The First Touch (3 page)

Which was why when he heard her grunt
and bump backwards
; he was actually amazed
by his inability to avoid
knocking into the little thing
. It was a distinct sound that came out of the
small female
,
surprisingly sensual
sounding in fact
.
She wobbled upon impact, on the verge of toppling over, though obv
iously trying hard not to fall
onto the icy sidewalk
. It however
,
did not go well
, and
he
watched as
she lost the fight
, her feet sliding out from under her
.

Instinctively
, her hands flailed out,
preparing to catch the brunt of the
impending impact
, when he took pity upon he
r
, and decided to
aid
the woman. H
e r
eached out and caught her
bird like ribcage, in the nook of his arm
, with ease
. To his asto
nishment, she reached her hand out,
contorting
unnaturally
,
and gripped
the front of his shirt
, not
trusting his gras
p
. He was
unexpectedly
rattled by the creature’s apparent alarm, and
watched as she
dropped her things
in the process. He could have snatched them, but he did not want to alarm her further feeling
her he
art jumping so violently he was frightened t
hat he had some how injured her
.

Her head flew up and the dangling hair parted
, just enough
to get a look at her eyes. H
er look of
astonishment
was
followed cl
osely by embarrassment, assuring him that
she was
in fact
unharmed
.
She quickly averted her gaze and apologized profu
sely as h
e
righted her, and then
watched
as she flexed her hand, rotating
her wrist mumbling, “Strong.”

Then s
he began to search franti
cally for her dropped items,
as
the l
ight turned green behind them again
, and another wave of bodies made their way towards the two. He scooped up her pencil and watched as she picked up the notebook, just in time. Suddenly he felt an overwhelming urge building up; a burst of energy that caugh
t his breath
, as a
thought struck him, was
this the
one? H
e graciously held the pencil out to her
,
just to be certain
, smiling politely in a
practiced way
, trying very hard not to look as anxious as he felt
as he gazed at her lips
.
Unknowingly though, she nervously bit her lower lip
at that very moment
, prolonging his agony.

The completely forgettable m
oment was about to be over
,
when
the crosswalk behind them started its countdown
, perfectly timed to intervene
on his behalf
. It began with a man, a few st
eps behind them, noticing
the count down.
Then the time on his watch
and suddenly
he
began pushing
his way through the crowded sidewalk looking for the fastest route to cross. In his rush,
he rudely shoved the disquieted
woman
,
just as she reached out for her lost pencil.

Th
e look on
her face changed from distress
to anger
,
in a flash. She cursed as her hand smacked down on the pencil sending it flying
, which he snatched easily this time. While
her second hand landed on the bare flesh of
his
other
wrist and she squeezed it in an
attempted not to
loose her balance
again
.

She succeeded in staying on her feet but watched in horror as her companion toppled over as if he had just been shot
, dropping her pencil in the process
. His pale fa
ce grimaced as he cursed and
fell backwards holding his wrist. She watched aghast at the turn of events, her heart rate tripling as she watched his stunned look of panic.

C
learly troubled
by the turn of events she
asked with genuine concern in her voice, “Are you alri
ght?” He looked at his arm, and then turned to look up at
her, his eyes still wide. She stepped closer and knelt down to inspect his wrist, which he now held clutched to his chest
,
staring at her unblinking
now
. Sheepishly, s
he repeated
her question with a distinct gentleness to
her voice, “Did I hurt you?” He was trying to hold back the feeling of power that now stirred inside of him, as he nodded slowly.

She reached her hand out to grab it, for a closer inspection
,
disbelieving his response, and he flinched. She halted her invasion, snapped her hand back, and took a knee, scooting back a bit, giving him some additional space. Anxiously she began rambling; attempting to explain the events, leading up to his fall
,
in hopes of providing him with
some sort of comfort,
and
explaining
that she meant no harm. To her dissatisfaction though, he did not seem to be listening
as he stared at her blankly for a long moment
, so she
let the words fall off and
stared at hi
m uncomfortably
.

