30 Days to Love

Day 12: Needing You

James stands in the kitchen looking out the window at the sunrise, drinking coffee. It's always been one of his favorite times of day. The world is just waking up. It's quiet and the light is gorgeous. The kind of light James chases with his cameras every day.

Shauna enters, wearing one of James's T-shirts. She looks sexy as hell in his plain white T, James thinks. The silhouette of her body shows through the oversized shirt. Her nipples press against the thin fabric. The more he gets to know her, the sexier she is. And that gorgeous hair — he dreams about it.

"Good morning," Shauna says.

"Good morning. Coffee?" James asks. He stands barefoot in his Levis and white T — the light from the window highlighting his blond hair and blue eyes. Oh those eyes. Shauna can't get enough of those eyes. She wants to be swallowed whole by them.

"Yes, please. I'll have some coffee. Thank you."

James grabs the coffee pot and pours Shauna some coffee.

"Do you normally get up this early? The sun is barely up," she asks, looking outside at the rising sun that is casting an orange glow across the neighborhood.

"I try to get up with the sun. I'll often get up before sunrise and take some photographs as the sun is coming up. Sunrise and sunset are the best times for taking pictures outdoors."

"Magic Hour, right?"

"That's right." She remembers.

James offers her some half & half and sugar. She declines both.

"You take it black?"

"I usually drink espresso but black coffee works too."

"Hard core."

"That's me."

"I'm beginning to realize that," James jests. Shauna smiles, knowing she's very far from hard core.

"Thanks for letting me crash. I didn't realize how tired I was."

"No problem. It was nice to wake up next to you."

"It was nice," Shauna agrees. She takes a sip of coffee.

"It's been great having you here. But I get the feeling there's something bigger going on. Do you want to talk about it?" James asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday wasn't about us."

"It was just you and me. How is that not about us?"

"You definitely have something on your mind." James sets his coffee cup down and looks at Shauna. "I'm a pretty good listener."

Shauna turns away, not sure how much she wants to reveal. James reaches out and touches her hand. "It's okay if you'd rather not talk about it."

Tears well up in Shauna's eyes. "You're so much more open about your feelings. I admire that. I really do. I usually have no clue what I'm feeling." Shauna takes a deep breath, trying to quell the tears that are about to break free. "Being with you makes me want to experience new things. Be more spontaneous. I'm always so worried about doing the right thing, never taking risks. You inspire me. And yesterday, I wanted to feel a part of it — be more open in my life — do something I would never think of doing normally. I wanted to let you in because I know I shut you out. I shut everyone out."

James knows this was hard for Shauna. He can tell she's the kind of person who keeps her feelings close to her chest. He's glad she feels comfortable opening up to him, even though he knows this is just the tip of the iceberg. "So how do you feel right now?"