Travellers

Chaos And Confusion

 Amber felt a shiver run down her spine but she ignored it. There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. She was only doing the shopping for crying out loud. It's not like anything was going to happen to her in the shops with heaps of people around. But like yesterday, she had the horrible feeling that she was being watched again.

Amber shook her head and silently laughed at herself. She couldn't believe how paranoid she was being. She reached out her hand to grab some biscuits, but stopped her hand halfway when she caught sight of the scratch on her palm. She stared at it in silent contemplation for a moment before she was suddenly snapped out of her reverie.

"Were you reaching for these?" The biscuits she had been reaching for were being held out in front of her.

Amber quickly pulled her hand back and followed the arm up to find the owner of the voice, and her mouth dropped open. In front of her stood a man who had to have been at least six foot three or four in height, and he made Amber's height of five foot five feel very small in comparison. His clear emerald eyes sparkled down at her with amusement as he ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair. All in all, he was definitely a good-looking man - especially with his muscular build - she could still see his well-defined muscles through the thick shirt he was wearing. She was sure that he definitely knew how to make a woman drool. Any man that was that good-looking had to be arrogant and cocky.

With great effort, Amber managed to close her open mouth and reached around the stranger and picked up another packet. "I'm quite capable of getting them myself," she said assertively.

The man raised his eyebrows in surprise and Amber hid a grin. He obviously wasn't used to his charms having no effect on the opposite sex.

"It's just that you seemed confused as to whether you wanted them or not." He shot her a sly smile and Amber frowned. She was definitely right about him being cocky.

"I was thinking," she shot back defensively.

"Hey," he held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Amber sighed, instantly feeling guilty. She hated that she could be so easily manipulated, even if the other person was unaware of what they were doing.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I had a bit of a bad night. I'm not usually this grumpy."

The smile that lit of the man's face this time was genuine and charming as he stuck out his hand towards her. "My name is Alexander Faris, but you can call me Alex."

Amber tentatively placed her small hand into his large one. "Amber Valetta."

The smile on his face grew, revealing two dimples in his cheeks as he brought her hand up to kiss it. "Charmed."

Feeling incredibly self-conscious - especially when she became aware that people were shooting them curious glances - Amber pulled her hand back with a strained smile.

"I really have to go." To hell with shopping. She'd come back another day when he wasn't there.

"May I walk you home?"

Amber looked up at him in surprise. "How do you know I'm walking?"

He gave her a knowing look before answering. "It's just that you're wearing a dress, and from what I can see it has no pockets. And the only things you're carrying is your purse and a house key, so I just assumed that you walked here."

Amber frowned at how much he had noticed. Trying to be subtle, she slowly took a couple of steps away from him. "Well, you assumed right. But I'm perfectly capable of walking home myself."

She turned on her heel and and walked briskly away, but she could feel his eyes watching her as she left.

Alex watched as she walked away from him, and the smile that had been on his face while they had been talking slowly faded away. He couldn't afford to let her out of his sight, even for a moment. He knew what she was, and he knew how many people would be after her now that the traveller gene had activated in her system. Her life was never going to be the same again. He could have kicked himself for being so late last night. She made her first jump without realizing what was going on, and he hadn't been there to help her. To protect her. If his boss found out about that he would be in serious trouble. It was just sheer luck that nothing had happened to her while she had been gone. It was obvious that she didn't know how to control it.