I'm doing another dedication for this chapter. Sorry I know I already did one at last chapter, but I wanna thank some of my lovely little readers – don't worry I love you all the same and I dedicate all this book to all of you, my little rays of sunshine! 😘

 But I want to dedicate this chapter to @deathistwolivesaway because her comments (especially the 'eat' ones 😉) always crack me up! So thank you 😘, keep up with your hilarious comments, and if you ever do a stand-up show, I'll be front row! 😁

A cold coffee will maybe be more effective than this morning's cold shower; Nate hopes so at least as he takes a sip of the icy drink. This is the perfect mix: caffeine to get his dizzy head straight after the sleepless night he's had, and the ice to cool off the burn in his body from this morning. Besides, it's the perfect drink for the stifling weather adding to all of that.

Yesterday, it's been cold; today it's scorching. Let's hope tomorrow it will snow! Nate shakes his head as he walks past two elders precisely complaining about global warming and the 'unpredictable weather'. Nate, he, doesn't mind, as he's never known anything else.

The large front door of the Armed Forces quarters soon comes into his view, the sculpted metal attracting the beating sun and standing out in the middle of all this cold metallic-mat gray. Yet Nate doesn't walk there. 

He bypasses the large building and goes to the back, a longer way, but much quieter and less followed, that he always prefers to the crowded and impressive front entrance. Today, he can enjoy the shadows and freshness of the narrow back alley, as he still has time in his lunch break. He could even walk a little bit longer, though he doesn't, afraid that his thoughts would wander too far. Training is better to clear his mind.

However, all his thoughts and plans are stopped short before he can even pass the door, and he automatically takes another sip of coffee to make sure the petite silhouette isn't a mirage in the blazing heat. But no, she's really there, the caffeine making her appear even more clearly as she's sitting on the small and sharp concrete steps near the back door with her blond ponytail and white uniform, almost the same as the first time... It looks like he can't escape her.

He's looked for her all the past week, wandering more than usual in the hallways and taking unnecessary detours, and now, she seems to appear everywhere he goes. His tempting angel.

"Anastasia." Her name leaves his lips like a whispered prayer, a mortal secret.

She instantly shoots up her head towards him, her eyes widening like a deer caught in headlights as the hypnotizing hazel shades are filled with tears rolling down her cheeks – Tears?! Something hotter, and also more dangerous, than the burning steam haunting him invades his veins like a deadly smoke. His clenching fists could easily torture whoever has blurred the soft colors of her eyes.

But he pushes back the anger like she quickly brushes off the tears with the back of her hand, another rush spreading in his body until the tip of his fingers as she glances away. Though he doesn't dare to move, holding his breath like he would near a wounded deer, and only his gaze is traveling from her creased eyebrows to her wringing hand in search for an answer about what's happening or a way to soothe her.

When his eyes fall on the abandoned bouquet near her feet before coming back to her, it's another question that comes out of his lips.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She offers him a tiny smile, avoiding his piercing gaze.

"Are you sure?" He takes one step closer, leaning his head down to let his teddy bear brown eyes stare right into her soul until she can't look away.

"No," she breathes out, biting her lips to prevent anything else to escape her, especially the burning emotions coming back behind her eyes.

She never cries in front of people, yet he has already seen parts of her no one has ever. They have already shared so much intimacy, and a new one is forming at this instant as the softness in his chocolate eyes is like seeping through her and wrapping around everything she tries to hide.

"I have to give up my dream." The words are out before she can't even think.

"Why?" he asks, his eyebrows furrowing, though his gaze doesn't harden.

"It's... complicated. I don't want to bother you."

"You don't," he replies simply, his tone so genuine as he sits down beside her, and it is her turn to crease her eyebrows as she focuses her blurred eyes on him.

Why does he care? Why would she confide in him? Neither of them knows.

"And I've got time." He offers her a heart-melting smile, pretending to look at his imaginary watch and making a smile appear on her wet cheeks.

"It's complicated..." she repeats quietly, more to herself, as her eyes trail to the beautiful bouquet on the floor, and everything rushes back inside.

