Down at the Cove

in the still of the night

Charlotte couldn't sleep. The power of his words wouldn't allow it.

His questions were the same ones she dared not ask, and he had answered her unasked question by writing.

"As I do?"

So he thought about her and dreamed about her and longed for her? How was that possible? That he felt that way about her? He was attracted to her? That way...she was to him?

She always want to be close to him. Oh, how she longed for him! The feeling of his hands on her skin. The realization of what it all meant was no surprise. It wasn't a clap of thunder either. It was the simple truth: she was in love with Sidney Parker.

No sooner had she thought his name than her heart rumbled and beat low and slow a few times before it started beating faster again. She was so warm that she pushed the blanket off her bed and stood up. She walked to the window and put her cheek against the cool glass, like every night. An inner restlessness seized her and she walked up and down her room until she couldn't stand it anymore and had to make her nightly rounds around the house.

She put on her robe, tied the ribbons around her waist and opened the door. She crept down the stairs and began her way through Tom's study. There was still a small fire crackling in the fireplace, making the room glow in an orange-brown tone. She looked at the Sanditon model and followed with her fingers where she had her encounters with Sidney. On the way to Lady Denham, on the other side were the assembling rooms are, where they had danced together. She wondered if they would ever do that again. Then in the streets, every encounter, every little look had burned into her memory. Then there at the cove.

She gasped for breath as all the feelings in her body were awakening again. She closed her eyes, her hands clung to the table. A pleasant warmth settled over her back. She imagined Sidney standing behind her, embracing her. ...with his strong long arms wrapped tightly around her waist. A breath of breath tickled her neck and the tenderness made the hairs on her neck stand up. How much she wanted his closeness.

"Would you like me to touch you?"

Slightly frightened, but not alarmed, she noticed him behind her. He did not touch her, but she felt his gaze on her. The warmth. It crawled into every fiber of her being.

She nodded almost imperceptibly. Tentatively, he moved his arms around her center. Careful not to touch her anywhere else.

"Did you read my letter?" he whispered. His breath moved the hair on her temple.

"Yes."

"And what..."

"Yes."

He swallowed audibly before he could ask any further, but he stopped, he just wanted to enjoy this intimate moment of holding her in his arms.

They stood there with their eyes closed. He had to suppress the urge not to just turn her in his arms and kiss her. But he could not help himself completely. He raised one hand and brushed her hair off her shoulder. Her robe was high-necked and completely covered her shoulder, so he had to touch her neck. He gently stroked her neck with his finger as he had done before. Very slowly. She shivered slightly and breathed with her mouth open. Sidney circled her ear with his finger as light as a feather. It tickled and she leaned closer to him, lost in thought. Her back was slightly pressed against his chest and it was the most beautiful feeling he had ever felt. He could stand like this forever. His heart was about to jump out of his chest as his two fingers lingered for a moment on the pulse point under her ear and he felt the throbbing vibration under his fingertips. Like the second hand of his pocket watch.