With Love, from Cold World

by Alicia Thompson

Her eyes narrowed. From a distance, they looked almost black, but up close he could see that they were brown with flecks of gold around the irises.

He also couldn’t seem to shake the tingling feeling in his right forearm, from where she’d briefly touched him.

She wanted to see the whole thing, wanted to know the story behind it.

Asa was walking ahead, which had to be the only reason why he held the door open for her to pass through into the Snow Globe.

Just like she wasn’t normally the type to obsess over the way a person smelled, but there she was, taking in such a big breath as she walked by Asa

and yet something about the way he was looking made her shiver all the same.

was beginning to wonder if maybe he’d just had her pegged wrong from the start.

Maybe that was why he felt the back of his neck break out in goose bumps.

I liked it.

Asa didn’t like this itchy feeling, like he was exposed in some way.

She was aware that he was sitting very close. He smelled more like sunscreen now, but still like him,

But she also found herself looking at his mouth, and wondering what it would be like to kiss

him . . . to be kissed by him.

it wasn’t Daniel she thought of but Asa.

And Lauren found she really didn’t like the idea of these other people potentially treating him badly, stealing from him or being

“Tonight I would say that your best bet is definitely that dress.”

“Touch me,” he said. Her hands tightened reflexively. So much for not feeling the heat. “Where?” He smiled against her mouth. “Anywhere.”

“God, Lauren,” he said. “You have no idea.”

But it was also like he was trying to make her laugh, trying to make her relax.

Something flickered over his face, so fierce and tender it almost took her breath away,

“I’ve fantasized about you just like this,”

moments like this that made her realize how well he’d seen her all along.