Page 60 (1/2)

With deliberate slowness, his hands slid down the sides of my neck I shivered, and I heard him catch his breath But his hands didn’t pause as they softly moved to my shoulders, and then stopped

His face drifted to the side, his nose ski across my collarbone He caainst hed

I don’t kno long we sat withoutIt could have been hours Eventually the throb of ain as he held me I knew at any moment it could be too ht not even notice And I couldn’t , except that he was touching me

And then, too soon, he released ain," he said with satisfaction

"Was that very hard for you?"

"Not nearly as bad as I iined it would be And you?"

"No, it wasn’t bad for me"

He smiled at my inflection "You knohat I ainst his cheek "Do you feel hoarm it is?"

And it was almost warm, his usually icy skin But I barely noticed, for I was touching his face, so I’d dreamed of constantly since the first day I’d seen him

"Don’t move," I whispered

No one could be still like Edward He closed his eyes and beca under my hand

I moved even more slowly than he had, careful not to make one unexpected move I caressed his cheek, delicately stroked his eyelid, the purple shadow in the hollow under his eye I traced the shape of his perfect nose, and then, so carefully, his flawless lips His lips parted under ertips I wanted to lean in, to inhale the scent of hi to push hiry Not in a way to hten thethrough ain

"I wish," he whispered, "I wish you could feel the complexity the confusion I feel That you could understand"

He raised his hand to my hair, then carefully brushed it across my face

"Tell me," I breathed

"I don’t think I can I’ve told you, on the one hand, the hunger - the thirst - that, deplorable creature that I am, I feel for you And I think you can understand that, to an extent Though" - he half-sal substances, you probably can’t eers touched ers Hungers I don’t even understand, that are foreign to me"

"I may understand that better than you think"

"I’ so human Is it always like this?"

"For me?" I paused "No, never Never before this"

He held th

"I don’t kno to be close to you," he admitted "I don’t know if I can"

I leaned forward very slowly, cautioning hiainst his stone chest I could hear his breath, and nothing else