A/N: Yay, lots of happy dances this time! Thank you, thank you, thank you! For those of you that have reviewed for multiple chapters; you make me squeal like a fangirl who's calling to tell all her friends she has Jensen Ackles tied up in her closet…. Have I said too much:D Once again, thanks to everyone for all the wonderful reviews. It really kicks my butt into gear when I read them:D

Standard disclaimers apply. Reviews celebrated. Happy dances rejoiced. (fangirl squealing optional)


Castaway

Chapter 4: Melt


The days seemed to melt together. And as the days melted away, so did their hope of rescue. Strangely enough, as their hope dwindled, so did a lot of their animosity towards each other. If they had been in Seattle, maybe things would have stayed the same between them… but out here, they were all they had and they tried to make the most of it. It's surprisingly easy to keep a truce when you're terrified of being alone. As the days passed, they fell into a kind of routine together. Maybe it wasn't always comfortable but it was a little bit of stability in a situation that never should have come about.

Max would wake before him and scratch another day into their little calendar, a stick that was rapidly becoming more tick marks than bark. She would enjoy the sunrise coming up over the waterfall, creating rainbows in the spray. She'd think about Seattle and Logan, Alec and breakfast, and anything else that came to mind. Alec would wake right about when she was done with her morning musings, and they'd go swimming together. They had a standing competition to see who could catch breakfast the fastest. It was more a matter of luck than speed. Or at least that's what Alec said when Max gained the lead.

Some days Alec would swim farther out, using a long, sharpened stick to go spear fishing out by the reef. He didn't do it very often because Max was positively neurotic about undertows. She'd sit on the beach "tanning" until he was safely back ashore after which she'd grump at him a few minutes while he'd just grin and present her with whatever he'd come up with. Sometimes it was a fish, sometimes a lobster, once it was a misshapen pearl. He didn't let her keep the pearl, pocketing it for a "special occasion." Max just glared at him. If he was thinking that one day they'd get off this rock and he could present it to some undeserving skank ho, how was that her problem? Let him keep his delusions. Whatev.

Lunch was usually fruit, which there was plenty of. They experimented with a few wild herbs and vegetables they came across, but most were disgusting whether raw or baked. The only exceptions to the rule were yams and wild rice, which were generally edible. Max would have liked some butter to go along with 'em, though, and made it a habit of pointing it out whenever Alec came back from the jungle with anything resembling a vegetable. Generally they stuck to fruit.

They'd explore the island a bit after lunch. That was the only time of the day they bothered with shoes. But as the days melted away, so did their brutish way of city walking, until their movements blended better with the jungle, silent and swift. Honestly, it didn't really matter whether they were stealthy or not. Who was there to track them? But it was another little game they played to wile away the hours. They got pretty good at it too, their steps quick and light, eventually giving up on shoes all together to avoid leaving tracks. And that was the reason why their fragile truce was shattered for the first and only time.

They eventually got too good. They got lost. Wander around in confusion, is this our trail or a game trail, kind of lost. They made it back home close to nightfall, unable to even look at each other, their fight had been so explosive. Max had barred Alec entry from the hut, stubbornly standing in the entranceway, arms folded across her chest. He'd glared at her and flopped down in the dirt.

It figured that it'd rain that night.

Max, who didn't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, had pretended to ignore him, feeling slightly triumphant about the whole matter. If he'd just apologize, she'd let him back in. He didn't apologize though, not even when the wind picked up and the rain created puddles around his huddled form. Did she feel a little guilty? Yeah, a little. But why did he have to be such a stubborn ass? If he'd just admit that it was all his fault, he'd be more than welcome to come in from the rain. He never admitted it. So she never let him in.

And when she woke up in the morning, he was gone.

When he didn't come back that day, she told herself he was a big, pouty baby and that he'd get over it. When he didn't come back the next day, she began to get worried. On the morning of the third day, she set out to find him, terrified he was lying in a ditch somewhere, mangled and half-eaten.

He'd left a little bit of a trail to begin with, a testimony to his anger. He hadn't walked away; oh no, he'd stomped. His anger must have cooled as he'd walked though because traces of his passing began lightening and then disappeared altogether. He had known she'd eventually come after him and obviously didn't want to be found. She swallowed in pain when she realized as guilt tightened her chest. Okay, so he wasn't the only stubborn ass on the island.

