Shadow Kiss

Chapter 10

******Zak’s P.O.V******

We walked down the thin forest trail hand in hand. Even though I had made the excuse of only holding her hand to keep her from falling, the truth of it was that I had grabbed her hand before I even realized what I was doing. She hadn’t necessarily seemed to be disgusted by it. Just maybe slightly annoyed, but I could tell by the way she was gripping my hand that she secretly enjoyed it. I smiled down at her even though her attention was focused on the small path that was barely lit by my pocket flashlight.
She was so short, yet she dragged me along the path behind her like she was my bodyguard sworn to protect me at any cost. Thinking of her calling me by the nickname Princess made me strangely happy. The first time she had called me by that name, I was annoyed, but now I almost took it as some sort of strange endearment. One she had given to me and only to me. A smile spread across my face and I squeezed her hand just a little bit tighter.
She glanced back at me for only a moment, but that moment was long enough for her foot to catch on a branch and fall forward. I jerked on her hand and pulled her back against my chest.
“I told you to be careful,” I whispered in her ear amused.
She quickly pulled out of my embrace and made sure to turn her face away from me. A wide smile split my face as I imagined her ivory colored cheeks deepening into a dark pink from embarrassment.
“Yeah, well, it’s your fault for causing me to trip,” she huffed irritably continuing forward dragging me along behind her.
I cocked a brow. “My fault? And how is it my fault you tripped over a stick?”
She was silent for a moment contemplating her next words. “You caused me to look back at you which then made me trip over the stick that I could have easily avoided if you hadn’t been gripping my hand so tightly in yours.”
I held back my laughter. “I hate to burst your little fantasy bubble, but uh…YOU are the one holding MY hand in a death grip. I’m pretty sure I have lost all circulation in my left hand,” I teased. She wasn’t holding my hand nearly as tight as I explained to her, but it was amusing to see her glance at me with a droll stare.
“Whatever you say, Princess,” she mumbled under her breath. She flashed me a bright smile over her shoulder and winked playfully.
I rubbed my chest in the area right over my heart. Why did my heart hurt whenever I saw her smile? I continued to rub my chest a little bit longer until the ache seemed to disappear. My gaze dropped to our intertwined fingers.
I couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on my face.
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~~~~~~Aerolynn’s P.O.V~~~~~~

Omigod!omigod!omigod!omigod!omigod!omigod! I frantically chanted to myself inside my head. I can’t believe he’s holding my hand! He’s holding my hand! WE’RE HOLDING HANDS! I screamed in excitement inside my head. If we weren’t holding hands, I’m pretty sure I would skip down the trail I was so happy right now. But I made sure to contain my excitement…no matter how hard that may be.
When we emerged out on the side of the road, I expected there to be a car waiting for us. So when Zak ran straight into my back at my abrupt stop, I didn’t blame him. I looked both ways down the deserted road expecting to see a car somewhere, but the road remained as empty as ever. It reminded of that one scene in the movie “Dude, Where’s my Car?” when they were looking for Ashton’s car after coming out of the house.
“Um…Zak?” I turned around to look up at him.
“Yeah?” His tone of voice told me he saw nothing out of the ordinary like I did.
“Did you…did you not bring a car?”
Zak frowned and shook his head. “No, of course not. Why?”
“No? No?! What in the hell is wrong with you? Did you walk here? Do you have any common sense?” I yelled in frustration.
“Well, yeah, I walked here. YOU walked here and you don’t see ME complaining.”
I took a mental note on how he said nothing about him having no common sense.
“So you expect us to walk back to the motel…during the freezing cold, pitch black night…on a deserted country road…alone?!” I shouted completely shocked at his lack of intelligence.
“You’re not alone,” he emphasized. “You have me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I may as well have a rock on a leash to protect me. It would certainly have more common sense than YOU,” I snapped.
“Hey!”
“It’s freezing out here, Zak, and you want us to walk the three to four miles back to the motel in this cold?”
“You have no room to complain about the cold, alright? At least you have a jacket.”
“Well, I didn’t FORCE you to give me your jacket!”
“I was trying to be a gentleman!”
“Ugh, screaming at each other in this cold isn’t going to do either one of us any good. Especially if we get sick before tomorrow’s lockdown,” I sighed continuing to walk down the side of the road back toward town.
We walked in silence for what seemed like eternity. Although we were still holding hands, it was no longer the sentiment is started out as. The angry tension between us was palpable even to a stranger’s eyes.
“I didn’t bring a car because I figured we could use this time to talk things out so we don’t end up fighting all throughout the lockdown,” Zak explained breaking the silence. I continued walking, not paying him any mind.
“And also, when I saw you disappear through that door with tears in your eyes…I became worried. I didn’t want you to be alone out here at night in this cold,” he softly admitted.
Those quiet words broke through the angry wall I had put up. I sighed in defeat. It took too much energy out of me to try and stay angry at him for long periods of time.
“I promise I won’t be a nuisance when the lockdown starts,” I vowed looking up at him.
“Yeah, I know,” he smiled in reassurance.
“I hope you find evidence of something.” I don’t know why it was so hard making conversation all of a sudden when before it had come easily. I felt like a hypocrite because I hated people who made mindless conversation and here I was doing the same thing I hated.
“I’m sure we will,” he agreed.
Then the conversation ended for the next hour while we walked back. When the motel’s lights came in sight, we smiled at each other in relief. Zak pulled out his phone and glanced at the time.
“Not too bad. We made it back within about an hour and a half,” he notified.
I looked over at his bare arms and noticed goosebumps had formed all over his arms. I released his hand and started to unzip the jacket when his hand covered mine.
“It’s ok. I’m fine,” he simply replied knowing exactly what I had been about to do.
“Zak, your arms are covered in goosebumps. I don’t want you to get sick,” I worried.
“We’re almost to the motel anyways, I’ll be okay for another five to ten minutes,” he promised. “Keep the jacket and stay warm. I’m more worried about you getting sick.”
I sighed and nodded my understanding letting my hands fall back down to my side. He zipped the jacket back up and we continued our walk up to the motel door.
When we finally reached his room, we stopped outside the door just looking at each other.
“Well, should we—”
“I kinda just want to stay like this for a little longer,” I interrupted.
“Why?” he quirked a dark brow in curiosity.
“Because…as soon as we step through that door…you might start getting snappy with me again because of all the stress of the job. I just don’t want this…whatever this is…to change just yet,” I quietly confessed. Nervous as to how he may react to my words, I looked away biting my bottom lip.
He touched my chin with his fingertips and slightly tilted my head back until my gaze met his.
“Nothing will change. I don’t want this to go away either,” he whispered.
He cupped my face gently between his palms and brushed his thumb along my lower lip.
“Did you know that the pale rays of the moon enhance the beautiful, delicate structure of your face? It’s like the moon was made to shine only upon you,” he complimented. My body erupted in shivers as his voice dropped to a deep, husky tone.
“You’re a terrible flirt and your pick up lines are cheesy,” I whispered back breathlessly. Even I could hear the shaky quality of my voice.
“That may be so,” he agreed. “But even so, they seem to have quite the effect on you,” he smiled bringing his face within inches of mine.
I could feel my heart pick up speed from his close proximity; I could smell the mint on his breath from where it washed over my face. I was slightly afraid of embarrassing myself again by thinking he was going to kiss me when he really wasn’t. But by the heated passion in his eyes and seductive smile on his face, I knew this was no mistaking that he was about to kiss me. My eyelids fluttered close as his lips grew closer to mine.
My heart pounded in anticipation.
His breath grew hotter as he drew closer.
And closer…
I felt the slightest brush of his lips on mine when—