The One Worth Finding by Teresa Silberstern Page A

else.
    Three days. Three days of happiness,
then everything would be over. He had no idea how he was doing it.
How he could still want to be charming and sweet and acting like
the man in love he undoubtedly was, knowing full well that in three
days, his heart would break. Inevitably.
    But he couldn’t turn his back on her
now.
    He needed to enjoy this as long as it
would last. If he would die in three days, so be it. He’d have this
one week, one week of bliss, one week of knowing that he wasn’t
hopeless. That somebody out there truly wanted him. He would never
love again, of course. But he would keep the memory of the feeling
in his heart, and maybe, it would make him a better man. When he
closed his eyes, he would remember how she had looked at him, and
maybe someday, the sadness would fade and only the happiness
remain.
    He would sit by the fire, creaky
and grey-haired, with Grace’s grandchildren on his lap and tell them
about the beautiful woman he’d loved all his life. The only one
who’d ever captured his heart.
    He closed his eyes.
    He didn’t feel like talking to anyone
tonight, and for once hadn’t answered Sam’s call.
    He just wanted to be alone and wait for
tomorrow, when their souls would melt into each other
again.

    Flowers, their bright red grayed by
the darkness.
    It was so cold at the cemetery. She had
lit a match to read the inscription on Jeff’s tombstone.
    Beloved husband.
    Now she was fighting a lonely battle.
Free. She wanted to be free. Didn’t want to sacrifice the soul
she’d just found after living all those years without
one.
    She cried and raged and shook like a
leaf. Knowing it was to no avail.
    Wind howled in the trees, and she
wallowed in the cold and the slight fear the dark, morbid place
ignited in her.
    It was a senseless struggle, a fight
she knew she would lose. She wanted to curl up on the grave and
freeze to death in the icy winter air. But she knew it wouldn’t
change anything.
    She could never be free
again.

Chapter 10

    She tried to keep her distance
wh en she
picked him up at the subs’ apartment the next morning, tried to be
cold and aloof, and failed miserably.
    He was so cute, so bewitching, always
talking to her with his head slightly tilted, staring at her
dreamily like a boy in love; he just made her smile with his
sweetness and adoration, and she almost forgot all the suffering
that made her so sad and unavailable for the precious hours she
spent with him.
    She was grateful. For someone who so
rarely laughed, it felt unbelievably good to let her guard down for
once. To allow herself to be swept away by a man who was actually
three years her senior, but seemed so much younger than she was.
His face was youthful, ageless, his charm easy-going,
weightless.
    She simply refused to reject him. Not
today. Not before he had to go.
    They entered the club next to
each other, and she felt so close to him she thought everybody had
to see it, she was watching the doorman like an enemy who might shout
her feelings to the world.
    “Aaron,” she said quietly, “just
remove your shoes and socks, please. I want to undress you
today.”
    The doorman nodded when she threw him
a questioning glance.
    “ That’s okay, Mistress Tara,” he
said, “he’s committed, so you call the shots with him.”
    Committed. Why had the word never sounded
so good? She closed her eyes briefly and forced a calm
nod.
    She led Aaron into one of the
bathrooms that could be used for playing. She would find everything
she needed right here.
    “ Stand.” She commanded, and he
obeyed. Her hands pushed the open jacket from his shoulders. He
didn’t move an inch.
    Slowly she lifted her fingers
to the collar
of his shirt and started to unbutton it, one by one, reverently
stroking the delicious naked skin she revealed. So soft, hot under
her touch, trembling when she hit an especially sensitive
spot.
    Mine, her mind screamed,
MINE.
    She felt her touch going urgent. She
bared his upper body and kissed