Caught in the Crossfire

Pushing her hair behind her ear, Penelope sunk further into the sofa, while placing her feet on top of the coffee table in front of her. Her hands fell to her lap, as she picked at her nails with her fingers. Liam was on the opposite side of her room, with his hand against her bookshelf, while his body leaned against it.

Neither of them knew what to do. After being shot down by four of the six people they’d gone to for help, they were feeling a little down on their luck. Penelope was certain she’d found the perfect people to stop the arsonist, but neither she nor Liam were able to convince them.

Glancing over at Liam, she let out a deep breath. It was so strange having him in front of her and actually being able to see him. After their year of communicating strictly through text messages and the occasional phone call, Penelope had grown accustom to the faceless person she’d befriended. She’s spent countless hours wondering what he looked like and who he really was. Now that she could actually see him, she realized how wrong all of those dreams had been.

The freckle faced teenager that her mind had concocted was far from the handsome man standing in front of her. He was tall, strong, and absolutely gorgeous. He was the exact opposite of what she had expected to find, and it was intimidating.

His perfect body and flawless face made Penelope feel ashamed of her high ponytail and glasses. If they’d had any free time, she would have taken a few seconds to fix herself up, so she could look half as good as Liam, but this was the first bit of down time they’d had in days.

As Liam turned around, moving his hand from the bookshelf, his eyes caught hers and she had to force herself to look away. It was still just a little too much for her to handle.

He took a few quick steps over to her and took the seat next to hers. Kicking his legs up onto the coffee table, Liam sunk back until he was perfectly in line with her. He was clearly just as desperate as she was. They needed to stop this guy, but they couldn’t do it alone.

Even though Liam had the strength of a thousand men and Penelope had enough computer skills to hack into a government database, they weren’t enough.

“Penny,” Liam said, turning his head towards her. “I know you think it’s your fault, but it’s not.”

There had been another fire. It was a small one, but it had still killed two people. It was more flashy than dangerous, almost making it seem as though the arsonist was just trying to get a rise out of the public.

“But if we’d convinced them, maybe we could have stopped it.”

Liam gave a quick shake of his head, before wrapping his arm around Penelope’s shoulder. Aside from a quick brush of skin or one of his gentle hands against her back, this was the first real contact the two had. His arm pulled her closer to him, until her head fell on his chest. It wasn’t her fault – it wasn’t either of their faults – and Liam was desperate to make her see it. He didn’t want Penelope to feel bad for anything that had happened. She was too kind for that.

The feeling of his body against hers, as insignificant as the touch was, relaxed her a thousand times better than any cup of tea ever would. His head fell on top of hers, with his cheek pressed against it. She tried so hard not to lean into him, because something about it terrified her, but she was unsuccessful. Her body relaxed into his, fitting perfectly against him, as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Every touch calmed her just a little bit more, and even though he hadn’t said anything, she knew he wasn’t going to let their mission end there. Liam was determined – even more determined than she was – and she knew he would never give up. He didn’t have to tell her, because she knew that he would find a way to stop the arsonist, even if they hadn’t gained the help of the others yet.

Penelope knew a lot of things, but the one thing she didn’t know was that Liam had a plan.