After an hour of helplessly searching for some mark of his passing, she sat down on a root and told herself not to cry. Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions and quell her fear, she started in realization. She could smell him.

It was a faint mixture of sunshine and sand, ocean and trees, and something else unmistakably Alec… She knew with such surety that it was him that she nearly fell off the root in surprise. Guess being cooped up with him had unexpected consequences, his scent burned in her subconscious being one of them.

When the trail came to an end at a familiar waterfall, she shook her head in disgust. She should have known.

His damn cave.

Ducking behind the curtain of water, she peered into the depths. Nobody home. He'd definitely been here though, judging by the pile of leaves in that nook over there, the same type of leaves they used as bedding at home. So she swallowed her pride, sat down, and waited.

He ambled in a few hours later, looking completely unsurprised to see her. She wondered if he could smell her too. The thought was a little unnerving. He didn't say anything, sitting on his makeshift bed, taking a small piece of wood from his pocket and carving into it.

"Aren't you going to say something?" She asked softly when the silence became unbearable.

He didn't look up. "What do you want me to say, Max?"

Max didn't know. She wanted him to scream at her. To tell her to never act like that again. Tell her…

"You could admit that this whole thing is your fault anyway, get over it, and come home."

Old habits are hard to break. Especially when you've been sitting in a cold, damp, downright creepy cave for two hours and your partner in crime ditched you for three days without so much as a single word of explanation.

The blade stilled and his head came up. Maybe it was the water glinting off the blade, reflecting in his eyes, but she could have sworn his eyes flashed gold as his jaw clenched. His anger was so thick in the air, she was almost unnerved at the softness of his voice.

"Get the fuck out."

"Alec-"

"I said leave!" He roared, flinging the piece of wood across the cave. She flinched as it bounced close to her head.

"Alec, I just-"

She didn't get a chance to finish, because Alec had apparently decided that if she wasn't going to leave, then he would. He didn't stand so much as he uncoiled, every muscle tense as he came to his feet and stalked towards the opening.

Max, who was not going to let it end on this note, sprang to her feet, rushing after him. She had been planning to tackle him and sit on him 'til he saw reason.

You know what they say about the best laid plans. Never make 'em when there's a pissed off transgenic in the mix.

Alec slid out of the way only moments before she would have crashed into him. Which meant that she hurled herself out of the cave's mouth instead, straight through the waterfall, and into the pool outside.

Alec really wanted to stay mad at her.

But as she came up, sputtering for air, he couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. She glared at him, but it just didn't have the same effect when her long hair was plastered to her face. It only made him laugh harder.

"You can shut up, now." She muttered, swimming to the water's edge as he went to the ground, wheezing.

"That was so worth every day I spent out here." He howled, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. She glared at him as she pulled herself onto the dry rocks near his feet.

It was almost too easy to topple him into the water.

"Not so funny now, are ya?" She laughed as he broke through the surface, hacking out water. Despite the pond inhalation, his good mood remained as he slogged towards the embankment. He held out a hand to her.

"Yeah right, like I'm gonna fall for that." She scoffed.

"Max," his smile disappeared. "Seriously, I just want help out of the water."

She looked mistrusting at him for a few moments before offering him her hand.

He promptly tugged her into the water. Figures. Well, two can play that game. When she didn't come up right away, he should have known. Strong arms grasped his legs, pulling him under. They both came up for air, laughing. And like that, everything was forgiven.

Nothing else was said about the incident that started the whole mess, at least not right away. They went home and watched the sunset together, sitting on the beach.

"Hey Max,"

"Yeah?"

"Never do that again."

She turned and looked at him, watched the dying light play across his face. Her gaze softened. "Never."

His arm settled across her shoulders and he pulled her close, brushing his lips lightly across her brow. Her head fell onto his shoulder and they watched the sun disappear in silence.

After that day, they really and truly were friends. It's not as though they'd had overnight lobotomies or anything; they still snapped and griped and flung caustic, sarcastic, snarky words around like they were goin' out of style. But their truce was based on more than just necessity now and they never again crossed that line.

What's more, the final bits of their routine fell into place. A little bit of sparring after exploring to work out some aggression. No fighting dirty, though, because they couldn't afford to get injured. Then some alone time.

