Frost's Touch (Book One of the Eternal Warmth Trilogy)

XII. Warm Skin

                                                                                  XII

                                                                          Warm Skin

     “Iana Straventi.”

     The simple and casual way she said her name took Jack’s breath away. It fit her perfectly too, the way it perfectly rolled off her tongue fit, somehow.

     Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked back at Iana to see a small but serene smile on her face, and his heart melted from its icy capsule when he saw her little dimples.

     Wait, it melted?

     This girl was helping him melt his heart and make him warm. And the sensations and feelings right now were ones he hasn’t felt in a very long time.

     Taking a leap of faith, Jack stepped closer to her and took the clothes she held out of her hands. Hoping he wouldn’t scare her, he carefully cupped Iana’s cheeks in his palms and stared into her beautiful blue eyes.

     “Iana, do you know how special you are? Especially to me?” Jack asked.

     Iana tried to look down, but Jack kept his palms firmly against her cheeks to keep her from doing so, and a blush rose to her face.

      “Considering I just met you and only know your name, no I don’t,” she whispered.

     “You’re probably the most important thing that’s happened to me in my very long life.”

     Iana’s brows furrowed, and she pushed her head back a little bit, “what do you mean your ‘very long life’? You’re what? Seventeen, eighteen?”

      Jack cursed himself internally for saying that little bit, and he knew because of his mistake, it would change everything.

      So he was going to tell her sooner than he thought.

     “How about we go on a walk?” He asked.

     “But, its- its raining.”

     Jack looked over at the window, and with a small flick of his wrist, the rain stopped. He turned to face Iana again as she stepped farther away from him, disbelief and fear on her face.

     “Ho- how did you do that!?”

     Jack chuckled, “I’ll tell you everything on our walk.”

     “I’m not going anywhere with you! You can float and change the weather!” Iana whispered the last part as if someone would hear her, when it was just them.

     “I’m not going to hurt you Iana, just please, trust me and you will understand.”

     Iana stared at him for a moment, and finally a short nod came his way.

     Just as he was about to take her hand, Iana pulled it away and gestured to herself, “I can’t go out there in sleep wear, I’ll look weird.”

     Jack looked Iana up and down, and contemplated for a moment.

    “You are right. You’ll need proper clothes so you don’t get cold, especially if you’re going to be close to me.”

    “What do you mean?” Iana asked, confusion laced into her voice.

     “My body temperature is lower, much  lower than normal.”

    Iana still continued to look at him with confusion. She stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his forehead, then cheek, then neck, and shook her head.

     “You’re not cold at all,” she stated.

     Jack raised an eyebrow.

    “Your, your body is really warm, actually.”

    What?

    “How do you mean, warm?”

    “Well, um, when I, I touch you, you’re body feels warm and when I feel you breathe its warm and not cold air. There’s nothing about you that’s cold,” she said, and realizing her hand was still on his throat, she quickly pulled away.

     “That’s odd.”

     After a minute, Jack stepped back to the window.

     “Where are you going?” Iana’s voice held panic, and he quickly pulled his hands up.

     “I’ll be outside. You need to change remember. I’m not leaving.” With that, Jack opened up the window again and hopped out side. He heard a gasp come from Iana, and he thought she probably thought he fell to the ground, but instead he floated back to tree he started out in.