by Ceri Bladen
Persona–a light-hearted contemporary romance
Chapter 10
“Wow. Does that always happen?” Ella bent over and tried to catch her breath. “I didn’t think we were going to make the train.” She made a mental note to hit the gym. She hadn’t run that fast in a long time.
“Hence the reason I don’t take public transport very much.”
Ella couldn’t believe how many people had asked for Daniel’s autograph when they entered the tube station. If the fans didn’t have paper handy, they didn’t seem to mind what he signed! They’d appeared from every direction and, to be honest, Ella couldn’t understand how Daniel smiled at each and every one of them.
Starting to breath more easily, Ella straightened up. She watched more people try to squeeze into the already full compartment. With nowhere to sit, Ella reached up on tiptoes and grabbed the overhead strap.
When the train started to move away from the station, she noticed Daniel smile at someone behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a couple of girls sitting down, giggling and pointing at him. Fans were everywhere!
Holding on tightly to the overhead handles, Daniel bent down and whispered into Ella’s ear. “Luckily, the train is full, otherwise we’d be bothered here, too. When it’s packed, people are usually too afraid of losing their seat to ask me for an autograph.” He winked at the girls when he straightened back up.
Noticing more embarrassed giggling and pointing going on around them, Ella smiled discreetly to herself. Oh, to be young and carefree again.
While the tube sped over tracks and through tunnels, they made light conversation between lulls.
Usually, Ella loved the tube. She caught one every day to get to and from work. While in the confined space, it gave her an opportunity to study people; the workers, the school children, the vacationers, the elderly - all travelling the same tube, all going to different lives.
Ready to start up another conversation, Ella smiled up at Daniel, but his attention was elsewhere, so she stayed quiet.
Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel noticed a man discreetly checking Ella out. Frowning, he glanced around the rest of the compartment. He rolled his shoulders in irritation - there were far too many males eyeing her for his comfort. Usually, when he travelled on public transport, he kept his eyes on his phone or a book, so that not too many fans disturbed him, but today, with Ella, he found himself more interested in those around him. But, he was completely taken aback by the surge of jealousy that tore through his gut. With a start, Daniel realised he didn’t want anyone else looking at her, but before he had time to analyse his emotional reaction, the doors opened, and another crowd of commuters piled into the already overcrowded compartment.
With the mass of extra bodies, Daniel was forced to move much closer to Ella, and an unexpected knock from a commuter had their bodies briefly touch.
Daniel forced himself to take a small step back. He was too aware of every bit of Ella’s body that had come into contact with his. Towering above her, Daniel glanced over her head and out of the window, as he battled to stay emotionless, concentrating on his breathing. Not a muscle moved in his face to betray his unsettled emotions.
Hyper aware, Ella stood rigid, pushing against the bodies when they jostled from behind. She was frightened of touching Daniel again, shocked by the feeling in the pit of her stomach. All those emotions she thought she had under control – she didn’t. Ella stared at the floor, people’s legs, anywhere but at him, embarrassed by her instinctive response to him. She couldn’t look up because he was far too close. It would feel too intimate. So, the silence between them stretched, while hushed whispers carried on around them.
Eventually, Daniel felt more in control. After taking a deep breath, he glanced back down at her. She’d been quiet, too. She was staring out of the window, looking quite sad. Just as he was going to break the silence, a young male nearly bumped into her. Daniel’s protective instincts went into overdrive, automatically trying to protect her. He took a small step to the side, forcing the man to move away. Ella hadn’t had a clue what just happened. Once she had more space, Daniel let out a short breath, trying to work out what he was doing. Am I attempting to shield her or stamping her as mine? For his own sanity, Daniel hoped it was the first reason.
Deciding not to break the silence, he tried to work out why he’d felt like growling at the man – it was so unlike him. Granted, he didn’t usually have any competition for the ladies he went out with –they all knew who he was, and why they wanted to be seen with him. It didn’t usually bother him. Or to be correct, judging by his reaction just now, he didn’t care about them. But something about the tiny lady that stood in front of him was bringing out a need to safeguard her. He sighed as he flicked his gaze around the tube, barely noticing the gossiping about him. He needed to sort himself out. It wasn’t his job to look after her, it was Jeff’s.
When the train neared the next station, people stood and pushed each other, aiming to stand near the doors, nudging Ella closer to Daniel until the little space they had between them became even smaller.
Suddenly, Ella felt hot, and she knew it wasn’t just the sheer amount of bodies in the compartment- it was the proximity of Daniel. His nearness was doing significant things to her heartbeat, and she was sure she could feel her nerves jangling. To make matters worse, all her senses seemed to have gone into overdrive. She swore she could feel his warm breath tickling the top of her hair, could smell his musky scent with a hint of aftershave, and feel his strong thighs on hers. Oh, gosh, this isn’t good for my blood pressure.
Daniel thought he caught an unsteady inward breath from Ella as she was forced nearer to him. He looked down on her. She wasn’t making eye contact. She was flushed. Now, that was interesting. Perhaps she isn’t as immune to me as I thought. A smile touched his lips. Perhaps the attraction wasn’t one-sided? That thought made him happy.
To calm herself, and in an attempt not to think how close they were, Ella gazed out of the windows. It was black, but she trusted it would divert her thoughts from his potent charm. She forced herself not to look at their reflections. Gosh, when will this journey end?
After taking a while to calm her jumpy nerves, she glanced back up Daniel with the intention of starting a conversation back up – anything to stop her mind racing with images and ideas. Nothing made it out of her mouth when she noticed Daniel staring at her, a lazy smile on his lips, and a dark look in his blue eyes. She couldn’t pull her gaze away. She watched him slowly scan her face, before his gaze moved back to linger on her lips. She could barely breathe as she noticed a small muscle twitch on the side of his jaw. If they weren’t in a crowded subway compartment, she would swear he was just about to kiss her. Everyone around her seemed to blur away - the noise of the train and conversations merged into a haze. Her heart slammed into her chest. Oh gosh, she almost squealed; he was bending closer. Oh gosh, here comes the kiss!
“Ours is the next stop,” Daniel whispered into her ear.
“Oh.” Was the only thing she could squeal out.
“We need to get ready to move to the door,” Daniel said as he nodded towards the doors behind her.
“Oh, okay,” she said, looking quickly away with embarrassment.
Daniel straightened back up in an attempt to shatter the intimacy of the moment. He felt awful. Waiting a while before he glanced back at her, he noticed Ella trying to hide her embarrassment. He felt wretched - he was going to kiss her! It was only a bump back to reality by another commuter that stopped him. He couldn’t say anything to her about what happened, it was for the best. Besides, her embarrassment could be because he was going to kiss her, and she didn’t want him to!
Taking a lungful of the stuffy air, Daniel considered the sea of faces, in order to remind himself of reality. He silently cursed at himself. They were on the subway with lots of people - lots of people with cameras on their mobiles. It wouldn’t have done either of them any good to get photographed kissing �
� especially her with Jeff. With desire stabbing at him, he sure hadn’t planned on a little kiss either! But, he liked Ella far too much to want her boyfriend seeing photographs of them together. It would be the quickest way to hurt her and send her running, and Daniel did not want that. So, although beneath his outwardly, strong, handsome features, a storm at his stupidity raged, he remained quiet and smiled at Ella when she glanced up at him. He swore that he wouldn’t get them in that situation, ever again. It was too dangerous. For them both.
“Our stop,” he said when they arrived at the station. He settled on placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her out of the train.