knees hard.  “
N
o, no
,
no
.
”  Sobbing she knew she was spent,
but
hearing the heavy brea
thing coming closer and closer b
e
h
ind her spurred her back to action.  The heavy brush slowed his movement
but only slightly
as he crashed through the forest like a wild boar.  No need to be quiet he thought, there was no one around for many miles.  When he had her in his
sights,
he let out a victory roar.
Icy fingers ran down her spine at the sound of
triumph,
she glanced back and screamed at seeing the face contorted into that of an animal,
horns rising on top of his head,
eyes
glowing blood red
,
piercing
the dark. Alex
’s
s
cream
tore
through the woods. 
Finally,
she saw the familiar clearing, felt the same
sense of hope. 
S
he felt the impact of his body slamming into
hers,
as
she started
scream
ing
again
,
this time silently in her head
,
as his hand covered her mouth.

             
She bolted straight up in bed, her body covered in sweat
. 
The fear was so pervasive in the bedroom
,
lingering in the
air
making it feel
heavy around her.
Her breathing
still s
hallow
with panic
,
she jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen looking for her blackberry.
She knew that she needed him.
He had told her to call if she became afraid, but she was even more afraid to call him
.
She had never reached out to anyone before
.
  This was her secret
,
h
er
private
hell.

             
Huddled on the kitchen floor, waiting for the fear to pass
, it took several attempts before her h
and shakily found his name
pressing the button
before she could change her
mind
.
Putting the phone to her ear,
struggling
to control her labored breathing
,
she heard his
voice deep and soothing
come
on the line.

             
“
Hello
?”

             
Her throat felt closed
up. S
he
fought to
hang on to her sanity
.

             
“Hello?”

             
“Seth.”

             
“Alex
! A
re you alr
ight?”

             
“I need
you
,
” was all she could get out while her whole body trembled out of control
causing her to drop the phone
.

             
To Alex it seemed like an eternity, but within
moments,
he was at her door. 
She felt intense relief as
his arms came around her
,
and
he
effortlessly
picked
her up
off
the floor
.
  “What is it Alex?  Did you have another dream?”

             
Clenching her teeth tightly to prevent them from chattering, she nodded her head.
 

             
“
Oh baby. 
Where is your bedroom?”

             
Her
hand
shaking
,
pointed to the doorway
off the kitchen
. 
Seeing the lamp on the stand in the hallway, he gently steered her to her bedroom and
eased
her
back
into
the bed
before
covering her with the blankets
.  She whimpered when he stood up.

             
“I’m not leaving you
,
Alex
. I am just shutting off the light
s
.
”

             
“No!
Please
leave
them
on!”

             
Acquiescing
, he
lay
down next to her and pulled her close. Her body was
so
cold
and still
trembling uncontroll
ably
.
A
ngrily
,
he
wondered
what
had been
done to her and
more importantly
,
by whom
.  She turned onto her side
sliding
into his arms
, her head resting below his chin,
clos
ing
her eyes
while
placing her hand onto his
chest
.  H
e covered it with his own.
  She was taking every ounce of comfort that he was offering to her at that moment.  
After a few minutes, her
labored breathing became normal
as
her body relax
ed
into a peaceful slumber.

             
He knew what it was like to have battle scars. 
He knew what it was like t
o evade sleep because you knew that the demons
, so
ensconced within your memories
,
were
waiting to pounce when your guard was down
.  Whatever battle
Alex
had fought
,
however long ago
, she
had
made it through but not without a high price to pay. 
Her battle scars ran deep.  They had a lot in common, the two of them.  He held her tighter as she moaned again in her sleep
while h
is own memories
came
flood
ing
to the surface
.
  He heard the helicopter blade
s
whirring, smelled the jungle.
 
It was supposed to have been
a
simple
job.  As part of the Special
Forces,
there were only three of them on his team that night
,
Mark
, Richard and himsel
f. 
As always, they drew straws to decide who would be
the leader.
This was an important part of the job because
the
leader always bought the beer at the end of the mission.
  It was
supposed to be
simple – their expectation was to
helicopter
in,
hike to
the remote village,
repossess
what was taken
,
and meet back at the rendezvous point in time to be airlifted out of there.
There would be no communication between them and their base until they reached the helicopter.
They had everything in order and even had permission to take a
long awaited and much needed
extended vacation when this mission was complete.  All three friends had already
made the
ir
travel plans.  Seth closed his eyes
.
  Everything was on point from the drop.  They were ahead of schedule
,
hiking
several hours
into the jungle
.  The village setup was exactly as described, with a guard posted on the mark.  The informants detail was fantastic.
Seth could still remember the smells of the
camp
,
his senses seemed
heightened that night
,
and he was uneasy
.  His instinct told him that something was wrong.  Most jobs, he always listened to his instinct.  He remember
ed
turning to Mark and Richard,
signing to them that he wanted to abort
.
They had looked at him incredulously. They could see or sense nothing wrong and
had talked him out of aborting after long moments of a heated exchange with their hands. 
Seth shifted on the bed as he
remembered motioning for
Mark to
go to his place halfway around the
perimeter
. 
W
aiting
the allotted
time
, he
then
sent
Richard to the building that housed the prisoner.  Both he and Mark watched as silently, stealthily
,
Richard headed to his mark.  Taking out the guard was easy.  The man was dead before he even hit the ground.  Holding his breath, Seth
remember
ed
watching Richard give the thumbs up before slipping into the building.  Within
seconds,
Richard exited with the prize
,
and Seth did not exhale until Richard gave the second thumbs up. That was when all hell broke loose. As if in slow motion Seth was on his feet bring
ing
his M4 up.  The prize was dead
from Seth’s shot
,
but not before
the insurgent was able to fire off
his own weapon
directly
at his best friend.
  The whole village came alive with bullets erupting around him as Seth ran to his dying friend.  Throwing him over his shoulder, he ran back into the jungle while Mark covered his exit.