Max usually swam or showered, sometimes walking along the beach, searching for interesting shells. Alec carved or headed into the jungle for a bout of catch-the-monkey. He hadn't caught one yet. He had caught some other wildlife, though. A small deer-like creature. Some kind of big cat that had tried to take a bite out of his hide. As of yet, no monkey… But one day! As the sun went down, they made their way back to the beach to watch the sunset together.

Max, true to her word, never barred him from the hut again. It helped that they added a room, which he knew not to go in if she was in one of her moods. Little projects ate away at their time; like the addition to their home, the short table made of bamboo that Alec surprised her with, skinning dinner so that they'd have pelts to put on their new beds, reinforcing the structure every couple of weeks… Before they knew it, three months had gone by and Max had to start a new 'calendar.'

In the third month, their first true crisis occurred.

Too be honest, Max should have known it was going to be a bad week from the get go. For starters, she'd actually fallen asleep the previous night at a decent hour. That was never a good sign. And even worse was how she'd woken up.

Hot. Sweaty. Plastered to the side of Alec.

Not a good sign. A bad, bad, baaad sign. Especially since she had no memory of getting up from her bed, crossing the room, and crawling under the furs to snuggle against the brunette.

Other than that, the day had been okay. It was only the next day, when she'd woken up once again pressed to his side, in the middle of nuzzling his neck, no less, when she realized that she could have a problem. A big problem. An 'oh shit, has it been that long since my last heat,' problem.

In typical Max fashion though, she didn't dwell on it, instead praying to god that he didn't wake as she pulled herself away and subsequently thanking god that Alec was sleeping like a rock. She tiptoed out of the room, wincing at each small creak in the bamboo beneath her. She reeeaaally hoped she had just been on this island for far too long with only one attractive male for company. I.e., she hoped she was just horny.

That notion was discarded pretty quickly when they got ready for their morning swim. He took his shirt off and suddenly every fiber of her being was focused on his abs.

Mmmm. And what nice abs they were… All that tan skin just beggin' to be touched. And those muscles… she could just eat him up.

"Max? You feelin' okay?" He waved a hand in front of her face, breaking her heavy gaze.

"I'm fine." She muttered distractedly, pulling herself from her thoughts. There was no WAY she had just been thinking about licking Alec from top to bottom. Oh man, she totally had been. This was so bad….

"I'm fine," She repeated with more force than was necessary when he continued to eye her suspiciously. "Just need to take a swim." When he shrugged and started to follow her she turned and snapped. "Alone." She stomped towards the water, refusing to look at him. Even his damn smell was turning her on.

Alec's nose twitched.

Alec prayed that she really was fine… Because if she went to heat out here… He shoved the thought away. Heat was one of those big 'no discussion' zones. He'd tried to bring it up during their first month (only to tell her that he would respect her wishes and make himself scarce) but she'd knocked him on his ass so fast he couldn't get it out. Hence, 'no discussion' zone.

Despite what his body was screaming at him, his brain pushed the possibility out of his consciousness. Nah, no way she was going into heat… hadn't gone into heat the whole year they'd been in Seattle, right? Nothing to worry about there.

Alec's mind, happily back in the land of denial, thought of lunch and monkeys and the possibility of combining the two. Pulling his shirt back over his head, he set out for the jungle. Oh yeah, today'd be the day he caught one of those little bastards.

It's a good thing he didn't turn and look at her, or he would have been a little unnerved. Max usually saved skinny dipping for the wee hours of the morning when Alec was asleep. It should have bothered her that he was so near and yet she was stripping down, but for some reason… not so much. Hmmm.

She sighed dreamily, slipping into the sun warmed water. She turned, watching the muscles in Alec's back bunch as he raised his shirt over his head, pouting when he pulled it down, obstructing her view. She continued to leer at him until his backside disappeared into the jungle.

And immediately jumped in surprise when he was no longer in sight.

What the hell was she doing?! Ohmigod. She did not just strip while Alec was standing right there! And proceed to ogle him no less!

He'd walked away pretty purposefully… On another monkey mission, no doubt. Good, that gave her some time… She bolted from the water, snatching up her clothes, making a mad dash for the waterfall. Must dunk self in cold water. Now. Before Alec came back. She groaned as an image of her friend pulling his shirt on replayed in her mind, decidedly slower and somehow much sexier, with mood lighting and theme music to boot.

Lots and lots of cold water.


The screeching gave away their positions.

Everywhere.

The enemy surrounded him. The only question was… which tree to climb…

Ah hell, who cares. He could always jump from limb to limb if he picked the wrong one. He scrambled up the nearest forest monstrosity fairly easily.

