Batter of Wits (Green Valley Chronicles #22) - Smartypants Romance Page 0,56
her eyes glowed like melted gold.
"Your hands." I licked my suddenly dry lips. "I feel like they're telling me something that I can't figure out."
Grace peered down at the fists she was making, and her fingers relaxed, the skin no longer white around her knuckles.
"What are they telling me, Grace?" I begged.
She ducked under my arm and I exhaled heavily. Without the heat from her body against mine, I took a second to get myself under control. When I turned, she was handing me her camera.
"Go ahead," she said.
I tilted my head. "You want me to take your picture?"
Grace studied the camera, carefully removing the lens cap and pulling it up to her eyes. She aimed it at my face, and I wondered what she saw. If I looked like I was one thread away from snapping, because that's how I felt.
I'd never felt like I was one quick step away from freedom, but here, I was. One nudge over the edge of the cliff, and she'd have me free falling without a parachute. I'd never, ever wanted it so badly.
When I heard the click of the shutter, I rubbed the back of my neck. "Can I see?"
She ignored me, pulling the camera away so she could look at the digital image on the back. Her lips curved in a secret little smile.
"What do you see?" I asked.
Her chest expanded on an inhale. "Frustration." Her eyes met mine. "Want."
Words lodged in my chest, and I couldn't tear them loose.
I held my hand out and she passed the camera to me. With a rough swallow, I squinted at the tiny viewfinder once it was at eye-level. Grace came into my eye line, holding my gaze with such directness that I fought the urge not to throw the camera across the room simply because it was between us.
It was her turn to ask. "What do you see?"
My finger pushed the slick button on top of the camera, and her mouth curled in surprise that I took a shot.
I pushed the button again as she took a step closer.
"You're not answering me," she said lightly.
"Because I can hardly think straight when you're looking at me like that." My admission was rough and hard, out before I could stop it.
She took another step, within reach now, and one of her hands slid up my forearm.
One more picture, the sound of the shutter snapping between us like a shot.
Somehow, I set it down on the counter without smashing it.
"You can't lie to a camera," Grace said quietly, watching her hand on my arm before the other landed on my heaving chest. "It captures things as are they are, good or bad or ugly or beautiful."
I slid an arm around her waist and tightened my grip until she was flush against me. My other hand pushed up the back of her neck and into her hair.
"This is insane," she breathed, dropping her forehead onto my chest.
"No, it's not."
Grace lifted her head and pinned me in place. "Tucker, seventy-two hours ago, I hated you. You can't tell me this doesn't feel a little nuts."
I couldn't stop my smile. "You didn't hate me. Not really."
One eyebrow lifted. "Wanna bet?"
Extracting my hand from her neck, I covered hers and slid it up my chest until it was over the space where my heart was trying to thrash its way out of my body. Her throat worked on a swallow.
"Hate feels like a lot of things, Grace, but it isn't this. This might not make any sense to anyone else, but it does to you and me. And that's what matters." Her fingers curled into the material of my shirt, searching for an anchor, no matter how small it might be. "Do you want to know what I saw through that camera?"
She nodded.
Lifting the hand that was covering hers, I traced the features of her face, slowly and carefully, like I'd shatter them if I was too rough.
"I saw fear." My thumb traveled her forehead when it wrinkled in confusion.
"I'm not afraid of you, Tucker."
I hummed. "I know." My fingertip traced the line of her nose and her eyes fluttered shut. "But this, this you're afraid of, and I don't know why."
"Aren't you?"
Taking both hands, I cupped the sides of her face until she looked at me. "No," I insisted. My thumbs swept her cheeks and dipped to the edges of her soft lips. "You said you saw want, didn't you?"