Love and other words

A Familia

rble floors. The air was thick with the clinking of champagne glasses, the murmur of conversations l

lk of her midnight-blue gown pooled around her feet, the delicate fabric whispering against the floor every time she shifted her weigh

wever, felt

inst her skin like a phantom touch. It wasn't anxi

n, she

ga

ation, the lingering glances that carried nothing but momentary interest. This ga

ched before sh

did, her wo

presence commanded attention despite the way he remained just at the edges of the light. Dressed in a sharp bla

alone that sent an unsett

eeling that

ned, though she

unapologetic. As if he had been

the sounds fading into a dull hum. Who was he? She prided herself on knowing faces, on re

tra

et...

rceptible smile gho

was being ridiculous. It was just a loo

his way through the sea of glittering gowns and

warning curle

av

as though rooted to the floor b

ed, and then he was

or," h

eath h

f the way he said it-low, assured, as if they were already intim

new

had no recoll

plain why he felt so unnervingly familiar. But it remained just out of reach-like a dre

efully, tilting her head.

pa

-one that didn't qu

t y

ced throug

the wro

her bones, she

ad met

ewh

eti

ouldn't re

Unra

rching for an explanation. Was he toying with her? A businessman she had cro

omething el

e smile, the kind she had perfected ove

y, as if her words amused him. "M

way he said her name,

ant conversations, laughter, music-a

, unable to keep the que

ook a slow step closer, his presence commandi

h

an Ha

should have meant nothing to her. It s

it w

ep within her twisted, like a thread being

f something

memory she coul

nreadable. "Nothing?" he asked, as i

g her head. "Should

, not quite a smi

es, studying him. "You

e I kno

eath c

f words. And yet, the certainty in his voice mad

o

her mind playing tricks o

ly against the delicate lace at the sleeve of her dress-E

tion. Not

gnit

n her

n her

nd uns

an murmured, "w

lse th

ven't," sh

slow, kno

you s

e way her body betrayed her, the way her ver

he co

d-buried beneath years of carefully constru

yes was at th

it

chi

er of everything