Compelled ( 2nd book in the Forced Series)

Chapter 7

~unedited~

Chapter 7

After Hazel convinced Van that they should talk, they both sat on the on the patio with Van in wooden swing and Hazel on the floor, her back against one of the columns that supported the patio roof. Van looked over at her, marveling in her beauty. She had let her hair down and her curls sprang around her head, some caressing her flushed cheeks. Her intent gaze was trained at the blade of grass she'd plucked up from below but it was obvious from her expression that her thoughts were serious.

Van chugged back the water in his hand. He thought that for the discussion about to come, he would need a bottle of whiskey or wine like they had on their wedding night when they had discussed the terms of their contract marriage. She had been serious then too but more cold. Now she was hesitant. Van didn't want to start, or even know how to start the conversation so he waited patiently. Not that there was anywhere else that he would rather be. For the first time in the last two years, he felt somewhat stable. He'd spent the time apart from her always rushing from doing one thing to the next, or being one place to the next, but he finally felt stable, steady; as if he were finally where he had wanted to be all along.

Hazel wrapped her hand around herself, sighing wistfully as a smile filtered onto her lips. She looked up at Van before looking back down at the hardwood floor beneath her, "The first time I met you, I hated you so much. Or rather, I hated that I was being forced to be with you. But I also thought you were, how do I put it? Insufferably beautiful? Yes I think that's it... I thought that you were just... beautiful. But I was intent on hating you as I hated everyone else. I was wary of you and your father because I thought anyone close to my father would be like him. And I was also wary of myself. For the first time, in like forever, I felt a sort of attraction for someone."

Van grimaced in an effort to hide a smile, "So you were just a ball of irritation? Go figure, I would have never guessed..."

Hazel grinned slightly at his sarcasm, and then her expression went back to being thoughtful, "Yeah... I was angry at myself for even caring about what would happen to them, and putting myself in that god-awful situation. But it wasn't what I was expecting..."

Her beautiful eyes met his and she smiled. Not the nervous or tentative one she had been doing since she got back, but a bright smile, the one he'd loved and still did.

"I can't say that I fell in love with you then and there," Van began, evading her widened eyes, "But I came pretty damn close. You weren't really what I was expecting. Online they said that you were sweet and serene, but I got fiery and fierce and breathtaking. I was taken aback."

Silence.

"I'm afraid. But I want you. I'm sooo scared of getting hurt and rejected again... but I want you."

Van gasped, taken by surprise by Hazel forwardness. He had expected a drawn out argument but instead she had said... said one of the things what he needed to hear. He walked over to her, pulling her up in one swift move and folded her into him, his lips tentatively searching for hers. Hazel was beyond shocked by his response, but her body surrendered to him. She tipped, meeting him halfway so that their lips met softly.

The bright sunlight dimmed around them as their lips moved slowly, carefully. Van pulled her closer – as if she could even get any closer- and sighed, his brain shutting off as his heart speed up. He could feel all her tenseness disappear, her hands digging into his sides and her pumping heart against his own. The kiss, though slow and sweet, was far greater than any of the few that they had shared before. He felt as if they were levitating.