Okay, this is the last one until the summer ends...it was written as entry for the Whose Line? contest at the Hideaway where the first line must be 'what had he said to her?' See you all in August!
What had he said to her? The words had slipped from his lips unbidden, gliding from his heart to his mouth without pausing for censorship. He berated himself for that mistake while he watched the young woman before him react as his words reached her.
Her eyes had widened and she stood before him shocked, awed, and hopeful. Her lips trembled and he had to restrain himself from leaning forwards to still them with his own.
Should he, could he, retract those dangerous words? Take them back before they led to something neither of them could recover from? Before they lead to the inevitable heartbreak that she, for one, did not deserve?
In his hesitation, he lost his chance to take back the terrible words and was forced to watch in a simultaneously tortuous and delicious state of limbo as she opened her mouth to speak and from her beloved lips fell the words that filled him with both awe and dread.
He closed his eyes as the words washed over him, relishing the sweet sound even as he prepared himself for the dangerous times ahead brought on by what they could no longer hold inside.
"I love you too."