A/N: Really hope you are enjoying the story. Would love to have any feedback you guys have. Things heat up for Kat and Eric.

Chapter 21 - Eyes On Fire

Kat

I am stalling and I know it. I have been as dressed as I can get before I know I need to let Eric be aware I am ready. During the shower I had run a million possible excuses through my head that I could give him as to why I didn't really need any medicines or help. All of them were feeble and made me feel weak for even thinking of trying to use them.

Then there was the fact that something told me refusing him would be a bad idea. He seemed to be teetering on a razor's edge with his anger right now. Me not allowing him to help or just not doing what any sane person would do might set him over it. I was still resolved to not let him give me any kind of pain killers. That wasn't about making myself suffer but about the lack of control I felt with them. He could be mad all he wanted but I wouldn't give in on this point.

Even having resolved that I was going to let him help me, I was still procrastinating. I took my time combing and braiding my hair. Using the lotion and moisturizer that Zach had seen to buying me. I toyed with the idea of using the little bit of makeup he had also apparently decided to pick up but with the condition of my face it was a useless task. I sat staring at myself in the mirror for minutes, turning this way or that and trying analyze myself. Trying to see myself through his eyes when he came in. Trying not to think too hard about who picked out the underthings they had set out for me or not let my knees go weak at the thought that it was Eric.

I have never thought of myself in terms of pretty, plain, ugly or anything of that nature. I heard lots of comparisons or adjectives yelled at me by others from different factions. But honestly I had never given much thought over my looks, other than wanting to break out of the Abnegation mold. My focus from the time before the incident had been just being free from the confines of my faction. Then after the incident my sole focus had been on making myself stronger and a better person.

Even when Four had shown...interest..in my early teens, I hadn't put thought into if it was because of my looks or not. Honestly, I have always been convinced it was because he thought he should be with me. Who he thought I should be anyways or someone like that.

I sigh at that thought because that is a whole other slew of worries that I didn't have the wits to contemplate right now. I would ponder about Four and Tris later.

My worry was the young woman before me now in the mirror and the man, the first man, I wanted to notice me. He never would but what I was seeing in the mirror was not enough to measure up to the women I am sure he could have in a second if he wanted to anyways.

My hair was a lighter shade of blonde than my sisters. Dull, in my opinion, compared to the mixes of tones in hers. Where hers had blonde, brown and bronze all mixed together in way that could be stunning; my blonde hair was almost the color of bleached wheat with hints of gold in it. Not the shimmering locks I had always been slightly envious of.

We had the same general shape of nose but mine turned up just the slightest at the end. Making it more cute instead of strong or striking like hers.

My lips were bow shaped and annoyingly pouty.

My eyes a little too wide making the overall girl like appearance of my combined features even more like a child instead of an alluring woman.

Combine that with my short and petite frame and I could be mistaken for a boy if I weren't wearing clothes that showed off the curves I did have, centered around my hips and ass. That I had plenty of. It was what Lynn liked to jokingly call my junk in my trunk.

Not enough by half to compete with the women I saw eyeing Eric in the dining hall or Pit. Those were women with a capital W. Figures encased in skin tight clothing, ample cleavage and perfectly groomed for the art of seduction. Nothing I had the first clue about achieving.

Through with my reflections and my reflection, I went and opened the door then called his name. Then, because I didn't want to look as ill at ease as I was feeling, I hoped up onto the bathroom counter and hoped I looked casual about this all. Sitting in jeans, boots and a sports bra.

I shook my head at the drama I was causing myself at the moment and look at my hands. I hear his steps as he approaches the bathroom and keep my head down, playing with my hands and nails.

"Did you leave any hot w…" Eric stopped in the middle of a chuckled question as he came in the door and stood there.

I only knew where he was and that he had stopped because I saw his feet from where my eyes were still glued to my hands.

"Did I leave any hot water?" I smirk a little and shrug. "I might have left a tiny amount."

He clears his throat and steps forward, his boots thumping on the tiled floor. I hear the thudding of my heart sounding in my ears, three beats for each pause between his steps. His intake of breath sounds in my ears and brings to my attention the fact that my own breathing is at least two times faster then his. He may be barely breathing at the moment but it seems I can't take enough breaths.

