To Love A Maiden: An Enemies To Friends To Lovers Romance ✓

Chapter 18 - Light in the Shadows?

Cristiano felt tongue-tied as soon as she came standing before him. The cool evening breeze was playing with her hair and the brown-colored leaves on the ground gave a nice match to her red-hair dancing in the wind.

Cristiano was charmed.

He came out of his trance when she pushed back some tendrils to the back of her ears that had escaped her bun.

"I'm glad you came." He said, his hands buried deep in his pocket and his throat aching to give sound to his voice.

He cleared his throat hoping it would clear out some of the nervousness he felt.

And he gulped down hard when she smiled at him. "I'm glad I came too. But -" She narrowed her gaze and he motioned for her to join him on the bench.

"But what?" Cristiano met her gaze again.

"How did you put that note in my pocket yesterday?"

"Hmm, how did I?" He pretended to think.

And the deeper he narrowed his eyes, the more it seemed to elicit a laugh from her. Cristiano found himself studying her again.

"God, you're so beautiful."

The moment the words were out, he immediately cleared his throat again. Had he really said that out loud?

He heard her clear her throat and said a quiet thank you; and then he remembered the question she'd asked. "I snuck it in when we were both laughing our hearts out yesterday."

She made an 'oh' sound and he noticed the serious look on her face then.

"But, why did you want to meet here again?"

She was blunt and to the point, he realized that a long time ago.

"I uh," He blew air from his mouth as he raked his fingers through his hair.

"I - Angel, you see, I haven't been able to -"

He stopped when he saw the look on her face. 

He shifted on the bench and said instead, "I care a lot about you."

"That's why you wanted to meet here? To say that?"

He thought for a second, "Yes, why not? That's what you do when you care about someone. You want to be around them a lot."

She made a face. "Right. Like you want to be around your brother a lot. That's adorable."

Cristiano bursted out laughing.

"It's different." He said when his laugh subsided.

"Right."

"No seriously, it is."

Angel met his gaze then and she couldn't find it in her to look away.

When Cristiano wasn't saying anything, she asked without thinking, "Just like Celeste?"

Cristiano stared intently at her then. "Not like Celeste. She is a friend, just a friend." He said, realizing that he might have said too much. But he didn't care at this point.

As he continued staring at her, studying her face, going with the pull, the silence, his eyes went from her eyes to her lips. And when he noticed the rosiness of her cheeks and the color that graced her lips, Cristiano wanted more than anything to know what it would be like to take her lips in his. So without so much as a thought, and against the warning bells dangling atop his head, he acted upon that thought.

And as he captured her lips in his, he felt it more and more as he held onto the passion that ignited the flames in him. And he could tell by the way her hands were now clutching to his collar, that she wanted this too.