Page 26 of Stolen Vows

I stop short, just in front of her. Close enough to see the flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat. I can’t bring myself to look away. “Married?”

She shakes her head slowly, just twice, long enough for her hair to slip over one shoulder. “Not married.”

I don’t think. Don’t hesitate. I don’t give myself a single goddamn second to consider all the ways this might be a mistake.

I palm her cheek, my thumb sweeping across her cheekbone, and make myself commit it to memory. The softness of her skin. The sweet, startled noise that slips from her lips. The way her golden eyes go wide, searching.

I lean down, my hand sliding over her cheek, curling around the side of her neck. My fingers tangle in the silky strands at her nape, anchoring me to this moment as I rest my forehead against hers.

Her breath catches, a soft gasp that ghosts across my lips.

I inhale deeply, murmuring, “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Why?” she whispers. It sounds like a plea.

I close my eyes, pressing my fingers lightly into the curve of her neck, forcing myself to commit this moment to memory. “I don’t know.”

Her breath shudders. “I’m right here.”

Her words are barely above a whisper, but they slam into me. They settle deep in my chest, reverberating through every inch of me. A weight. A promise. Something I’ve been chasing for longer than I care to admit.

I tilt my head, my nose brushing along hers. “Good.”

The raw vulnerability of the moment settles in my bones. The rational part of my brain screams that this is too much.Waytoo much.

I don’t even know her. But it feels like I do. Like I have for years.

I’ve been looking for her for so long, I built an image of her in my mind—stitched together from a memory, a moment, a fucking ghost.

And now she’s here. In my hands. And I … I don’t know what to do.

I clear my throat, start to pull back. But before I can take another step, her hand lands on my forearm.

A small touch. But it stops me like an iron grip.

“Wait.”

My body obeys her command before my mind even processes it. I should go. But I don’t. Ican’t. I can’t make myself step out of her grasp.

“Why?” Her voice is soft. Uncertain.

She looks up at me, and there’s something in her eyes—something wide, open, almost … hopeful. It pokes at something soft inside of me.

“Why.” I repeat her question as a statement, getting lost in her eyes. In the warmth of them. Like honey poured over gold.

“Why were you looking for me?”

I don’t know what to say. I can’t sayI don’t believe in love at first sight, but then I saw you and couldn’t stop thinking about you.No, that seems … insane.

ConfessingI had errant thoughts about you at the most inconvenient times, and I simply couldn’t not try to unravel the thread between usfeels like too much.

Too revealing. Too strange. So I settle on something that’s truthful, but less unusual.

“You were a mystery. A puzzle I couldn’t figure out.”

“Oh.” A flicker of something crosses her face. “Oh.” A shift in her expression, too quick to name.

Her fingers slip from my arm, and I feel the loss instantly. Like the pull of something just out of reach.

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