The memories are almost as blurred as her sight. It must be the fatigue and this whirlwind week that make her so overwhelmed, yet it has all gone so fast, so radically... She remembers Fergus showing up with a lovely bouquet of wildflowers. Quickly, she doesn't even know how, but they have come to talk about how tired she is, and he has told her he doesn't understand why she has to work here. So she has explained to him it is for her future profession, and then...

"My future husband doesn't want me to be a lawyer. He wants me to work with him at his farm."

Nathaniel's eyes widen, surprise, shock, and indignation, along with other emotions she can't decipher, crossing their dark color. It is crazy how their brown can darken with so many shades, yet still keep their brightness. She has already seen lust and concern, but there is so much more.

"You want to be a lawyer?"

Nate would have never expected this sweet angel to want to do such a tough job, though it kinda fits her: always surprising and unsettling.

"Yeah, that's my dream since I was little." Anastasia smiles sadly.

"Then, I don't understand why he doesn't want you to do it." His gaze takes that darker shade again with something Anastasia guesses is indignation.

But actually, this is something so much darker: an unknown anger, a terrible wrath towards this man, Fergus. He's only seen him once, yet he can't stand him, and he has trouble containing it, which is something so unusual for him. He's been trained and educated to control his emotions and never let anger get the best of him. Yet near Anastasia, he tends to forget every rule and just... feel.

"He says he needs help at the farm, and as a wife, I gotta stay at home to take care of the family and help him, like his mother did with his father," she explains, her delicate feature tensing with each word. "He doesn't believe that if I work outside, I will have enough time for doing both, for the well-being of our marriage."

Nate shakes his head. "This is stupid. I think in a couple, the woman's opinion should be equal to the man for the well-being and happiness of both. I mean, I let my wife do what makes her happy."

Actually, Pamela doesn't work, but it's her choice, and he lets her take care of charities and events.

Equality and mutual respect are the fundamentals of a strong marriage, along with other principles... which he might have lost in the pit of guilt growing wider in his stomach again.

"Unfortunately, not a lot of people think like you, and the law–"

"I'm sure he'll change his mind," he cuts her off with a confident tone, not bearing to hear so much sadness in her soft voice. "How important is it for you?" he asks softer.

"Really important! I've always wanted to do this job: be useful, defend innocent people and condemn..." she doesn't finish, as talking about people who break the law with him might not be really appropriate and clever.

"If you explain to him like this, I don't think he could still say no, no one could," he adds in a breath.

"Really?"

The shine lighting her eyes makes his heart skip a beat.

"Really." He smiles, diving his gaze into her hypnotizing one. "Never give up on your dreams."

He doesn't know why; he barely knows her – even though they've shared the closest intimacy – but he wants to support her. He really wants her to be happy, and that smile she offers him in reply should be the only thing ever warming her cheeks.

"You're right! I won't give up that easily!"

He doesn't doubt it when he sees the determined sparkle in her hazel eyes.

"You will be a great lawyer one day." His thoughts are out loud in a whisper without even meaning to; that's how great her piercing gaze seems to be.

"Thank you." She offers him a shy smile, and as she averts her eyes down, the slight tint of her cheeks reminds him of the fragility and innocence he's seen in her on their first encounter. It makes him wonder how many other facets she's hiding.

Something tells him there is so much more than the innocent angel, the determined lawyer, and the sensual woman he's already caught glimpse of.

"And you Nathaniel, when you were little? Have you always wanted to become a soldier, er, I mean Captain?" she asks after some seconds of silence.

She isn't sure why. Maybe she wants to know more about him, and maybe she doesn't want him to leave yet. She has been really low, and he has appeared to save her from her tears. It is like the air has immediately turned lighter, and she isn't ready to let go of this sensation of floating just yet, even less to come back down to earth.

Weirdly, even if he may be responsible for most of the chaos happening inside these days, when he is beside her, she is at peace, forgetting all her worries, despair, guilt, and all the preoccupations eating her alive all the time.

"I wanted to be a hero." He offers her a half-smile, full of nostalgia and enigma.

"And you became one?"

"I don't know..."

"You are. I mean, you've got honored yesterday for being one of the youngest heroes, and everyone seems to admire you."

