Come a Little Closer by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock [Garlock, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Holden was surprised by the sudden sound at his door. He glanced toward the clock, but doing so only increased his confusion; his mother wouldn’t be bringing his dinner for more than an hour. Maybe he’d just imagined it, a popping or groaning of the house that only sounded like someone rapping at his door, but no sooner had he created such a fantasy than it was dispelled by another, more insistent knock.

“Who is it?” he asked, more than a little curious.

“It’s Christina. I was wondering if we could talk.”

When he heard her voice, Holden’s heart began pounding so hard in his chest that he worried it might start a tremor in his arm. Ever since she had doggedly chased him through the streets of Longstock, he’d been unable to get Christina Tucker out of his mind. Hell, from the first time he had met her forgetting her wasn’t possible. That was why he had been standing outside her window in the middle of the night, why he’d made the mistake of walking up the stairs to her apartment, and why he was now frozen in place.

His bedroom was in the same state it had been on her first visit, with tall stacks of books spread everywhere. Once his books had been a comforting sight, a barrier against the world outside his door, but looking at them now embarrassed him. But he also knew that he couldn’t make Christina go away, he didn’t want her to go away, and she’d be stubborn enough to stand there for hours. Besides, she’d seen it before. Nervously, he went to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

“Hello,” she said simply, paralyzing him.

“He-hello, yourself,” he managed to reply.

Every time Holden had been around Christina, he’d found himself dumbstruck by her looks. Today was no exception. With her long black hair cascading over her shoulders, a smile that lit up her eyes as surely as if they were stars in the sky, and the gentle curve of her cheek, he wanted to drink her in, to revel in her as if she were a painting in a museum.

The problem was that this work of art spoke to him.

“May I come in?” she asked.

“Of…of course.”

Holden stepped aside to let Christina enter, shutting the door behind her. For a moment, he rested his head against the door, trying to compose himself. He was so nervous that beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

What in the hell’s the matter with me?

Holden had been around other women before, gone on dates where he’d been charming, funny, the life of the party. Then, it had been natural, easy. But now, he was cottonmouthed and tongue-tied, both at the same time.

If you don’t pull yourself together, she’ll leave…

Christina moved a small stack of books and sat on a corner of the bed, her hands in her lap. After almost dropping a couple of volumes of encyclopedias, Holden freed up a chair opposite her.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about the other night,” she began.

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