A Promised Prophecy

Chapter Sixty-Nine

I stared at him waiting for an answer but, as the silence lingered, I realized the horrible mistake I had made.

What the hell am I thinking?

There was no way that James loved me. We had only just met. Whatever was happening between us was a connection, lust, end of the world craziness, whatever you wanted to call it, but certainly not love for most people. I couldn't help how I felt about him and it was stupid to assume he felt the same way. Besides, who drops the "L" bomb this quickly?

Before I even had the chance to take it back, James slowly pulled himself off me and sat down at the end of the bed. I sat up as well and went into panic mode.

"I didn't mean that. I'm not sure what I mean—"

"Rhea," he laughed. I couldn't tell if he was laughing at my admission, my overcorrection, or the situation as a whole.

"No, really. James, just forget I ever said that."

"Rhea," he repeated my name, but this time he looked back at me. "This is not a conversation that I want to have right now. Don't take that as an answer. I can't give you an answer because there's a lot of shit going on right now and I haven't had time to stop thinking about you, or us, or life if we'd met under better circumstances. And, in all that time thinking about you, I still don't know what it means."

It was a very flattering way of turning me down. One that made me want to jump on top of him all over again as if he didn't just admit to being overwhelmed. I nodded at his answer, unsure of how to respond myself, and grabbed the book I had been reading before he showed up.

He leaned toward me and repeated, "Like I said, I can't give you an honest answer, so don't take that as one."

His face leaned closer to mine as if he was ready to continue where we had been prior to my confession. Then, as if he thought better of it, he abruptly stopped. Instead, he moved his hand onto mine and squeezed it.

"I'm glad you're safe," I whispered as he held my hand. Regardless of his answer, I still had strong feelings for him and I didn't want to lose James in the same way I'd lost others. Maybe that was part of what I wanted to get across to him by telling him that I loved him. I didn't care just about the sex. I was happy that he made it back to me safely.

"I'm glad you're safe too."