Almost Home

Chapter Eight

'Let's get you off the floor now, shall we?' He reaches down to grab both of my hands and hauls me to my feet and I sway on the spot. 'Easy there,' his hands go to my waist as he steadies me and I'm suddenly reminded of that night all those years ago. I lose my train of thought and stand there gawping at him, unsure of what to say or do next. My throat feeling tight and my legs weak. I glance at his face and he seems conflicted.

'I don't know about you but I feel a sense of deja vu,' Jamie says, his grip firm on my waist.

'Please don't remind me.' I try to hide my head but one of his hands moves to cup my chin and he raises it until our eyes meet and I take them in as they stare at me, my breath coming in short gasps as I try not to swoon.

They seem different somehow, softer than I'd ever seen them before and yet fierce at the same time and I find myself unable to look away from them...as if they'd cast a spell over me and I was trapped. I didn't seem to mind.

Despite my wanting this more than I could possibly imagine, I find myself squirming under his hold with nervous longing and I will myself to relax, waiting impatiently for him to say something, anything that would give me a clue into what was going on in that head of his because this was tortuous.

'You're so beautiful,' he finally breaks the silence, stroking my cheek with his thumb and I find myself simpering at his words, oozing effortless feminity that I didn't know I had in me. He leans in close to me but stops just before our lips meet and I choke back a cry of complaint.

'Emma,' he whispers, tickling my lips with his breath and I silently implore him to close the gap. 'Can I kiss you? ...Emma...Emma-'

'EMMA!' I shoot up in bed and an explosion erupts in my head. Someone is hammering on my bedroom door and every time they do the noise reverberates like a drum, pounding away inside my skull. One glance at the time on my phone lets me know that I've overslept and was in serious danger of being late for work.

'I'm awake! I'm awake...' my voice croaks and I clutch the sides of my head to try to stop the thumping, feeling like a balloon was inflating rapidly inside of it, pushing against my cranium and causing painful pressure to mount.

'I've been calling you for ages,' my mum shouts from the other side of the door. 'You're going to have to hurry up because I need the car today so I'll have to drop you to work. Don't fall back asleep.'

I hear the sounds of her footsteps retreating and the pounding in my head finally starts to ease.

'Okay, mum!' I call out and collapse back on the bed, covering my face with my pillow and replay the dream I just had in my mind, the image of me hanging off of Jamie's arms like some helpless female desperate to be ravished was enough to make even the most open-minded of people blush. It was like something straight out of a Mills and Boon novel and I have no idea where it had come from because I certainly didn't think of him like that anymore. I'd grown up and so had he. Under no circumstances was I currently imagining what would have happened if I'd woken up just a few seconds later...

Wondering what it would have felt like to finally be kissed by him...

Uh-oh, I think I'm in trouble.

I sit up in bed and stare at my reflection in my dressing table mirror, my face deathly white and my eyes wide with shock. This is bad. This is really bad. Jamie must absolutely not find out that I've been thinking about him this way because he'll end up never speaking to me again and I couldn't cope with that. He'll be gone tomorrow and all normality will be resumed and I can get back to stalking his social media from afar.