An excerpt from Telesa: The Covenant Keeper.
“Hey Leila, maybe you could make us a light? So we can figure out where the lanterns are in this house.”
“Sure.” I stepped away from him and cupped my hands in front of me, focusing my energy, my thoughts. It was a simple thing and the flame that lit in my hands was a beautiful shimmering warmth. I smiled as I looked up at Jason, “See? Let there be fire!” the words caught in my throat as the light danced on the man standing in front of me. “Oh.”
It had been too dark to notice that Jason was barefoot and shirtless. The red and black lavalava I had given him clung to his hips, the t-shirt was flung over his shoulder. Lightning ripped through the outdoors again, and the white flash highlighted every cut of his chest and tapering stomach with its faint blush of blonde hair. I had never thought of him as being beautiful before – that was a word I had reserved for Daniel. But standing there in a shadowy kitchen with only a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist, Jason was all gold tanned skin, muscle and sinew. Words fled as I realized that only a moment ago, I had been encircled in those arms, pressed against that skin. I flushed and the air suddenly seemed a constricting hot thing. It seemed I couldn’t take my eyes away from the sight of him and I was struggling for composure. Jason had been distracted by my lit hands but now he turned his excited eyes to mine “Wow – this fire thing, it’s amazingly useful…” His words trailed away as our gaze locked.
For what seemed an eternity, we just stood there, our bodies separated by cupped hands of flame while a storm raged and thundered outside. I couldn’t read the look in his eyes. I was used to the mischief, the teasing glint, the concern, even the serious intensity – but here, now, in his eyes, there was something different. He leaned closer toward me and reached with one hand to lightly brush my cheek, whispering softly in the electric night. “You’re so beautiful.” And now his eyes spoke what I could understand – he wanted to kiss me. And before I could stop it, the mere thought of his lips on mine provoked a surge of heat that rushed through me like a blast from a furnace, a blast that fired the flames in my hands, sending them shooting upwards to light up the whole room, sending Jason jumping backwards in alarm.
“Whoa! Watch it!”
