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Hearthstone Alpha

BY

A.C. Melody

 

EXCERPT

 

“Why would you even work for someone who can never remember your damn name?”

            Freezing, Reyna's eyes bulged.  Air gushing from her lungs.  He couldn't possibly be serious?!  Utterly gobsmacked, she whirled on him.  He looked... there were no words.  As Corbyn strode up the sidewalk toward her, she was reminded of the fluid grace of a hunter.  An assassin in a three-thousand dollar tuxedo.  His jacket open, bow tie and the top button of his shirt undone, his hands shoved into the pockets of his slacks.  His hair was twice as messy as before, as if he'd attempted to pull it out of his scalp.  He didn't even blink at the people he passed.  The people who gaped at him like he was unreal.  Was he?  Reyna wondered.  Or was he just a figment of her neglected imagination?  She suddenly felt like Goldilocks facing down the Big Bad Wolf, his eyes glinting silver in the semi-darkness, his body a promise of the forbidden passions that taunted people from the shadows of their wildest fantasies.

            Oh, but what a horribly apt description that was.  Reyna swallowed hard. 

            Stopping two feet away, he peered down at her.  “Well?” He barked.

            “It's none of your business!” Reyna answered, flabbergasted.  “Why are you here?”

            Corbyn's expression simply fell.  All of the agitation and darkness abandoning him in the snap of a finger.

            “It's all wrong,” he said so quietly, Reyna was surprised she'd been able to hear him.  “I wasn't expecting you.  Not now, not then.  I can't think when I'm near you, but can't think of anything else when I'm not!  I don't know how to deal with it.”

            Oh, God.  Oh, fucking God.  Shut up.  Someone shut him up! 

            “Don't,” Reyna managed, her heart beating too fast, her breathing erratic.  “Don't deal with it, Corbyn, just... please, go away.”

            “I can't,” he confessed, his eyes darkening before he pulled whatever emotions back under control.  “Besides, I needed to know you made it back to your hotel safely, and I think it's kind of funny that you actually thought you could just leave without me noticing.  I already told you, Reyna, I always know where you are.”

            Her mind was going to crack.  Suddenly she felt like laughing hysterically until she passed out.  What had he done?  Run the whole way there?  

            “Has anyone ever accused you of being a stalker?”

            “You're the first,” he answered.

            “Couldn't you just have Shayd hack the traffic cams then, stalker?” She asked. 

            A cocky grin curved part of his lips and it was far more damaging to Reyna's system than anything else.

            “I could have,” he answered.  “But then, I wouldn't be able to do this.”

            Before Reyna could even register that he'd moved, Corbyn was right before her.  His hand cupped the side of her face, his thumb caressing her bottom lip.  He watched his own assault, mesmerized.

            “You have to know what this is, Reyna,” he pleaded softly, searching her eyes, her face, his thumb pulling her lip downward in the center.  “Please tell me you know what this is.”

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