Chapter 9:

Sharon.

Sharon looked around her. The darkness was so dense that she couldn't see a thing. Her hair was wet and the water dripped slowly on her back, disappearing in the absorbing fabric. Even this white, fluffy thing she was wearing couldn't be seen.

She felt her way along the wall, just a few steps to her door. When she reached it, she realized that in the haste of finding out what was going on, she forgot to close it.

Her heart started to pound high in her chest with tension as she wondered if someone might have entered her room when she wasn't paying attention to sounds around her.

"You're being ridiculous again," she muttered in an attempt to calm her nerves. Her breath became heavier with every step she carefully took into the room, and she tried to catch any noises in her vicinity.

There was nothing. Not a distant sound from somewhere on the road or across the street, or the inn's yard. There weren't even sounds of the wild animals that surely reside in the woods around them.

She stood there, at the entrance to her room, and just listened. At a time like this, her ears were her best weapon to defend herself.

Weapon… she couldn't find her gun right now if her life depended on it.

The sound of footsteps on the porch outside her room got her heart racing again.

Let it be Andy. Let it be Andy, please, she begged silently.

A small source of light caught her attention, and Flynn's shadowy face appeared on the threshold.

"Hey, I got us four candles. Couldn't hold any more than that, they're huge!" he said, walking around her into the room, toward the bed. "At least they'll last for hours."

Sharon saw that he was right – the candles were quite big and in different colors. He placed a purple one and a green one on the nightstands, bringing a match to each candlewick before leaving them there to spread their modest glow.

The third candle – a red one – was placed on the TV stand, right next to where Sharon was standing.

"Okay, you're all set. I'll take this one with me to my room," he pointed at the last candle in his hand, a yellow one.

Sharon wanted to yell at him to stay with her, but she tried to restrain herself while watching his dark figure heading toward the open door. At the last second, his name emerged from her mouth involuntarily and he stopped, once again, on the threshold.

"What? Did you find any monsters in the dark?" he mocked her with a mischievous smile.

"Uh, except for you?" she fired back with the most sarcastic tone she could generate.

"Ouch," he chuckled and closed the door from the inside. "Fine, I'll stay until all the other monsters have gone away."

"It's not necessary," she sat on the edge of the TV stand with her arms folded, hoping to sound brave – but she was never a good liar. Flynn took a few small steps and sat right next to her, his right shoulder touching her left one. "Really, it's fine, I'll just stay locked inside until the lights come back."

"And feel sorry for youself?" he chuckled again.

"You know, the darkness doesn't give you the right to talk like that to a higher ranking officer."

"Are you gonna punish me?" he asked in a low, husky voice and brought his nose close to her cheek jokingly.

"Don't tempt me," she said, feeling very tempted indeed, but not to punish him.

Flynn moved his head back, but still looked at her. "Do you ever allow yourself to be tempted by... anything?"

"That's none of your business."

"When was the last time you were with a man?"

"Andy!" Sharon said, appalled.

"What? I can fix you up with someone. I have some friends –"

"You can go now." She got up and took a step away from him, but on the next step her leg bumped into the bed's leg, and she felt her feet lose contact with the floor. Something closed tight around her upper arm, preventing her body from meeting the floor in a way that would've hurt a lot. Instead, she had a soft landing on her shins with her arm held upwards in a weird angle.

She turned her head quickly to her right and found Flynn's nose close again, almost touching hers. His hand was still grasping her arm tight.

"Are you alright? Were you hurt?" he frowned at her, worried.

"I… don't think so," she almost whispered. The proximity seemed to have taken the air out of her lungs.

"Good… what's that smell?" he lowered his tone to match hers.

"What smell?"

"Like… a flower."

Sharon released her arm from his grip gently, but her face didn't move an inch. She felt like she was hypnotized, unable to move her gaze away from him.

"That would be my shampoo," now she whispered. Her lungs felt empty, as if they collapsed from the excitement shooting through her veins like a drug.

"It's…" Flynn apparently couldn't complete his sentence, but the holes that his missing words left were soon filled with something else.

Sharon watched his face coming closer to hers like a slow-motioned movie. She knew that she had to move backwards, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. The need to satisfy her desires was much too strong.

The softness of his lips clashed against her yearning mouth like an explosion, which sent burning vibes through her bones. Her brain yelled that she was doing an awful thing, but it felt too good to be bad. Their tongues danced around each other in a frenzy, like an endless chase, and Sharon felt him putting his hand on her left cheek. It might have been the long time that has passed since she was with a man, but she couldn't remember anyone ever kissing her like that, with that much passion, and she never wanted it to stop.

After what seemed like hours or days of vigorous movements and a blend of emotions, they finally toned it down and eventually separated from one another. His eyes seemed black in the weak candle light and they looked at her so deeply. An unnerving sensation crept up her spine. She felt that, at this very moment, he could see her soul. As if the kiss has dissipated any invisible boundary.

"What just happened?" she barely whispered, her eyes clinging onto his for the answer.

"We…" he started, but couldn't finish. "What just happened?" he repeated her question, his hand feeling warm against her cheek.

"I… I don't know. But it can't happen again," she wanted to sound determined, but it was hard with just a weak whisper.

"Yeah…" he muttered, nodding slightly.

They held each other's gaze for a moment before both of them charged at one another again. Sharon sent her hand to the back of his head and grabbed his hair loosely between her fingers. She felt his hand traveling slowly from her cheek down her neck. It continued to her shoulder, pulling the robe from it as it moved. When his lips left hers she opened her eyes just to close them again immediately as his mouth landed gently on her now bare shoulder. She bit her bottom lip to the trail of soft kisses that he made up her shoulder and then up her neck.

"We're breaking the rules," her whisper was almost inaudible.

"I know," his voice trembled against her ear and a sudden chill pricked every inch of her skin.