Catch Me

Chapter 6

Stefan was a little taken aback that she actually said that. But he wasn´t going to say or do anything; not until she admitted to what he already had.

            “So what exactly are you saying?”

            Annabelle sighed. He was playing with her. Well, I guess, I deserve it, she thought as she stepped closer still. She could now feel the heat radiating from his body.

            “You really are going to make me say this, aren´t you?” she said, taking another step forward. She was so close now that she had to tilt her head back so she could look into his face. She could feel his breath fanning over her cheek; his green eyes warm with the unspoken emotion as he looked down at her.

            “Please,” he whispered and ran his hand down her bare arm before he captured her hand so their fingers get intertwined, unable to keep himself from touching her.

            Annabelle shivered at his touch and withdrew her hand from his. Stefan froze, a stab of disappointment going through his heart for a second. But then he felt both her hands on either side of his face, drawing him close to hers until their foreheads touched.

            “I love you,” she said, her lips lightly brushing against his as she speaks. Then, she was looking up into his eyes, waiting for his reaction.

            As Stefan looked back at her, he noticed the unshed tears in her eyes, threatening to spill over. Now he understood the fear he saw in her expression mere minutes ago. She was still scared that he wouldn´t want her. But after all this time, she came to him and that was more than he hoped for.

            “Oh, Belle.”

            After hearing her utter those words, Stefan was at loss of words. He did the only thing that could convey his feeling more clearly to her than plain words: he kissed her.

            His arms went around her waist, drawing her closer, hugging her tight. Her hands skimmed down his neck, and then her arms went around his neck, pulling him down to deepen the kiss.

            After what seemed like endless hours of kissing, Stefan broke the kiss, chuckling when Annabelle made a sound of protest. Pulling away a little, he looked down at her dazed expression, her eyes shining so brilliantly at him, her lips swollen from his kisses.

            As he reached over to lay one palm against her cheek, he noticed she was frowning. Before he could ask her about the reason for it, she beat him to speak first.

            “What about Emily, Stefan?” she asked in a small voice.

            For a second, Stefan looked at her flabbergasted – that was the last thing on his mind at that moment.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing. Annabelle looked at him, confused about his reaction. When he finally stopped laughing, he cupped her face with his hands and tilted her head back, making her look at him.

            “For a person so smart I thought you would have already figured that one out. Woods, Belle. Emily Woods! Does the name ring any bells for you?” he asked, a mischievous glint lightening up his eyes.

            Annabelle thought about what he said. In fact, the name did ring some bells – the only other people with the name “Woods” were…

            “Oh, my god. Your mom´s maiden name is Woods, right? And she has a brother, your uncle Christian-“

            “Who married Olivia Peterson and they called their daughter Emily. Emily Woods. She´s-“

            “Your cousin. But you … a-and her… I … What was going on between the two of you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him, suspicious all of the sudden.

            “I knew you would come to me on your own – sooner or later. But I wanted it to be sooner so I asked her if she could help me, make you a little jealous, give you a little push. And since you didn´t know her at all, it all worked out splendidly as you can see,” he smiled broadly, obviously proud of himself.

            “You´ve got to be kidding me!” Annabelle groaned and touched her forehead to his chest, hiding her mortified expression from him.

            Stefan laughed, and then pulled her face up for a tender kiss.

            “Don´t be embarrassed. Emily was more than willing to help, seeing I was head over heels in love with you. And I actually enjoyed having you looking for me everywhere,” he said as he smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones.

            After a minute of mulling the events of the past few weeks over, Annabelle smiled up at Stefan and sighed: “Well, I guess I should thank her later.”

            “Whatever you want, beautiful. But now…,” his voice dropped an octave as he leaned down and touched his lips to hers briefly before moving to her cheeks. Annabelle shivered and grabbed on his wrists that were holding her face in place for his ministrations.            

            “That our chase is over…,” he continued, brushing his lips across her forehead, then her temple.

            His words from weeks ago echoed in her mind and slowly registered. Annabelle pulled back and looked at him in shock as understanding dawned on her.

            Stefan planted a kiss on the tip of her nose and then grinned down at her: “Told you so.”

            Before Annabelle could say anything, Stefan sealed their lips together, stealing her breath away with a kiss that made all rational thought impossible.