Chapter
2
Kate felt terrible. She knew why he was here...this was the
place where everything had come down to one kiss, one kiss that took
her breath away. Kate hadn't expected it to be so wonderful, and was
caught off guard. And then when she'd finally gathered herself enough
to ask where Shannon's inhaler was, his answer made her head spin.
She'd done the first thing that came to her mind. It was a flash of
anger and she slapped him. She remembered the exact instant when her
hand had connected with his cheek, and thought she could still see a
small scratch where one of her nails had caught his skin...his
beautiful tan skin. Kate wanted desperately to reach out and touch
it, try to sooth the pain that had been there. But she firmly forced
her arms to stay crossed.
She'd seen the fire in his eyes. That flame of passion unlike any she'd ever seen before. It scared her yes, but it ignited a similar flame deep down in the deepest recesses of her heart, a place and feeling she hadn't even known existed until this instant. Her heart raced, and her breathing shallowed. She actually ached with the desire to hold him, to feel his lips against hers just one more time.
Kate realized that while all of these thoughts had whipped through her mind she'd looked down, almost in a daze. She gasped sharply when she looked up only to see Sawyer standing within inches of her. Their eyes met, and Sawyer could see what he had started. He felt his heart jump up into his throat at the thought that he was the cause of that look in her eyes. That look that was almost exactly like the one he'd seen just before they'd kissed the last time. He didn't even realise that he'd stepped closer to her until she looked up at him sharply. He almost stepped back in shock, but firmed his resolve instead. He had to know. He had to see what she did.
Sawyer felt like her eyes were looking into his soul. Like she could see every bit of pain and suffering he'd ever felt, and she was trying to sooth it. Had he not held so much anger, it might have almost worked. But it felt wonderful to know that some one else finally understood, and he relaxed almost imperceptively. But Kate noticed it.
She slowly, slowly lifted her hand to touch his cheek. She tried to pull it away, to make it stop, but it was like her hand had a mind of it's own and she couldn't control it any longer.
Her hand was mere centimeters away from touching his perfect stubbled cheek when suddenly she heard something and literally jerked her whole body away from Sawyer a few feet. Just at that instant, Jack walked into the clearing. He saw Kate stagger away from Sawyer and just knew he must have hit her, though he was standing stock still, not at all looking like he'd moved enough to do it. Jack was instantly furious, but controled his anger.
"What are you guys doing out here?" Jack asked with obvious effort not to sound angry.
"Nothing," Kate replied a little too quickly, "I just noticed that Sawyer looked kinda pissed when he left the beach so I followed him to see what was wrong."
"And...?" was Jack's response.
" And he won't tell me," she glanced at Sawyer as if in appology, "he's being his usual jackass self."
"Figures," Jack mumbled before holding out his hand to Kate, "I have something I want to show you. (After a little hesitation) Sawyer can come to if he wants I guess."
Sawyer looked like he'd just been slapped. "Na, I think I've seen about as much flirting between you two as I can handle just in the last minute. I'm gonna go back to the beach." And with that he turned and walked away with a hurt/angry look on his face.
Jack was still holding his hand out to Kate to lead her wherever it was they were going to go. She hesitated only an instant before taking it and following him. She tried to think where he might be taking her, but all she could think about was the look on Sawyer's face when she'd called him a jackass...
