Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire

grabbing a sweater I had discarded last night and threw it on to cover the light-weight cami I wore. I continued to crawl until I reached the front door where I pulled myself upright and threw the door open.
    “It’s five in the morning, Ry,” I yawned, my hair falling around my face.
    “Yeah, sorry about that.” He ran his big hand through his dark curls, looking away from me. “I was just worried about you.”
    “You were worried about me?” My voice sounded much more hostile than I had wanted it to.
    “Yes, Jos.” He looked down, his eyes smoldering and I felt my heart sputter. “Why aren’t you wearing my necklace?” He reached out and trailed the tip of his finger against my neck, his touch leaving a shivering trail behind it.
    I grasped toward my collar bone, shocked to find the fine silver chain missing. “It must have fallen off while I slept.” I looked back toward my room as if just expecting to see it sitting on the fold of my comforter.
    “Why don’t you go get it? I’ll get breakfast ready.” He smiled and held up a bag full of greasy doughnuts. I couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face; he was so adorable. I let him in before turning to retrieve the necklace from within the mass of pillows and blankets that was my bed. The necklace lay warm in my hand, as if I had been laying on it all night.
    “See, not lost.” I walked up behind Ryland as he searched for plates in the kitchen.
    “Good.” He took the necklace from my hands and went to put it around my neck again. I moved my hair for him so as not to reveal my mark. For a split second, I almost didn’t. I almost wanted him to see it, to see what he would do. But that risk was too much for me, so I kept it hidden.
    “Please don’t take it off, okay?” he pleaded, his deep blue eyes boring into me.
    “You act like I’m going to go hock it and buy a car.” I laughed at the thought, but he didn’t. My laughter died off as I set the milk and some glasses on the table.
    “Relax, Ryland, it’s not like I could, even if I tried.”
    Ryland looked at me menacingly from beneath his long lashes.
    “I couldn’t, could I?”
    He chuckled at me.
    “I could?”
    “More than likely, but please don’t, Joclyn,” he pleaded, coming to kneel in front of me and gathering my hands in his. His hands were warm and soft; the warmth radiated up my arms and through my body in a comforting way that enveloped me.
    “Please don’t, Jos. Don’t take it off, don’t sell it, don’t lose it, don’t give it away. Think of it as a piece of me,” he said and looked down at our interlocked hands. “You know I am leaving the country soon, and it may be a while until I see you again. I may… I may never see you again. Please keep it close. That way I will always know you are safe.”
    He lifted his head to look at me, and I was shocked to see his eyes brimming with threatening tears. He lifted our hands together and placed them over the necklace, right next to my heart.
    “Promise me, Joclyn, please.”
    I didn’t know how to react; was this goodbye? I didn’t think I could handle anymore. It had been a week, one week since my birthday, and everything had flipped upside down. Ryland’s thumb began to caress the back of my hand that he held against my chest, waiting for an answer. The action sent my heart and stomach tangoing through my body in pure pleasure.
    “I promise,” I exhaled, hoping that this wasn’t goodbye. Not already, it couldn’t be; there were still four weeks until graduation.
    Almost as soon as the words left my lips, my mom’s bedroom door creaked open and Ryland left my side, back in his own chair, before my mom could even exit her room.
    “Why, Ryland.” Her voice was laced with parental venom, “Was that your knock I heard at such an ungodly hour this morning?” She wrapped her robe around her as she made her way to the kitchen in search of a coffee mug.
    “Sorry, Mrs. D.” Ryland slipped right into his normal voice, as if nothing had happened over the past few minutes. “I wanted to provide breakfast for my two favorite ladies.” He winked at my mom as he shook the doughnut bag, causing me to almost choke on the maple bar I had just bit into. My mom looked between us in some sort of amused frustration. I wished she would just laugh; it would make everything go a lot smoother.
    “Joclyn, I have given some thought to what we talked about in the car on Tuesday night.”
    I sat up straighter,