She gazes at his strong jaw, near where the corner of his mouth is lifting slightly, her eyes instinctively trailing lower and following every subtle tension of his powerful muscles as he is fiddling with the tip of his fingers. She remembers very well – too well – his godly body, and she has never seen anyone who is fitting the word 'hero' as perfectly. Thinking back about all the times they have met before, he has always had this heroic aura; he has always acted as a hero.

"This is more appearances than anything else. If they knew everything..." His gaze gets lost in the faraway, overshadowed with dark clouds, and she finds herself leaning closer, like attracted by the darkness he is trying to escape. "I'm far from the hero I dreamed to be."

The silence falls with his words, their weight and the underlying shadows trailing behind them crushing any lightness in the air.

"Well, for me, you are a hero," she breaks the heavy silence with her light accent, and as he turns his head back to her, he gets dazzled by the shine in her eyes.

Is it for him? He doesn't deserve it, yet the darkness haunting him has never disappeared faster.

"You saved me."

He realizes how close she is as her soft whisper reaches deep inside him to knock his breath out, and the only memories he has now are flashes of the steam room.

She must have also taken his voice because he doesn't reply. He can't; he can't find the right words or more exactly, he has too much to say to her.

"Um... I-I should probably go back to work, I'm already late." She looks at her real watch and grabs her bag as the intensity of his penetrating gaze on her, and the cryptic shades she glimpses are making her dizzy; she could get lost too easily there, trying to decipher them.

She has to get away, yet her members feel heavier when she tries to get up. She puts it down to the tiredness growing more present with the hours passing by as a faint yawn leaves her lips, although it is more than gravity and fatigue pulling on her muscles.

"You have time. You look tired, you should rest." He stops her, putting a hand on her forearm, but he quickly pulls away as a zing of electricity travels through their skins.

"I still got a lot of work to do." She doesn't get up though.

"Here, at least take this. Caffeine will help." He hands her his cup, even if his mouth is even drier than before.

"You see, you're a hero." She smiles, her gaze twinkling with a mix of playfulness and seriousness, which leaves him speechless once more.

So he just lets out a chuckle, and it becomes a hearty laugh when she takes a sip and frowns adorably, her nose crinkling up and two exact creases appearing between her eyebrows.

"Ugh, it's bitter!"

"A little, but it will wake you up!"

She joins his laugh, and as her crystalline laughter joins the baritone echo of his, the simple glee, although short, is enough to lighten their mood like a ray of sunlight.

"Um... You have some coffee here." 

Their laughs go down too soon, and like nightfall, dark shades fall on their gazes as he points to her lips, the small brown drop surely attracting his eyes too much.

She slips out her tongue, running it quickly along her lips, and the innocent gesture may not wipe the coffee foam on the plump swell of her lip, but it awakens his thirst as he tries to swallow the dryness inside his throat.

"Um, no... here."

Before she can react, his thumb is on her mouth, passing slowly along her lower lip, and the warmth of his finger pad contrasting with the cold the coffee has left on her lips is making her shudder.

Once again this is a mere, innocent contact, yet every time he touches her, her senses heighten and she forgets all common sense. Besides, his penetrating eyes are even worse for her sanity, especially when their tenebrous shades are so close.

Her lips are parting to let out a shaky breath as all her nerve-endings are converging towards his feather-like touch, and she is sure his pad is lingering more than necessary on the swell of her lips. Though she gladly lets herself lean against his finger, the pull of something stronger than gravity now tickling every part of her body, and as his dark gaze appears closer and closer, she doesn't fight it, closing her eyes.

"Nate?!"

Cliffhanger!!! Sorry, not sorry! 😁😉 Who do you think it is? 

Also, we learned some interesting things in this chapter... To all the ones who were supporting and feeling sorry for Fergus, what do you guys think? Not as sweet as he seems, is he? 

And finally, what do you guys think are those shadows in the system that don't make Nate feel like a hero?

Let me know your suppositions and also what you think of this chapter! Vote if you like it! 😊

Remember that I LOVE to hear from all of you, my amazing little readers! 😘