His gaze sharpened.“Is this what happens during these attacks?”
She nodded, relieved she could at least admit this.“It feels like…” She put a hand to her throat and swallowed.“Like someone’s strangling me,” she whispered.“Like I’m dying.”
She closed her eyes and the vision came back.Hands around her throat, squeezing the breath from her.The thought of impending death.The fear the knowledge brought.The sadness of losing…something.She didn’t know what though.
“Madelaine.”He was suddenly in front of her, pulling her hands from her neck and holding them in his.“Chérie,breathe.I am here now.”
She opened her eyes, still seeing the hands, still feeling the burning need to breathe.Her chest rose and fell.
“It’s all right,chérie.”
“It’s not,” she gasped.“It’s not all right.”She backed away from him, terrified.Not of him but of herself.Of what her mind was doing.
He let her go, his hands falling to his sides, his eyes haunted.“Madelaine,” he said softly.
“It’s not all right, Christien.Something’s wrong with me.”
She moved to the sofa and sank into it, putting her head in her hands.What’s happening to me?Why am I acting this way?Where are these visions coming from?
He sat beside her and took her hands in his, kissing her knuckles.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?What has you so scared?Please tell me so I can help.”
She looked at him helplessly, the words stuck in her throat.To admit something was wrong with her would be admitting she was losing her mind.
Christien’s phone buzzed.He cursed and pulled it from his belt to read the text message.“It’s Sabine.I’m sorry, Madelaine, but I need to see to this.”
She nodded, partly relieved she’d been given a reprieve and scared he had to leave her.What if the vision returned and what if, this time, she wasn’t able to pull herself out of it?
“Stay here,” he said.“I want to finish this conversation.”
“I don’t think—”
“But I do.There are things you need to tell me, no?”
Her breath escaped her in a terrified rush.He wasn’t letting her go easily.When he returned, she’d have no choice but to tell him what was happening.Or she could leave.Go back to her apartment where her fears lived.
“Please stay.”As if sensing her thoughts, his fingers tightened around hers.He touched her chin to draw her closer.
He was so close, so warm and secure.If she moved just a fraction she could kiss him.But something kept her from moving, some force held her back when her body longed to feel his lips on hers and her soul cried out for him.
“Madelaine.”His whispered words brushed her skin and slid along her nerves, making them tingle in ways she’d never experienced before.
Slowly she lifted her eyes to meet his.A storm raged inside him, as well.She saw it in the swirling fog of his eyes, in the steel that had become his muscles.
“Don’t leave me,” he said so softly she almost didn’t hear him.
His head inched closer, degree by degree.He was going to kiss her.And this kiss would change her life.Nothing would ever be the same again.
He spoke but they were in words she didn’t understand, in a language she’d never heard before, and yet the cadence was comforting, almost familiar.
“Kiss me,” she said.
He closed his eyes as if he were in pain.For a horrible second she thought he wasn’t going to kiss her.And then his lips were on hers, hot and insistent.
She made a sound deep in her throat of surrender, submission, longing.His fingers moved from her chin to her jaw, to the back of her head, cradling it in a tender embrace.
