Evaline:
The silence stretched between us like a taut string ready to snap. My back was pressed lightly against the wall, my hands fisting my coat on my sides, and yet it wasn't the cold wall behind me that sent shivers spiraling through my body. It was him. The sheer weight of his presence - his towering frame, the storm in his stunning deep green eyes.
I held his gaze, searching, trying to decipher what exactly was going through his mind. But River was a fortress, as always. His expression gave nothing away save for the faint tension around his jaw, the faint flare of his nostrils as though every ounce of his control was being tested.
Then, without warning, he closed his eyes. His chest expanded with a slow, deep inhale, and I naively thought that he was trying to calm himself down. That perhaps he was reminding himself to be civil with me, his assistant, his mate, the one who seemed to always push his boundaries without meaning to.
