Gravity Read Online Free PDF Page A

try.  I was already aching with regret that I’d let him leave.  As Brady prattled on, I wanted to push him aside and run out the door to find Trace and feel his arms around me again, to feel the utter satisfaction of being held by him.
    When Brady finally said his goodnight and left me in peace, the hollow, empty feeling of being without Trace seemed to permeate the entire room.  I curled up in a ball on the bed and tried desperately to think of anything besides Trace and how my insides literally hurt at the thought of him walking out my door. 
    It seemed only to be getting worse and worse when a calm suddenly stole over me.  I didn’t have to wonder what it meant. I didn’t have to look around to know what or who it was.  I knew what was happening as though it had happened every day of my life.  It was Trace.  He was close.  He had come back and I could feel it. 
    A light tap at my door sounded just before it opened a crack.  I couldn’t see who was in the hall, but I didn’t really need to.  Even though it would’ve made more sense for it to be Brady, I knew that it wasn’t so the voice that came next was no surprise.  It washed over me like a warm tide.
    “I know you’re awake. I can feel it,” Trace said.  “Can I come in?”
    Once again unable to speak, I leapt from the bed and went to further open the door, stepping back to allow him to enter.  If I couldn’t answer Trace with words, I’d have no choice but to act, to show him my answers.
    As soon as I closed the door behind Trace, he spoke.  He was standing so close to me I could feel his breath stir my bangs.
    “I’m sorry about earlier.  I’m sure I could’ve said all that better. I just…I don’t know what came over me.  It’s like everything from the last four years just exploded and I can’t fight it anymore.”
    I stared up into his honey-colored eyes, melting in the heat of what I saw there, desperately wanting to say something to make him continue.  But I couldn’t.  Instead, we just watched each other, mutely.
    Finally, Trace reached forward to wind the fingers of one hand around my neck and bury them in the hair at my nape. 
    “I wish you’d say something, Peyton.  Tell me you feel the same way.  Tell me you can’t stop thinking about me.  Tell me you want me to kiss you as much as I want to do it.  Tell me to leave.  Tell me anything.  Just say something,” he implored.  Then, with a wry twist of his lips, he added, “On second thought, no, don’t tell me to leave.”
    He chuckled and I smiled.  I couldn’t help myself.  Trace had always found it easy to make me laugh.  We seemed to get each other in a way that no one else did, not even Brady. 
    I watched his smile fade as the silence stretched on.  I felt the urgent need to speak rising up to choke my response, as though the need itself was keeping me from saying what I wanted most to say.
    Trace sighed, a sound that broke my heart.  “Wow!  Twice in one night!  What was I thinking?” he asked, slowly pulling his fingers from my hair.
    Quickly, I reached up to grab his wrist and still his hand before he broke the contact with my skin.  His eyes narrowed on me and then flickered down to my lips, as if willing me to speak.  When still I said nothing, I saw a tiny frown pinch his tawny brows together.  He was as confused as I.
    My only options at that point were to let him think that I had no romantic feelings for him or to show him that I most certainly did.  As scary as it was to initiate something I’d dreamed of for so long, I stretched up on my toes and I pressed my lips to Trace’s cheek in a quick kiss.
    I pulled back, my face aflame in embarrassment.  I wanted to turn away so that I wouldn’t have to meet his eyes, but Trace moved his fingers from my hair to my chin.  He applied just enough pressure to keep me facing him, giving me no choice but to look him in the eye.  What I saw there made my knees turn to liquid as the hot