Damn… no monkeys. And of course he'd chosen the one tree that had no close neighbors to leap to… Look at them all over there, mocking me. Time for a new game plan.

An hour later, prize in hand, he was unable to contain his grin. He'd had the edge today… all of his senses had been heightened, his movements fast and sure, even if his brain had been a little distracted and it'd been harder than usual to focus… So much so that the first couple of trees he'd scaled hadn't housed any monkeys at all.

He'd finally gotten smart and had took a rock with him on the final climb, his accurate throw stunning one creature when it wasn't fast enough to leap away. So what if this moment was three months in the making. He'd finally caught one of those screaming banshees! He clamped his mouth shut before a gleeful twitter could escape.

Men do not gleefully twitter, he reprimanded himself. He thumped his chest once, to reestablish his manliness, before setting off for home.


Max was a prune. A cold, shivering, sodden prune. Thankfully, the hour she'd spent in the waterfall had taken the edge off and she could think a little more clearly now. And what she was thinking was truly frightening.

Max had heard stories in the few months she'd run Terminal City. Stories of heats, of mate fights, of the savagery involved… and not always on the men's part. Yeah, the men could beat the snot out of each other trying to get at a girl, but some of the most remorseful tales came from women who'd chosen a mate that didn't want them… Transgenics, at the end of the day, were human, and so could choose to ignore their instincts, painful though it may be. If a man didn't want to mate, because he already had a special someone, or for whatever reason, generally the woman was never far gone enough to try and rape him.

Sometimes, though, things got out of hand, which was where all the stories originated from. When spurned, a female transgenic in heat sometimes settled for trying to beat the offending male into a pulp, the man too dazed by hormones and his warring emotions to take much of a stand. Girls kicked ass, even more so when they were scorned X series with an itch their chosen someone didn't want to scratch.

God. This was bad. Up unto this point, she'd had her choice of men to take home (though her choices were usually less than desirable once her cycle was over). With only one man around, and a good looking one at that, she was sure to come on to him. What if he turned her down? When the three days were over and she came out of it, would she see only hatred in his eyes? She shuddered.

Alec was all she had. She couldn't live with herself if that happened. She cleared her throat at the sudden rush of emotion. They'd been on this damn island too long, it was making her all soft…

Alec broke through the tree line with the subtlety of a drunken moose, whistling jauntily. Her head snapped around, wet hair flying, as all thought screeched to a halt, replaced by what she'd consider syrupy gloop were she in her right mind.

Oh… Alec. Alec was here. She beamed at him. How great.

She sure was in a good mood, Alec thought, a wolfish grin overtaking his face, loping towards her. Max sucked in a breath as she caught sight of his wicked smile, biting her lip as electricity shot from her fingertips to her toes. Alec staggered as the rush of hormones slammed in to him, nearly coming to his knees. He stopped dead in his tracks, swaying, sucking in a breath, his pupils dilating as he stared across the open beach at her.

Ohhh, this was not good, his brain murmured. His body told his brain to shut up.

"Maaax,-" he started and then fell silent as his cajoling voice registered in his mind. His quick grin slipped and he shifted on the balls of his feet, suddenly nervous. He hovered at the edge of the sand, too afraid of what he might do if he made even a step towards her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Her eyes narrowed, her mouth twisting in a crooked grin so like his own. "Of course I'm okay." She rose from her crouch, all fluidity and grace. Alec swallowed.

"Max. C'mon. You're practically purring." He said warily, eyes wide, trying to will the tenseness out of his muscles. No, no, no. Do not stand up. Go sit back down. Do not walk over here.

She wasn't doing a good job of obeying his psychic directives. Alec had heard of people slinking before. He'd just never seen anyone do it… until now. So not good.

It's okay. It's okay. As long as she doesn't touch me…

Alec's nostrils flared, eyes widening to saucers as one short nail meandered down his chest, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

"I missed you," She murmured, her fingertip thankfully coming to stop at the waist of his jeans. He swallowed hard, his tongue suddenly thick in his dry mouth.

"Really?" He asked dumbly, looking down, watching as she pulled his shirt up away from his stomach. Watching as her hand splayed across his abdomen and she murmured something appreciative. Watching as her hand sunk lower, dipping into the waistband of his jeans…

"I brought you something!" His shout was almost deafening in the silence. She paused, only for a moment, but it was enough time for him to shove the bundle he'd been clutching into her hands and back away, mentally sighing in relief.

