Alone in the Firelight

ROMAN

The grotto felt impossibly empty after Vanessa fled.

I sat there, naked and stunned, the ghost of her touch still burning on my skin. The air around me seemed to mock my solitude, carrying the lingering scent of our passion mixed with her fear. My chest ached with a hollow pain I hadn't felt since that first day she disappeared from my life.

"Fuck!" I slammed my fist into the soft earth beside me, sending dirt flying.

How could I have been so stupid? Asking her to marry me here, now, when the wounds of our past wedding were still raw. I'd been so caught up in the perfection of our connection, so desperate to secure her by my side, that I'd completely disregarded her trauma.

The pain in her eyes when those memories resurfaced... I'd never forget it.