Abigail lay curled against EJ, her head resting on his chest. His chest was hard and solid, but it cushioned her face perfectly. She could hear the rhythmic beat of his heart against her cheek, steady and reassuring. As she traced small circles around and around on his chest, EJ continuously stroked her hair. Abigail let out a soft sigh of contentment and resisted the urge to snuggle even deeper against EJ. After what seemed like forever, she raised her head, propping it on her folded hands that lay on his chest, and looked into EJ's eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as she continued to stare at him a little uncertainly. "You look as if you're not sure if you should be here with me, like this."

Abigail sighed a little at the thought that she would never be able to hide anything from EJ. He could read her like a book and always knew what to say or do to counteract her moods. She supposed he felt the same way, too, since she always knew when he was lying to her or hiding something from her. It had to be this connection they shared with each other. There really wasn't any other explanation for it.

Abigail didn't answer EJ's question right away. Instead, she raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck as he kissed her lightly on the nose. Pulling back, she pressed her palms against each side of his face, searching those dark eyes of his for something, anything that might calm the storm in her head. As if recognizing she needed assurance of some kind, he bent and kissed her again, this time on her lips. She gave in for a few minutes before abruptly pulling back and jumping off the couch and away from EJ.

"EJ, I think it's time we talk about what we're doing here."

"Abigail, I think we both know what we're doing here." EJ's lips quirked with amusement, but he regretted his statement instantly when he saw the forlorn expression on her face. Raising himself up from the couch, he moved to pull her back in his arms, but she backed away from him.

"Don't do that, EJ." Abigail managed to avoid his hands as he reached out for her again. "I'm being serious."

"Don't do what, Abigail?" he asked her, perplexed by her sudden aversion to his touch.

"Don't try to deflect my questions by touching me." Abigail eyed him a little warily as EJ let out a frustrated sigh.

"That's not what I was doing," he told her soothingly as he approached her cautiously.

"Yes, you were. You know what happens when you touch me."

"Do I?" he responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't think I do so why don't you tell me. What happens when I touch you, Abigail?"

Abigail swallowed. She was aware that her whole face had turned red at EJ's question.

"I can't think," she said as she paced back and forth, threatening to wear a hole in the plush expensive Aubusson carpet covering the floor.

"I feel excited and overwhelmed when you touch me. It's like having tunnel vision because I can see only you. I can feel only you."

Abigail continued on as EJ watched her with an increasingly intense gaze. He hadn't made another move to touch her while she tried to flounder her way through an explanation.

"When you touch me, when we're together, you make me feel like there's someone else inside my body. Someone who doesn't care that you have a fiancee, a family, but that's not who I am, EJ. I should care, and I do, but I forget it all as soon as you touch me."

EJ reached for her again and, this time, she allowed him to draw her into his arms and cradle her face against his shoulder. What she had just admitted to him didn't completely surprise him, especially about knowing she was doing something wrong, but not caring anyway. Abigail was a truly good person who didn't want to hurt anyone, if she could help it. There was, of course, the incident in her youth when she had half the town believing that she had slept with Austin Reed. She had been a mixed up kid then and she had accepted her responsibility in that whole situation. Abigail wasn't afraid to accept responsibility for, as well as the consequences of, her actions. That was one of the things he admired and found so fascinating about her, especially since he was the polar opposite. EJ supposed it was her ingrained Horton virtue that made her that way. As a DiMera, he was more likely to cover up any misdeeds than to face the consequences of them. It was helping to cover up Nick's attempted murder that had gotten them to the place where they were at right now.

EJ gently drew Abigail back down on the couch to sit next to him. He had to be honest with her about what was happening between them. Besides, he couldn't lie to her and not for lack of trying. She always seemed to know when he was being less than honest with her. For once, EJ found that he, who could charm or argue his way out of any situation, was at a loss for words to tell her what she needed to hear. He didn't know what was happening between them. He didn't know why he found himself thinking about her during random moments of the day. Even at the home he shared with Samantha and their kids, he sometimes found himself staring moodily through the french windows of his study, drink in hand, thinking about what Abigail was doing at that very moment.

"You feel it, too, don't you?" she asked him as she stared at their entwined hands.

"This feeling of losing myself in you, in whatever is between us, I know that you're feeling it too, EJ."

"What do we do now? How long can we keep this up? You're engaged to Sami so maybe we should-" she trailed off sadly as he placed a finger against her lips.

"No, I can't tell you what you want to hear, Abigail. I don't know anymore than you do why I can't stay away from you, but I know that I'm not ready to let go. I know it'll have to end and I don't want to hurt you, but I'm telling you, Abigail, I can't let you go."

Shaking her head sadly because his words echoed the way she was feeling, she laid her head in the crook of his neck, as tears fell silently down her face. Abigail knew that this would not end well. Not for her, and she was coming to realize, not for him as well, but the alternative right now would be to make a clean break and she couldn't do it, not yet anyway. When the time came, she would make that decision for both of them and be strong enough to stick with it. For now, she was perfectly content to lay here with her head nestled against EJ's neck, holding hands as the afternoon sunshine began to turn to shadows on the wall.