She blinked at him in confusion, looked down. And then shrieked, dropping the furry carcass into the dirt.

"Gross, Alec!"

"What? It's dinner."

Her eyes widened, unable to look away from the small form in the dirt. "But… but it's so cute!"

"You didn't have any trouble with that deer thing." He knew he shouldn't feel hurt that she was rejecting his gift, knew that it wouldn't have even been a gift if all those damn pheromones weren't cloying the air…

Her face scrunched in disgust. "That's different! Just… get rid of it." She backed away slowly, keeping her eyes on the dead monkey, too afraid to look up at her wounded cat. When she felt she was at a safe distance, she turned on her heel, making a beeline for the waterfall.

Alec frowned, looking down at the monkey in the dirt. "You better taste like chicken." He growled, before scooping it up and heading back into the jungle.

Thankfully, the first day of heat was always the easiest to control, so long as she stayed away from anything vaguely male shaped. And luckily, the only male shaped thing on the island was staying far away from her.

The second day was a little bit harder. She spent most of it under the waterfall, using every ounce of her will power to stop herself from following Alec's scent into the jungle.

The third day, she was just pissed. She either wanted to kill something, or make mad, passionate love to something. The something in both cases being Alec. Mostly, she stuck with pissed, though.

So, what, he didn't want her? What was there to not want?! She was frickin' hot! And she knew what kind of effect she had on him, had really sort of known since he'd stumbled in on her in the waterfall when they'd first gotten here and almost swallowed his tongue. So why was he avoiding her?! She told herself that she was going to find him and give him a piece of her mind! (not a piece of her ass, nope, no sir, nu-uh)

Mother Nature, the bitch, once again ruined her plans. The downpour was torrential. As she stalked in the hut, soaked, she couldn't help but think that the rain seemed intent on ruining her life. She paced the length of the hut, edgy, caged, waiting for it to let up so she could look for Alec.

When it did, she almost screamed in frustration.

The rain had washed away his scent. She had no way of tracking him now! And she knew without a doubt there was no way he'd be stupid enough to go to his stupid cave. Especially since he probably knew that she'd come looking for him.

She had no choice but to ride out her heat. It was completely and utterly miserable. She spent half the day sobbing in misery, and the other half under the water's spray, cursing Alec, Manticore, and anything else that came to mind. There were no words for her pissiness when he appeared on the fourth day.

"All clear?" He called warily from the edge of the clearing.

"If it wasn't, don't you think I'd have launched myself at you by now?" She replied scathingly, coming out of the hut.

He sighed in relief, stepping into the sunlight. Who was he to sigh in relief? Like sleeping with her would have been some kind of chore or something. Alec, catching the darkness descending around her, smiled nervously. "I come bearing bananas." He shook the bunch for emphasis, crossing the distance between them.

She glared at him for a few moments before curiosity won out. "How was the monkey?"

He grinned at her, eyes level as she was on the porch and he was in the dirt. "Tasted like chicken."

"Really?"

"No. But it wasn't bad." He shrugged, stepping up next to her, offering a banana. She took it from him with an incredulous laugh.

"I can't believe you ate a monkey." She shook her head.

Again, he shrugged, stepping inside the hut, seating himself on the ground at the table. Max toyed with the peel, seemingly engrossed. Alec sighed and pushed himself away from the table and into the wall. "Spit it out, Max."

"It's nothing… I was just… kinda wondering where you spent the last couple of days."

"At the cave, where else?"

"Are you kidding me?" She exploded.

He grinned. "I figured there was no way you'd look there, because you'd think there was no way I'd be dumb enough to stay there if you were looking for me."

"Wow. That almost kind of makes sense." Her questioning tone said that no, it made no kind of sense whatsoever and he was an idiot.

"Well, you didn't find me. We did not make with the 'gettin busy.'" he paused to roll his eyes and make air qoutations, ruined slightly by the banana he held in one hand. "So it must have made some kind of sense. What else is there to say?" Another grin as he bit the end off of the banana. Even his chewing was smug.

Her expression was a strange mixture of glare and pout. He wasn't entirely sure how she pulled that off…. And why would she be upset about this, anyway?

"Max, are you mad that we didn't have sex?"

