His tenderness threatened to undo her completetly. It was easy to imagine lingering in his arms, exchanging tender and lazy caresses. Something about his touch induced her to believe that with him, she would not need to keep her walls or masks - he would be her safe harbor. And that thought, that previously unknown deep desire, was more dangerous to her than anything she'd yet faced.
Ruthlessly, Alyssa forced herself to speak quietly. "You're not listening." If this was a romance novel, her words would be punctuated with soft kisses, each getting deeper as she became more desperate from feeding the need to touch him.
But it was not. This was the real world and he was her partner and - oh, she wanted him. Alyssa closed her eyes and forced herself to stand very still. Releasing her hold on him cost her a physical pang, but she had to communicate that she meant what she said somehow and in the end her hands dropped to her sides.