Kiri felt like her blood was boiling. Roy's arms were like an anaconda coiling around her. She could scarcely breathe in the most wonderful way, and when she went to put space between them by bracing her hands on his chest, she all but fainted at the hard pectoral muscles tensing beneath her touch...And what...was that a necklace of some sort? Glancing up, she made the mistake of meeting his gaze and her thoughts shattered at once. His brows were thick and furrowed, framing those black eyes that were simultaneously ice cold and magnetic- it was like being pulled into a black hole, beautiful and otherworldly. His breath was warm on her face as he asked in a lulling voice, "May I... have your name?"
It took Kiri a few minutes to respond as this was a super weird way of asking...Eventually however, she managed to worm herself out of his iron grip and did her best to channel some of her mother's good manners while he waited with a predator's stillness.
She dusted off her dress and replied
"I'm Kirina Ashby" as calmly as she could. God! Why did her voice sound so breathy and strange!? She tried not to cringe at her own transparency.
He took her shaking hand and folded it in his large ones.
"Kirina Ashby" he repeated in awe, then thinking of something amusing, his expression turned from reverent to devilish.
"What's so amusing?" Kiri demanded, pulling her hand from his grasp.
"I believe I'll call you Crash."
"Verrry funny."
"Yes, I think so." he flashed his white teeth in a grin. With deflated ego, Kiri could think of little else that would salvage her pride than to escape. So she immediately began her walk back to the house calling back over her shoulder "Goodnight, and thank you for stopping me before I fell. With the amusement I have provided you at my own expense I will think of us as even."
A warm chuckle sounded from close behind her and she dared not look back as she hastened her pace across the lawn.
It was not until she reached the safety of the porch that she realized her left hand was nearly numb from clutching something. With some pain, she unclenched her fingers to reveal a small skeleton key with a bit of chain tangled through it...Was this Roy's necklace? With that thought, she whirled around to chuck it at him, but he had vanished.
Oh well, let him worry about his weird jewelry until breakfast she thought to herself, secretly pleased at the excuse to seek him out again. With that decided, she headed into the house to find a bathroom where she might splash some cold water on her face and calm the heck down.
Some time later, Roy found himself standing in the woods like a stunned deer. He placed his hand against his chest, remembering the touch of her small one. Agh! He had been so uncharacteristically forward! And then had felt compelled to tease her to the point of being angry with him! His body had reacted to hers in such an intense way, he couldn't really comprehend it... He had nearly chased her back to the house, and forcibly made himself run into the woods at the last minute in mortification.
He felt like he'd waited a safe amount of time now and headed back to the house.
He could still hear the ringing of her name! Spoken so softly with the melody of an angel, he felt such a power in knowing it. "Kirina..." he mouthed, remembering her voice as blood immediately rushed to his ears, and... well... other places. Entering his bedroom, he ripped off his overly warm shirt in frustration and looked at himself in the mirror like a stranger... who was this out of control animal?