She was a woman someone could respect, love and cherish. The man liked that.
Yet there was something else. It was only visible if he didn't look directly at her, like a shadow of a dream that was forgotten if he tried to recall it. She had a secret and evasive side that seemed to be toying with the rest of the world; like she was telling it a riddle and only she knew the answer, but she wouldn't share it. She had something enchanting and nearly unattainable about her. Something in the way she liberally distributed those big slow long-lashed winks of her left eye, something in the way she narrowed her eyes and tapped her teeth with her finger when she was considering something, the way she posed when she stood still with her hip always slightly prominent and with her left foot always behind her right foot, the playful bubbly giggle smile she gave as thanks those who complimented her, the way she never seemed to get uncomfortable if people stared at her and the way she seemed to almost encourage people to stare without confessing to the fact that she did so.
All of this hinted at something slightly less pure and saccharine than what a person would see if they looked at her squarely. To him it suggested a slightly darker and seductive side that was teasing the rest of the world by cleverly dancing just out of view. It simultaneously begged to be caught out yet denied that it wanted to be caught out. Perhaps it was something that only one or two people would get to see in full view in her lifetime. This was the true gift she had to give, but only to a few. Her small tart tang of a center hidden within the candy shell she showed the world; a center with gentle bite and a self-assured and smoldering sexuality. The rest of the world would only get a quick taste of the candy coating and unknowingly accept that as her gift to them while a lucky special few would get to taste her real being.
He knew all of this because he had looked into those eyes when she wasn't aware he was looking. That hidden tart tang of a center showed in those melted chocolate eyes in her unguarded moments. He knew of the secret spell she cast out like a coded message to the world that was at once tantalizingly enticing yet sublimely elusive. Yes, that was why he had picked her. That was why this plan had to be executed so that he could get to be one of those people who would taste that small tart tangy center. In fact, the end result of the plan was that he would be the last person to ever obtain that rare prize from her.
She was a woman who would willingly live out dark fantasies of lust and desire. The Beast liked that.
And now here she was, alone with him with nothing but time between him and the prize at the end of the plan. That thought made his breath quicken and his heart surge anew. She saw his excitement rising and he could tell it scared her because the fear rose in her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she began to make small and fearful squeaks again. They might have been words, but he didn't concentrate on that. He just stared deeply into those horrified eyes and silently reveled in them. The smirk returned to his lips and the small terrified cries resolved into a chorus of muffled, "oh nononononononono!"
"Soon," he promised her in a low rumble of bass voice.
