Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 8

Vera stared at the wall in front of her. In her mind, she had counted the small bumps of the textured wall more than a hundred times, but she lost track of course. It was a usual, simple type of game she played before when she was trying to avoid a particular thought, clear her mind or just relax. It wasn't working.

She would make it as far as 40 or 45 and her thoughts immediately drifted away from her, they had been all day. She knew now exactly what it meant to have her head up in the clouds. What an expression, what a perfectly, accurate expression. She'd had so much trouble focusing on anything since Saturday night and now it was keeping her from doing her job. It was ridiculous, it was overwhelming. Vera never had trouble focusing.

This wasn't her first time, either, getting a killer kiss. She remembered Steve, her college sweetheart, and the first time he'd kissed her. He was the first guy to show her what it meant to really want to be close to someone. Still, this was different. Can you imagine what it must be like to kiss the person you'd been admiring for so long? She had wondered about it, of course she had.

Over the years, she'd imagined kissing this one man hundreds of times, and each time she'd laughed at herself for the impossible. Today was Wednesday and she still couldn't shake it.

Firstly, she was in complete disbelief. This had actually happened. Over the last couple of weeks, she'd met the handsome stranger she'd watched for so many years and last Saturday night, he had taken her out, shared his past, and given her a kiss.

Then, there was the very moment they'd actually touched. She already knew from the few times their skin made contact that there was a physical connection, she hadn't expected the kiss to be this great. She'd imagined so many times that she was almost certain she'd built it up to more than it could be. How could she imagine that the kiss would be so much more than she could have dreamed? He'd kissed her and she'd promptly floated away, floated to this place she could not manage to come down from.

She pictured the way he looked at her as he moved in, that face she liked so much watching her intently, the warmth of his hands on her neck and shoulders. She could feel him, despite the layers and layers of clothing, despite the fact that he was now 13 city blocks away, she could feel him. How long had they stood there kissing? So long. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck and he'd held her firmly, not too close, not too passionately, and they'd shared those rich, heady kisses, completely unaware of time or anything else.

She didn't make it back home until nearly 1AM and even though nothing other than kissing had happened, the sultry feeling he'd stirred in the pit of her stomach left her feeling like a teenage girl trying to sneak back in. It was exciting, it was right.

He had not texted or called her the next day, or the Monday, but on the Tuesday he'd finally made his move. They had been in constant communication since, an invisible string was now tied between them and she knew instinctively that the string could not be cut. What this meant, she wasn't sure she was ready to ask, but was sure it would be eventually.

Vera took one deep, deep sigh and the sound that escaped her own lips surprised her. She wasn't sure she'd ever made that particular sound before.

"Look at that." Amber said, making Vera turn to her in surprise. She was leaning back in the chair behind her desk, arms crossed and a smile across her face as if she suspected the thoughts going through her mind.

"What?" Vera said, straightening herself up and turning back to her computer with a frown. Was that really as far as she'd made it today? She'd hardly gotten anything done, the same happened earlier at work.

"That besotted, smitten, self satisfied look you've been sporting all week." Amber said, "It's getting worse every day."

"It is not." Vera said in serious tones despite the smile on her face. She tried not to smile, but that wasn't really possible. Trying not to smile never really worked to do anything but make the smile bigger.