Without A Little Risk

Twenty Four Hours

Within twenty four hours, I find myself in Zandvoort cold as hell and still nursing last nights wounds. I don't even want to leave my hotel, don't even want to risk seeing him again.

The one thing I have to be grateful for is that we work on separate teams because I truly can't imagine how it felt for Amelia and Charles going through ups and downs and still having to see each other everyday. I don't have that in me, I'd rather move back to London and make a go at it with my sale of business proceeds.

But even there I wouldn't be able to get him off my mind.

As if I summoned him with my thoughts, a knock on the door interrupts my silence. Call me crazy but I don't have to look to know whose there. It's Daniel. I can fucking feel it in my bones.

I swing the door open to confirm my suspicions and find him in full running gear, a sweaty mess.

"Did you just run here?" It always shocks me how much the guy works out.

And that he's at my door.

That's shocking too.

He's breathless when I let him in, "Yes. I had to see you."

Maybe I'm not the only one so messed up from our last encounter after all. My heart soars with hope and my head does it's best to tug me back down to reality. If our last several encounters have told me anything it's that I need to lower my expectations.

How did he even know where I am? If I had to wager on it I'd guess Amelia.

"See me?" I'm breathless to now.

He has that affect on me.

Daniel steps close, almost too close. His brown eyes feel as if they are peering into my soul, "What were you going to say to me in Qatar?"

There goes my heart, racing again.

But logic wins this round, "It doesn't matter." Exhaling a defeated breath. That's not a night I want to think of. I'm sure he didn't go home alone... Of course he didn't. He could charm the pants off a brick wall given the chance. The mere thought of him with someone else is enough to sting.

His vivid brown eyes flare with heat and protest, "Like hell it doesn't."

Time to get to the reason I didn't go there then, there's not avoiding it now. No use treading carefully after all the shit we've been through at this point. "You have a new girl now anyways."

"And you haven't been sleeping with other people?" His tone isn't accusatory, it's knowing. He's right and he knows it.

There's nothing I can do but shrug, "You broke up with me." Saying it as casually as one would say they are out of milk, though my stomach churns with the words. I have to resist adding that it hurt like hell.

That I miss him every night. 

Every day.

Every hour.

I'm miserable without him. Lost and wandering, doing my best to scrape up any happiness I can and knowing full and well it's not enough.

"Fucking hell Elsa," He steps back, running his hands through his curled locks in his tale tale sign he's starting to get frustrated. Ugh, not again. Another fight is exactly what I was trying to avoid but at present it seems eminent. "I can't tell you how much I hated seeing you kiss him the other night." His words feel like stun gun to the heart. My mouth falls into a perfect 'O' of shock so wide I could catch flies.

My cheeks burn and he hangs his head.

He's jealous.

I know the feeling all too well. Seeing him with another woman, not even sharing a kiss made me feel physically ill. His words make me gulp and silence blankets the hotel room again. The air is thick with tension, both of us weighing our words before they come out this go around.

Daniel steps close enough to kiss me, and for a moment I think he will. Hope he will. Instead he reaches out and traces my my left cheek lightly with his finger, but it doesn't matter how lightly he touches me. Every touch feels electric, pulsating through my entire being. "Tell me you don't feel it, and I'll walk away."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I can't help the lone tear that escapes.

I can't tell him that and he knows it.

Since the day I met him I've been lost to him. Even when I shouldn't have been. Even when it didn't make sense. Even after all we've been through.

"Daniel..." I whisper because I can't say anything else. His name is a prayer on my lips.

He takes the chance to graze a finger across my shoulder and chill bumps erupt on my skin.

His touch as electric to me as it's ever been.

Is this truly happening right now?

If I'm dreaming I hope I never wake up.

"Tell me you don't feel it Elsa." He pushes, drawing closer to me. Agony lodges in my throat.

"Of course I feel it." With a deep exhale, my eyes open. In that moment our eyes met and it feels like I've been struck by lightning. In an instant, everything between us shifted. Daniels standing, frozen in front of me and looking at me in a way no one has ever looked at me before. My hands start to shake, longing to reach out for him. To pull him close.

It's not a want, it's a need.

No one has ever looked at me quite like this.

He bends down lower, until I can feel his breath on my lips. If I move ever so slightly we'd be kissing but fear has made me into a statue. "Let me love you. I'm going crazy without you."

Loves me.

Love.

I can't resist the urge anymore, and I rise to my toes to kiss him. Our lips touch and I'm no longer in control. Like in a blink we become this autonomous thing with a wild mind of its own. It's like blacking out. Daniel bites my lip with a low moan and I grip onto a fistful of his t-shirt for as if I'm holding on for dear life.