I'm currently about 90 % finished with my work in progress "Playing with Fire", Book 1 of the 4 Elements of Love Series. Here's the second excerpt I want to share, as part of Sneak Peek Sunday.
There was no change in his tone when Joshua said calmly, “I think the kind of control you were encouraged to exercise and the kind of control the book hints at are two ends of a spectrum. One is about burying the undesirable and ignoring the monster. The other is about recognizing, acknowledging and taming or at least shaping what can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. If you repress something, it’s still there. We can’t live like ostriches that stick their head under the earth whenever they sense danger. We have to allow that other part of ourselves to live, but reign it in and keep it on a leash, so it won’t run away and get us into trouble.”
She liked the metaphors he used and especially the way he said ‘we’ and not ‘one’ or ‘you’. And yet, he just didn’t sound like he meant ‘we’. He sounded like he already knew it all and behaved correctly and expected her to follow like a sectarian would follow their leader.
Something inside her, the wild and lonely part, rebelled against him being the teacher and adviser and role model.
“You make it sound so easy,” she scoffed.
“It isn’t,” he answered. “It never was for me and it won’t be for you. But it’s not impossible, either. I’m living proof of that.”
There was evident pride in his voice.
Felicia couldn’t help herself, she had to daunt him.
“What, so you weren’t born a perfect ice god always in control?”
The look he shot her this time was deadly.
In a fluid movement, he got up, bent down, picked up a stone and threw it into the water. With his back to her and his voice icy, he said, “If you refuse to take me seriously, all of this is useless.”
“You mean, if I refuse to accept your authority and patronizing behavior?” she shot back.
He turned around and stalked over to her, cold radiating in waves off him, automatically causing the heat inside her to step up a notch and radiate from her skin, too.
“Clearly I am in a better position of the two of us to have authority and to be listened to, am I not?”
He looked dangerous in his quiet anger. Did he have a power complex?
Stopping herself short before she could back away, Felicia stood up straighter and stuck her pointy chin out.
“Didn’t you talk about me and you revealing ourselves to each other? The only thing I can see happening so far is you revealing your magic and expecting me to listen to you whenever I am about to reveal something about myself.”
A battle between ice and fire was raging in the few inches of air between their bodies, their eyes dueling with each other, his an icy, whitish blue and hers an amber brown glowing with orange sparks.
“And didn’t I tell you to trust me? And that I’d know when the time is right for you?”
She swallowed her hasty, harsh reply back down.
He did. And deep down inside, she could feel that she wasn’t ready yet. He must have read the truth in her eyes because a satisfied smile flickered across his face.
Joshua took a last step closer until there wasn’t more than an inch or two of space between them and she could feel her heat and his coldness warring with each other, testing the boundaries for a chance to leap and attack – or to leap and dance.
When he leaned his face down, Felicia’s breath hitched and her pulse started racing. Inside her belly, the flames shot higher and higher, wanting the kiss that was surely about to happen.
“Don’t,” she whispered despite the almost aching desire to feel that connection again.
Stopping a hair’s breadth before her face, he whispered back, “Why?”
His cool breath that smelled as minty and wintry as the whole man brushed over her trembling lips.
Struggling to put her conflicting feelings into words, she blurted out, “You’ll get burned.”
That purely masculine, dangerous grin tugged at his lips which were so enticingly close that she could almost taste them.
“What if I enjoy playing with fire?” he asked, voice deep and low and full of promise.
She liked the metaphors he used and especially the way he said ‘we’ and not ‘one’ or ‘you’. And yet, he just didn’t sound like he meant ‘we’. He sounded like he already knew it all and behaved correctly and expected her to follow like a sectarian would follow their leader.
Something inside her, the wild and lonely part, rebelled against him being the teacher and adviser and role model.
“You make it sound so easy,” she scoffed.
“It isn’t,” he answered. “It never was for me and it won’t be for you. But it’s not impossible, either. I’m living proof of that.”
There was evident pride in his voice.
Felicia couldn’t help herself, she had to daunt him.
“What, so you weren’t born a perfect ice god always in control?”
The look he shot her this time was deadly.
In a fluid movement, he got up, bent down, picked up a stone and threw it into the water. With his back to her and his voice icy, he said, “If you refuse to take me seriously, all of this is useless.”
“You mean, if I refuse to accept your authority and patronizing behavior?” she shot back.
He turned around and stalked over to her, cold radiating in waves off him, automatically causing the heat inside her to step up a notch and radiate from her skin, too.
“Clearly I am in a better position of the two of us to have authority and to be listened to, am I not?”
He looked dangerous in his quiet anger. Did he have a power complex?
Stopping herself short before she could back away, Felicia stood up straighter and stuck her pointy chin out.
“Didn’t you talk about me and you revealing ourselves to each other? The only thing I can see happening so far is you revealing your magic and expecting me to listen to you whenever I am about to reveal something about myself.”
A battle between ice and fire was raging in the few inches of air between their bodies, their eyes dueling with each other, his an icy, whitish blue and hers an amber brown glowing with orange sparks.
“And didn’t I tell you to trust me? And that I’d know when the time is right for you?”
She swallowed her hasty, harsh reply back down.
He did. And deep down inside, she could feel that she wasn’t ready yet. He must have read the truth in her eyes because a satisfied smile flickered across his face.
Joshua took a last step closer until there wasn’t more than an inch or two of space between them and she could feel her heat and his coldness warring with each other, testing the boundaries for a chance to leap and attack – or to leap and dance.
When he leaned his face down, Felicia’s breath hitched and her pulse started racing. Inside her belly, the flames shot higher and higher, wanting the kiss that was surely about to happen.
“Don’t,” she whispered despite the almost aching desire to feel that connection again.
Stopping a hair’s breadth before her face, he whispered back, “Why?”
His cool breath that smelled as minty and wintry as the whole man brushed over her trembling lips.
Struggling to put her conflicting feelings into words, she blurted out, “You’ll get burned.”
That purely masculine, dangerous grin tugged at his lips which were so enticingly close that she could almost taste them.
“What if I enjoy playing with fire?” he asked, voice deep and low and full of promise.
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