Love,
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I tensed when he came to stand behind me. His chin brushed my shoulder as heleaned over and guided my hand in the proper movements. I wanted to shout at him, “Is that necessary?” but held my tongue. I could not help being unnerved by him. The metal lid rattled a bit because of my flustered and unsteady grip. A glance over my shoulder revealed his eyes fixed not on the lid, but my face. And most startling of all, the same draw I felt for him was reflected in his wonderment. “Orona,” he whispered, swallowed and perked up as the songs switched on thestereo again. “Do you want me to show you how we dance?” I fought the urge to grip that metal handle even more tightly, to run and snatch mycloak and rush to Lissa’s aid as quickly as possible. I knew this was dangerous territory. But thus far I had been flying blindly and was still unconvinced this man was not Seid in human disguise. So I grinned as he pulled me away waiting for my reply. He knew I had already given it, just as I knew I could never say no to him. We stood as we had before, with his hand on my waist and our fingers claspedtogether, up and away from our bodies. I clutched the square muscle of his shoulder and followed as he stepped back, then led me side to side. Something strange filled and broke through my defenses, unbidden. A flurry ofsweet thrills laced up and down my spine as we danced. It was like floating on water once I caught the rhythm in the steps, as I learned to follow his silent cues. The words were out of my mouth before I could rein them in. “How did you learn to dance like this?” His coppery skin flushed that unfortunately familiar shade of rust. I had only seenit once or twice, before Seid revealed his true nature to me. He skipped a step and nearly stumbled as he formulated his answer. “It’s reallyembarrassing actually. But I had a crush on this girl back in high school. She used tocome to my uncle’s club with her folks on weekends and she knew how to dance. So…” He shrugged and looked over my shoulder, anywhere he did not have to see my reaction. My skin boiled at the thought of another girl in his arms. “You learned for her?” Stop it! He does not belong to you! “My aunt taught me,” he confessed. When he smiled I saw the almost perfectrows of white teeth. “When my cousin caught me practicing with a door and laughed, I punched him in the face. But in the end, I got the girl.” Through our bond I saw flashes and images of a honey-skinned, brown-eyed girlagainst the lights of the club, dancing in his arms. I could feel his pride in that moment and felt inexplicably sour because of it. His smile died when he noticed the tension in my steps and chuckled. “Guess youhad to be there to laugh. Thanks for not calling me a dork and laughing in my face.” I forced a smile but was unable to block the memory of that girl, or of the way hefelt about Lissa. His blue eyes narrowed intently on me. He bowed his head then and frowned atour feet. I bit my lip, wondering how I was going to explain the whole supernatural grace thing. “You’re freakishly good at this, babe,” he said with raised eyebrows. “You pullmy leg earlier or something? Here I was thinking you only knew that sexy ethnic dance.” He winked and then it was my turn to blush. At the same moment, his hand shifted slightly higher against my waist andprickles of pleasure darted to my lower abdomen. Fresh air was suddenly in short supply and I had the strangest feeling I was falling past the point of no return and powerless to stop it. Tripping over my feet on purpose, I feigned a fall in order to push him away. “Gotcha!” he gasped and then laughed as our foreheads knocked together.Instead of escaping the human’s grasp, I found myself in an even morecompromising position, with our chests pressed together. Suddenly everything wasentirely too much and too real: the way his lips parted to take in badly needed oxygen, how perfectly our hips fit into place, despite our different heights, and how the feel of another human’s skin made mine come thrillingly alive. His pale blue eyes clouded just like Seid’s did when he was about to kiss me. What terrified me wasn’t his resemblance to my former love, however, but the fact I wasgoing to let him. Two thousand years spent hating the one who had cursed me and I was about to give in, just like he had wanted all along