Free Nightsong by Karen Toller Whittenburg

covered hers, warming the chill from her fingers and sending a ripple of protective pleasure through him. Even in the gathering dusk he saw the flicker of surprise in her eyes and watched it change to a soft wonder. Her lips were tinted with moisture and parted – just barely – in unconscious invitation.
    He never should have asked her to join him on the landing. Never should have allowed the conversation to turn intimate.
    Never should have touched her.
    But he had.
    And he was going to kiss her. In a moment. When the anticipation became too intense to withstand. When the steady throbbing of his heart quickened to a painful ache of longing.
    Phillip tried to reason away the desire, tried to warn his misguided intentions. But it was too late. It had been too late from the first moment her eyes had smiled into his. Slowly he lifted his hands to her face. Her cheeks felt cold and porcelain smooth to the touch, yet he trembled at the warmth that flooded his body.
    Elleny.
    Her name was a melody carried on the breeze, and he could wait no longer.
    He bent his head. Her lashes drifted down in expectation, and then his lips were on hers, his pulse pounding like the surf on a moonswept night. She was soft and tasted of mint. Or was it the fresh herbal scent of her that tangled his sense of taste and smell? He didn’t know. He didn’t care. He simply enjoyed.
    It was the gentlest of kisses, only because Phillip was afraid to test his control. She was vulnerable to the moment. And he was beginning to believe he might be vulnerable to her. And this was not the time to find out. As her arms slipped around him, pulling him closer, he didn’t seem to have any choice but to let the kiss deepen. And to let reason get lost in the enchantment.
    He had thought of her as fragile, but her response was anything but. There was a promise of passion in the pressure of her mouth against his, a trace of desire in the caress of her hands at his shoulders. Yet there was also an innocence of spirit that was as much a part of their embrace as it was a part of everything about her.
    Their lips met, parted, came together again and clung. As if there would be no final chord in their song.
    It had to end, of course. He knew that the time limit for a casual kiss had long since come and gone. He knew if he continued to taste the sweetness of her lips that he would have to touch her in other more intimate ways as well. And then....
    The decision was taken from him in a slow, easy pressure of her palms against his upper arms. Elleny eased his fantasy to a lingering close, and reluctantly he forced his hands to his sides. But he couldn’t force his gaze from hers. It was dark now and getting colder by the minute, but Phillip thought he could stay just as he was indefinitely ... and still be warm.
    “A.J. is calling me.” Her voice was a regretful whisper.
    “I don’t hear anything.” His voice was husky, his logic nonexistent.
    “Good night, Phillip. It was a lovely way to spend an evening,” She stepped past him, and for just an instant her fingers brushed his with new awareness. “A lovely way to end an evening.”
    Elleny wished she could linger for another hour—or two, but she kept moving. Down the stairs, across the yard, away from temptation, and toward the house. A.J. was waiting for her there. She could see him at the kitchen door, his thatch of blond hair frosted silver by the inside light.
    She felt Phillip’s gaze on her, and she wanted to turn, retrace her footsteps, relive the magic of a kiss that had been unexpected, but so much more than she’d imagined. But she couldn’t go back to him. She had other commitments at the moment. And even if she didn’t, Elleny wasn’t sure she would follow her impulse. There was no reason to rush the stirring possibilities; it had been only a kiss. There might never be another. Or there might be several. Either way, she was glad Phillip had come to Cedar Springs in his search for