He was
completely flabbergasted, his mind racing as he watched her looking terribly uncomfortable. Her ey
es searching his face
for some sign of how to proceed, but he could
not get himself together.
S
uddenly
she
looked about anxiously
,
as if
someone
else might come to take him away, and
help her to escape the uncomfortable situation
.

With the fear of her p
ossible disappearance
surfacing
, his instinct for self preservation
finally
kicked in and he flashed a glorious smile
. R
ubbing his wrist and then shaking it off
theatrically,
he explained,
“I am
sorry, I am
fine
, just twisted
it
as I fell
. Are you alright?”

She smiled and nearly choked with the relief in her voice as she replied, “Yeah I am fine! I thought t
hat I had broken you
.”

He smiled his eyes still a little wild and replied unconvincingly, “I am fine
…
Y
ou…
have quite a grip.
”

“Sorry.” B
lushing,
she offered her hand to him.

As if reaffirm
ing his original suggestion
, he shook his head, adding
, “I can do it
,”
then
he
rose
to his feet unassisted wiping the dust from his hands and pants.

She looked at him in
disbelief;
before
sha
k
ing
her head
, and
lo
oked
around again
to see if anyone else
was with him
once more
. He watched her out of the corner of his eye,
cautiously
,
hoping that he had not scared her off,
while
she seemed
satisfied with their
continued
lack of
audience.
Then s
he began absent-mindedly dusting her pants off
at the knees,
appearing in better spirits
, now that he was behaving properly again
.

Autumn though
t,
not funny
, and
then
looked up at the sky and scowled at
it for
sending her this
gift
,
wondering what she had done to deserve this special torture. Then she
snuck
another
quick glance at him, it must be really bad to put something
like
this
in her path
.

He was handsome, and truthfully
,
completely taken abac
k by his uniquely rugged
appeal
, she was in awe
. He had thick brown hair that made hi
s dark blue eyes pop, paired with his flawless features
hi
gh cheek bones and a strong jaw line
. P
erfectly proportionate to his broad square shoulders and obviously muscular physic
, she was assured that
he would look even better without his thick wool jacket
on
. She felt her stomach sudd
enly tighten as her mind
to
ok it further imagining
him without his shirt on
, and she raised her brow in appreciation
. She shook her head clearing it and then chastised herself
silently;
there will
be plenty of time for that
later
.

H
e watched
her
lingering unnecessarily
,
an encouraging sign for him but h
is mind struggled to take hold
of a plan of action.
He was not ready for this
; she was not it.
Was she?
This was wrong some how
, too soon.
The kiss from his dream had been so
sweet…
This could not be her…
surely, this could not be right.
Look at her she was…was…
was
not right.
If she would simply hold still and let him get a look at her
…
There ha
d to be a catch,
was there some
one else?
He looked around the sidewalk, and up at
the
windows
above them
. No one else was there. Then he grabbed his wrist again, it was burning from her touch. It was overwhelming
even
he could not deny it.

The kiss, that was all he needed, he was not going to die over
a kiss
. He shook his head
, trying to get it
to clear while he
tried to focus on the goal
. Nevertheless, his mind
would not comply
,
the kiss was just the antidote for the first touches secretions
,
he thought logically. He just needed to secure the kiss so she could begin her transformation and he could stop his own demise. He could help her find her proper mate in another clan afterwards.

H
e watched the female
seeming satisfied by her work
on her pants,
as
he thought
, it had happened before
, the scrolls had told of it, th
ere where a couple
of stories about
vessels accidentally bei
ng exposed to others intended mates
. Once the transformation was complete, they would naturally be drawn together and then all would be well.

H
er attention
finally tu
rned from her pants in search o
her pencil again. He found it instantly and swiped it up, offering it up to her with a slight bow
,
this time, a sparkle returning to his eyes. She smiled surprised at hi
s change of temperament
, “Thank you kind sir.”

He grinned, replying
with a flourish of his dusty hand, “You
a
r
e
welcome my lady.” Her smile widened as their eyes met again for a
nother
half second and she blushed.