16

                                    

                                          
           
"Where have you been?" Thomas asked, the sharpness in his tone piercing through that little bubble of irritation that belonged entirely to him.
                          
"Hello to you too." 
                          
Walking into the hotel, I knew an invitation for him to follow was unnecessary. He'd warned me that things between us were not settled, and he wasn't a man to ignore. 
                          
Despite his short-temper, I wasn't wary. I might not understand his interest in me, but he wasn't a spy. I'd have noticed if this guy was following me around. 
                          
Yep, I could handle Thomas, it was Stephen and Emily that I wanted to avoid.
                          
As he stepped forward to hold the door open for me, the light of the hotel lobby showed me how tired and crumpled he was. His olive complexion had a hungry pallor that I hadn't noticed before. Dishevelled black hair fell over his pale forehead, like he had run his hands through it over and over again and forgotten to comb it out. 
                          
He was still amazingly handsome, but something had changed in the composed man that I had met at the priory. 
                          
"I needed some space," I started to explain.
                          
"Who have you been with tonight?" Thomas interrupted.
                          
"What's it got to do with you?" 
                          
He didn't answer. Silence loomed, increasing the annoyance that thrived between us. This was getting us nowhere. 
                          
"I've been with a friend."
                          
"Who?"
                          
I glared up at Thomas. His dark eyes held my gaze, burning into me with the strength of his frustration. 
                          
"Anne," I sighed, deciding this wasn't a battle worth fighting. 
                          
His shoulders sagged.
                          
"I'm spending the next couple of weeks with her, I've just come back to collect my things and check out." 
                          
The worry lines on Thomas's brow smoothed out, and his tightly pursed lips relaxed into an aloof expression that had become all too familiar recently. 
                          
Great.
                          
We reached my room in silence. He calmed down in direct proportion to the tension building in me. I flushed as I remembered him holding me in his arms at the priory. Doubts about bringing him into my room swarmed my mind. My hand hovered over the key card reader as I hesitated.
                          
Making the decision for me, Thomas placed his cool hand over mine and inserted the card into the reader. 
                          
The moment that our skin touched, my anxiety dissipated. 
                          
The surroundings faded out, my mind caught in the sensation of his touch. Blood pounded in my ears as my heart expanded in my chest, fighting to keep up with the adrenaline coursing through my system. The noise pushed everything out of my brain, until finally the booming faded to a ringing that mimicked the chimes of the silver tree.
                          
Unsure whether my body was telling me to jump in or hold back, I drew my hand away quickly and braced myself against the wall. Catching my breath, I glanced at Thomas. He stood, eyes fixed on the floor, pure bliss written all over his features.
                          
"Alice, it is you," he sighed. 
                          
Whatever I had just experienced had touched him too, and he liked it.
                          
"Of course it's me. What the hell was that?"
                          
Instead of answering, Thomas led me into the room and gently sat me down on the bed. My skin tingled when he touched it, like a faint echo of the initial onslaught of sensations. The quiet song of the silver leaves continued somewhere distant in my mind; a warning not to drop my guard completely. 
                          
Even so, when his hand left my arm, I had to stop myself reaching for him, the loss of the connection making me shiver. 
                          
After pacing to and fro a few times, he turned to face me, but then thought better of it. Striding from one wall of the small room to the other, he was a caged animal, prowling around the boundary of its enclosure. 
                          
I wanted to know why that flush of emotions didn't surprise him. He knew something that I didn't, and it was starting to piss me off. 
                          
"Look Thomas, you need to spit it out. My friend is waiting for me downstairs and the meter is running in the taxi. What just happened? I know you felt it." 
                          
Thomas turned to face me with a pained look.
                          
"No. I'll stay with you here. You won't leave again." 
                          
"Er, what?" 
                          
"I promise it will be fine." 
                          
"No, Thomas. I'm going with Anne."
                          
"I'll come with you, then. I can go back to the priory and get our belongings."
                          
"I don't think you're invited. Look, what's all this about?"
                          
There was something between us, something strong. I wouldn't deny it, I couldn't after what I'd just experienced. His touch had infused me with energy, and now without it, goosebumps covered my skin radiating inwards until my insides hurt with cold. But moving in together? We barely knew each other.
                          
"I returned with your repaired volumes to find the apartment empty. Your bed was messed up and all your clothes had been knocked to the floor. I could smell His scent mingled with yours. I thought he had attacked you."
                          
The accusation in his tone was impossible to miss, especially because it looked like he now expected me to account for myself. 
                          
That wasn't going to happen.
                          
I buried the twinge of embarrassment that threatened to break into a blush when I thought of Evan. I was a free agent, despite what Thomas insinuated.
                          
 "I'm fine, as you can see." I held my arms out, palms up to try to reassure him that I was whole and unharmed. "I left to get away from Emily and her partner. She's not what she seems."  
                          
"I tracked you to the mall, but then lost you in the crowds. I finally traced you here. I need you to be safe Alice. I need to know where you are," Thomas continued, taking no notice of my explanation. 
                          
"I'm not your responsibility Thomas. Look, you need to tell me what you're doing here. Why did you follow me?"
                          
Kneeling at my feet, he took my hands in his, looking at me with wide desperate eyes. I tried to pull away, knowing that it wouldn't take much to make me lose my resolve. 
                          
I didn't need to account for myself to this guy. I didn't owe him anything. 
                          
His grip tightened, as though he could sense my resistance to his words. Thumbs gently stroked my palms to create the illusion that I wasn't trapped. The chimes of the silver leaves sounded in my head in warning as he held my gaze, willing me to comply. 
                          
I knew it was a bad idea, that I didn't understand what was driving this, but his beauty called to me at the same time as his actions screamed for me to pull away.
                          
Desire won out. Pushing the soft black hair from his forehead, I lay my hand on his cheek unable to resist the need burning in his eyes. He rested his head on my hand, his eyelids fluttering closed in relief. His face looked truly relaxed for the first time since I had met him. A sense of calm enveloped us both. 
                          
I think in that moment, I realised that he was the most beautiful man that I had ever seen. But it was more than that, the contact drove out the cold that had seeped into me, leaving energy in its wake. The air around me fizzled and popped as my hand still held his face. 
                          
A knock at the door startled us. I dropped my hand. Thomas opened his eyes, a swirl of silver flashed through his iris before disappearing. Suspended in the moment, our gazes held, neither one of us willing to break the spell.