Page 64 of A Boy Called Lovesong

“Earl keeps telling her that. Maybelle keeps telling her that. Weallkeep telling her that.” He paused, then asked, “Areyouokay?”

I’m not sure why, but that was the moment I realized he was an inch or two taller than me. Almost exactly the same height as Joel. “Yeah. I’m fine. I was scared for her. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

He stepped closer. “You’re safe now.”

He reached forward and his hand found my chest.

He pressed his palm against it and said, “Your heart’s still racing. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I didn’t know what to say. “Um. Yeah. I guess so.”

He lifted his hand to my face.

He placed his fingers against my cheek. Even with the dirt and sap and cotton fibers on them, in that moment they were softer than feathers, lighter than air.

I caught my breath and he heard it.

“Don’t be frightened, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just that…”

“It’s just what?”

“It’s just that… I haven’t seen what you look like yet.”

I crinkled my brow, at first confused. “You haven’t…?” I stopped myself mid-question, realizing what he was doing.

He needed to feel my face to see me.

He needed to touch me, before he could see a picture of me in his mind.

He needed to run those earthy fingers over my sweat-dripping skin, until my face looked as grimy as his…

Soft smudges of dirt…

Streaks of fingerprints…

Skin tainted by his touch.

Desperately I tried to control my breathing.

Desperately I tried to keep from him the fact that my knees were quivering…

My hands were trembling…

My face was moments away from melting into his fingertips.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was touched with such intimacy.

Joel and I had been together so long, things had become routine. I was the first to admit I loved that life. We watched movies and cooked popcorn together. We cuddled on the couch. We kissed in bed.

But it had been a long, long time since Joel had touched me like this.

Perhaps he could hear the shortness of my breath, perhaps he could feel the slightest quiver of flesh, but without a word, Lovesong stepped closer to me, our bodies now only inches apart.

I refused to close my eyes, staring straight into his, knowing he couldn’t see me back… knowing he could sense so much more from me right now than I could from him.

It was as though his fingers were drinking from my skin, drawing on my energy, my nerves, making my heart bang like a drum.

I felt as though he knew exactly what he was doing.

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