Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) by KaSonndra Leigh Page B

incredibly far and crossed oceans to be together, yet it still feels like we’re unbelievably far apart. I let myself go slack in Caleb’s arms so he has to put his all the way around my body to keep me from falling.
    We stay this way for a long time, listening to the ocean slap the shores, forgetting that some cruel plan created by the Angel of Chaos brews in both our futures.
    I feel the boy who’s holding me in his arms is slipping away from me, my greatest fear. I don’t even think he realizes it. I pull back so I’m staring into his weary, gray eyes.
    I think I could deal with this human thing if I didn’t have to glance inside his eyes and find myself lost in the pain, the confusion, the conflict; everything I fear that I see storming inside them.
    Say something to take his pain away.
    I don’t know where to start, so I continue with what I miss the most, my home. Or rather, an explanation of how things work for the Seraphine when it comes to matters of the heart.
    “In my land, we put a lot of emphasis on our first love. It’s not something we take lightly. Once we bond emotionally, it’s a done deal to the physical and everything else afterwards. We don’t do divorces or separation plans. I don’t even think our people know what those things are.”
    He makes a lazy laugh, a half smile to match the smoldering look killing me softly inside as each second passes. “Then your people could probably teach mine a few things. Nobody here stays together. Love is like a foreign language to us.” A faraway look crosses his face. I can tell he didn’t say what he just did to hurt me. I suspect he’s thinking about his parents—his mom and his real dad, the Wanderer.
    Kiss him. Not yet. Oh, go ahead. Don’t be such a bore.
    “Not true, Caleb. I think the two of us have the love thing covered pretty well.”
    I get a narrow-eyed side glance and another smile. “How do you know this, Miss Jones?”
    “Easier to show you.” I move to my tiptoes and place my lips against Caleb’s before he has the chance to respond.
    He reacts right away, parting his lips and pulling me tighter in his arms. As the kiss deepens, the waves begin to hit the shores even harder.
    Are they reacting to our kiss? No way.
    It isn’t my imagination, though.
    Caleb glances sideways at them, too, just before he returns his attention back to setting my soul on fire. Even the Mother Ocean, my greatest ally, knows the bond we share feels right. She’s the one who’s jealous of me. What other reason can explain the magical thing happening beside us right now?
    I don’t even realize we’ve fallen to the ground until I feel the soft hint in the grains of sand touching the exposed skin on my back. We roll, alternating positions; me on top of Caleb and Caleb’s body pressing down on me. We laugh, kiss and roll some more. In the end, he winds up on top of me, staring into my eyes as the laughter fades.
    An intoxicating scent entraps me; a touch of salt water, a hint of Jasmine in my perfume, the fading scent of Caleb’s cologne. I clear my mind of all things negative as Caleb moves his lips back to mine, briefly brushing against the skin just before he travels down my neck, exploring and gently nibbling me as he does so. His left hand supports my head. The other one moves down my body, grazing over my short sun dress and finding its way up under the fabric. I think every nerve in my skin has sprung to aching life.
    “I want us to be closer,” I hear myself whispering in his ear.
    Then the spell breaks.
    Caleb moves the hand on my thigh away and his lips stop at the spot on my collarbone he’s been kissing. He lifts his head up, glances in to my eyes and sighs deeply. “We should stop. Now.”
    “What’s wrong?” I ask. Flushed cheeks and a blinking response is all I get as an answer from him. He pushes himself up, moves away from me, props his forearms on his knees and begins staring out at the ocean. I move the hem of my dress back