Keeping Secrets (An Anonymous Novella)

Chapter 17 Part 1

His forehead met hers. His smell was all around her, bringing with it comfort and relaxation. Ethan.

"Sometimes my mind has doubts." He breathed, his gray-blue eyes finding hers. "Like maybe this isn't real. That the past few months have only been one long, crazy dream. But it hasn't, has it? You're right here."

"I am." She said.

"Good." He carefully pulled her hand from his cheek and wove his fingers with hers, placing them above her head. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

She'd kissed him before. Many times. But there was something about this kiss--some kind of desperation and need she'd never prepared for. Her chest felt warm, and her heart beat rapidly, but she wanted this connection with him. She wanted everything from this man. So she answered his desperation with her own.

"Ethan." She gasped his name when she managed to take a breath, not for his attention, just to have his name as close to her as he was. He must've understood that because his lips never hesitated, never halted as they trailed to her cheek, under her ear, down her neck.

He moved so he was on top of her, his weight a wonderful pressure against her. "Elizabeth." He kissed her again and she arched her back, her body wanting to press as tight to him as possible.

Then he pulled back, his fingers finding the top button of her plaid shirt. He stopped, his eyes questioning.

She nodded, her hands curling at the nape of his neck. Her stomach fluttered as he separated buttons, and where his knuckles met her skin she got tingles and electric jolts.

When her shirt was off and she had no more than a bra on, Ethan curled some of her hair behind her ear. "I want to make sure you're with me on this, sweetheart."

"I am. I'm sure."

He gave her another second, as if to really let her think it through. Frustration built up. "Ethan, I swear to God, if you don't--"

He laughed, breaking her off with another impossibly delicate kiss.

In the doorway, a cell phone rang. Ethan groaned and looked up. "Darius, really?"

"Sorry, Your Highness, but it's the Commander." Darius said. Then, to presumably Jackson who was on the other line, "Sir?"

Chloe wasn't sure what Jackson was saying, nor did she care. Whatever it was could wait until the morning. Couldn't it?

"Sir, are you sure? I--" Darius broke off. "Here?"

Darius' tone cleared the fog in her head. She made herself pay attention. There was something about his voice. He was alert, which was normal. But this was--

Suddenly, the lights cut out.

Blackness covered the entire room, and with it a chill that raced up and down Chloe's spine. "Ethan?"

"I don't know." He pulled up, snatching the blanket to wrap around her. "Hang on. Darius?"

Darius had gone straight into warrior mode. "Commander, I've got a code red." He said. Chloe couldn't see him well, but she knew he'd moved toward them. "Responding accordingly."

There was a pager on Darius' hip. She knew from experience it was for moments like this. As he talked to Jackson, he clicked a button on it, making it beep and flash red. "I have to go." He told Jackson. Then, he focused on them. "We need to move."

She couldn't make herself find words, even as Darius led them past the kitchen to the hallway that led to the bathroom. At some point he'd grabbed a small pocket flashlight, which he pointed close to the ground to minimize the light.