"What?! NO!" She stomped over to him, throwing herself to the ground next to him and tearing the banana peel open with as much viciousness as she could muster.

"Are you sure?" He eyed her askance, "'Cause you're not acting like it."

"Sorry, it's just that-" She lapsed into silence again, the banana lowered into her lap.

"Seriously. Max. You're starting to freak me out."

"That's what I mean!" The flame in her eyes relit. "Am I that disgusting? You'd rather spend three days in a damp cave than sleep with me? I mean, I'm grateful and everything, 'cause now I don't have to kill you, but-"

"Okay." He blinked. "I see where you're goin' with this. If I had slept with you, you'd have killed me."

She nodded enthusiastically.

"But… since I didn't sleep with you that means you must be some ugly, horrible creature."

Another nod, this one more of a shamed ducking of the head than anything else.

"Women." He huffed. She couldn't help the smile.

"Yeah, Alec, you got us all figured out."

"Hey, I'm 2 for 0 today. I was right about the cave and about the cause of your split personality. Give me some credit."

She shook her head, letting out a short laugh. "Not in this lifetime."

The smile dropped as her regarded her in all seriousness. "Max, I would never, ever take advantage of you when you're like that."

A quick smile to lighten the mood. "I seem to recall that I was the one trying to take advantage of you."

"Yeah," he scratched the back of his head, "but I should have known something was up. You don't usually drool when I take off my shirt."

"HEY!"

"I'm just sayin-"

"I did not drool." She said forcefully. He arched one eyebrow at her. "Okay fine. Maybe a little. But it was all mental. There was no… drippings… or anything."

His wicked grin lit up the room. He opened his mouth-

"Save it. I don't feel like hitting you right now."

He shrugged, but his smile was so self-satisfied she almost popped him anyway. The room settled into an awkward silence. Alec continued to inwardly gloat. Max toyed with the half naked banana in her lap.

"To be honest," Alec said after a few moments, in an attempt to dispel her awkwardness. "I didn't know you even went into heat. I thought maybe you won the transgenic lottery or something. No junk DNA, no heat. Seemed like a possibility since you never got shook up in Seattle."

She laughed. "I totally went into heat in Seattle."

"Like when?"

"Like four months from three days ago, for starters." When his stare remained disbelieving, she shook her head. "Don't be stupid, Alec. The name Logan ringin' any bells? The guy I can't touch? I even suspected I was going into heat, I chained myself up in the bathroom so fast, O.C. didn't know what was goin' on."

Alec smirked. "So that's why you two always caught the flu around the same time." He shook a finger at her. "I thought that was suspicious, you being all genetically empowered and everything. Figured you just got busted up in some Eyes Only gig and needed to lay low for a bit."

"Yeah, Alec. You're a quick one."

More silence.

"Just for the record," Max said softly, eyes in her lap. "I think you're kind of a good guy. Not many guys I know would just walk away when I was like that."

"Was there ever any doubt?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah." She scoffed, her eyes coming up to meet his. Her gaze softened. "But not anymore."

"Fine, fine," He harrumphed, "just don't make a habit out of anything." His grin didn't quite meet his eyes.

Because there was no helping it; it was going to be a habit. An every four month habit in which, rain or shine, he'd have to spend three days running away from something he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to run away from.

Max, sensing his grimness and the total unfairness of everything, reached across the table. Her hand skimmed lightly over his for a minute, hesitant, before settling on his wrist. Alec froze.

The touch was shocking in its intimacy, for both of them. More so, because she was the one to initiate. Max was never the one to seek out touch, especially any kind of skin contact, especially after the year she'd spent fighting the virus in Seattle. Alec fidgeted a moment, uncomfortably, before looking across at her with a pained half-grimace, half-smile on his face.

She laughed, a trifle hurt, as she pulled her hand away. "I guess I have kind of been a bitch to you in the past," Her tone was light, but it didn't disguise the pain of rejection. "Figures you'd be scared of me touching you."

He stared at her in shock, amazed that she could misread him so easily. He caught her wrist as she drew away, his eyes tracing the back of her hand as her breath caught in her throat. He painstakingly threaded his fingers through hers, lifting serious hazel eyes to gaze deeply into shocked brown. His smile was crooked but it didn't disguise the erratic pulse she could feel through his fingertips or the flicker of fear behind his eyes. It made something deep, deep inside of her melt, even as her own heart sped up to keep time with his.


End Chapter Four