One of his large, warm and wonderfully calloused hands takes both of my clasped hands in his while the other slides along my jaw for the second time today. He tilts my head up gently so that I once again am looking into his eyes while his thumb strokes my cheek softly.

Before his eyes had been filled with anger and worry. The worry was still there but there was something else that I couldn't understand. They were a deeper blue and seemed to burn even more into mine. His lower lip was trapped between his teeth before he released it and a breath at the same time.

"Are you ok, Kat?"

I nod and smile a little at him. "I hurt a little but the shower did help."

The side of his mouth quirked up in a side smile and he shook his head. "That isn't what I meant...Kat…" He asked in a husky voice, pausing before he said my name. As if he almost said something else before it. "Are you ok being here like this...with me?"

No. But not for the reasons you would think, Eric. Not for any reasons I could admit without ruining our friendship, and I don't want that to happen.

I answer that honestly in my mind before I take a breath and smile with a nod. "I said I trust you Eric and I do." My answer is just as honest as the one in my mind.

He sighs but doesn't break his gaze or let me go. He looks to be searching my face or eyes for something until they move over my to my injuries. Then the look in his eye changes. This one I can recognize from how his face starts to transform to the tightness from before. The next few minutes leave me breathless as not only his gaze but his hands start to move over me.

I close my eyes and try to keep my breathing normal while the rough fingertips from both of his hands start to go over those areas, my injuries, that he is cataloging and evaluating. His look was one of worry but went to nothing but clinical in how it moved over me.

His hands and eyes might be moving over me in a non sexual manner but my body and mind didn't give a shit. He was touching me and it took everything in me to fight back the moans that wanted to erupt from me. I kept my eyes clenched shut tight and internally scowled with every soft whimper I didn't manage to hold back.

"Tell me if you need me to stop or back away, Kat." His voice was strained and deep. Deeper than I had ever heard it before and I imagined it was from the anger and worry as he saw first hand how badly I had allowed myself to be hurt.

I could only nod my answer but he must have been too absorbed and didn't see it. "Answer me Kat." He demanded of me, the deepness of his voice and command rumbling from his chest and straight into my core. The wetness from earlier was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. It was liquid desire just pooling there and causing me to hold in the squirming I wanted to do to try and find some kind of….something. Relief maybe?

His voice and his touch were creating a whirlpool in my core and stomach.

"Yes Eric, I will. I'm ok though." I gasp out slightly, still keeping my eyes closed tightly. "Don't...I...please...I mean you don't have to stop."

I cringe internally because that was me practically begging him at this point, moaning even. His fingers had been moving along my sides, one hand on each side. What started out as just faint presses of his fingertips along my ribs became even more delicious contact.

Near my hips his full hand slid across the bare skin, a whisper of the heat of his skin against the goosebumped flesh of mine at my waist. Then his fingers slid a slow progression up, almost caressing each rib until with a gasp and my head falling back, his fingers skimmed the ribs just under my breasts causing my nipples to go hard and goosebumps to break out all along my body.

His hands stilled and I cursed myself in my head for letting that gasp out. My skin was flushing red from embarrassment and I felt tears burning behind my closed eyes. I expected him to pull away, step back and address the situation in an awkward manner.

He didn't pull away though, in fact he moved even closer until I was forced to open my legs a little and my knees brushed along his hips. His hands had moved from my sides, up my arms until they traveled across my shoulders, up my neck and to either side of my face. There they stopped and he cupped my head gently.

"Kat, look at me." It wasn't until he spoke that I became aware that his own breathing was hard, seeming to match my own, and his voice was a deep tone but husky as well.

I frowned and opened my eyes, more worried if he was ok than I was about my own embarrassment at the moment. I almost wish I hadn't. That I had denied his demand because what I saw couldn't be real. In his eyes I think I saw the same desire I knew to be coursing through me. His lips were also tilted up at the corners in what was, confusingly, a smug smile.

Then his face was moving closer to mine and any rational thought fled my mind except one.

Please, oh please, let him be about to kiss me.