The wind was warm and inviting as they walked through the village together side by side; a light dusting of sand below beneath their feet along the paved stoned ground. All around them, the locals bustled about either with shopping, selling authentic hand-made items or food, or walked about underneath the beautiful sunshine.
Joshua looked to his left where Elizabeth walked on the inside of him. He could see the dark tints of blue in her jet black hair from underneath the suns light. He smiled softly to himself as he silently observed her. There was a stoic expression on her face as she kept her bright green eyes peeled about for any signs of trouble.
Softly chuckling, he shook his head. "You really need to learn to relax."
She glared up at him but it wasn't enough to deter him; he stood his ground.
"Just because President Edson told us to take a break from our assignment doesn't mean that we need to relax. We have no idea if our enemies are watching us."
Glancing around the village, Joshua took notice of the military soldiers wandering the perimeters. He looked back at Elizabeth.
"I think we're safe, Liz."
But he could see that she was still incredibly tensed up.
Catching sight of the fountain in the center of the village, he nodded towards it.
"Come on," he urged and led her towards it.
The fountain was beautiful, made from stone with wide circular pools that stacked up on top of one another; they got smaller the higher they went. The fountain stood at eight feet tall and water traveled up the center of the structure, out of the top and poured down in to the stone pools below. The water itself was crystal clear; it looked good enough to drink.
Studying it, Elizabeth smiled a little as she took in the intricate designs of the local villagers at the base of the fountain. There was a lot of history behind it, as there was a plaque right next to the fountain.
"It's pretty," she said after observing it for a while; she shrugged her shoulders.
"It must be pretty special to everybody around here."
"Seems that way." Joshua shoved his hands in to the pockets of his white slacks.
Looking up at him, Elizabeth felt her heart do a flip as she took in his tanned complexion; it popped beautifully against his white dashiki outfit. His curly coal black hair and gunmetal blue eyes were stunning as always, but even more so with his white clothing.
Clearing her throat, she turned around to take in the sandy environment of the village. In terms of nature, there wasn't all that much to see all except for sand. It was everywhere as the desert wasn't too far from where they were.
But she could see the beautiful clothing, she could smell the amazing food, and she could hear the lively music in the village square where there was dancing.
Hearing the music as well, Joshua smiled. "Want to go check it out?"
Shrugging, she shook her head. "Not really."
"Oh come on." He took her hand. "It'll be fun."
"Joshua..." She tugged her hand away from his but he firmly yet gently held it.
"Liz," he spoke; the two made eye contact. "We're safe here; nothing is going to happen."
"How often do you get to take a break on an assignment and get the chance to join in on traditional dancing?"
"I don't, and I don't dance either."
Joshua laughed! "I know for a fact that's a bald faced lie! You told me that you took private lessons when you were in that private girls school back in England."
"It wasn't by choice, and besides, I don't know the traditional dances here."
"Neither do I, but wouldn't it be fun to try?"
Staring past him over at the village square to see the men and women dancing together, Elizabeth felt the tension in her body only grow. She looked back at Joshua.
"I don't know..."
He nodded with understanding. "Alright. Well, why don't we just watch for a bit? Would that make you feel better?"
Elizabeth felt some tension releasing in her shoulders as her mind calmed a little.
"Yeah," she replied, softly smiling a little. "That sounds good."
Smiling down at her, he guided her along to the square. They stood and watched the locals dancing together to the live music and as they did, Elizabeth tapped her foot unconciously to the beat as she picked it up rather quickly.
Taking notice of her foot tapping from beneath the hem of her purple and gold dashiki dress, Joshua smirked a little with amusement.
"You're enjoying this, admit it," he told her with a bit of a chuckle.
Elizabeth shrugged. "So I can appreciate good music when I hear it."
Still smirking a bit with amusement, Joshua went back to watching the dancers. He then glanced down to see that she was tapping her left hand against the side of her thigh. His smirk turned in to a smile.
Reaching down for her hand, he gently took hold of it and guided her in to the square.
"Josh!" She exclaimed with shock.
"Just..." He turned to face her and took both of her hands as he stared deeply in to her bright green eyes.
"Trust me."
Hearing those two little words softened the muscles in her neck.
Nodding, she let him take her right hand in to his left and he put his right hand at the curve of her waist. Stepping out with his left foot, he guided her in to one of the dances that he'd been observing for a while.
Elizabeth stumbled and stepped on his foot!
"Ah!" He exclaimed, pulling his foot away!
"Sorry!"
He shook his head then laughed."It's okay. Let's try this again."
They stepped out then moved to the next step; Elizabeth tripped on the hem of her skirt!
Stumbling forward, she fell in to him!
His arms wrapped around her waist to hold her steady.
The two stared at each other; they both felt their faces grow hot as they made that brief moment of eye contact.
Pulling away from him, Elizabeth cleared her throat then brushed back her jet black hair.
"Uhm... one more time?" She asked with some hesitancy.
Nodding, they tried once more, careful to mind their steps until they eventually found a rhythm. Both of them smiled as they moved in perfect synchronization to the music as it played.
After a moment of careful dancing, Joshua gently picked up the pace to test the waters; Elizabeth picked up on it and quickly matched his steps.
"You're doing great, Liz," he gently reassured her.
Simply smiling, she looked away from him.
A sudden dark cloud of depression entered her mind and tears filled her eyes. What was going on? Why was she feeling so down all of a sudden? Was it because of all the stress?
No, there was something else but she couldn't figure out what it was.
As they continued to dance in silence, she stared up at Joshua. The look in his gunmetal blue eyes was a look that she'd never seen anywhere else.
She knew that there was something different about him the moment that they met almost nearly six months ago when they were first paired up together for an assignment; he looked so familiar to her at first but she couldn't place his face until she realized that they met once before as children but briefly in passing.
It was crazy how much of a coincidence that was. They were both moving in to the same province and passed by each other in a gas station that their families had both stopped at before they continued on their separate ways.
Why was it that after eight years, they happened across each other again?
What were the odds of that ever happening?
She didn't think that she'd ever see him again after that first encounter, and she had no idea that he was even part of the CIA when she joined IAA. But once they met for their first assignment and they learned about their past connection, it was hard for her to ignore.
There was a reason that they met.
So why was she so upset?
Maybe because once this assignment was over, they wouldn't be seeing each other for a long time.
But why would that upset her?
Life goes on; they were both agents in their own respected fields and feelings such as these ones were irrational to have.
So she'd never see him again after this, so what?
"Hey, what's wrong?" Joshua asked, noticing the tears on her face.
"Nothing," she lied as she shook her head; she looked away from him. "I'm fine."
"You're crying." He brushed away a stray tear with his thumb.
Feeling his hand on her cheek sent a strange wave of emotions crashing down on her. Pulling away from him, she hugged herself as she turned to face the other way.
"Liz..." Joshua approached and gently put his hands on her shoulders. "Talk to me."
"No, it's fine, really. I'm just... not feeling so good, that's all."
"Oh. Should we go back to the hotel?"
Elizabeth nodded. Feeling him guide her away from the square, she walked in front of him until he could get beside her to walk on her outside.
"So, what's going on?" He asked with genuine curiosity.
Feeling the knot in her stomach grow, Elizabeth groaned with discomfort and hugged herself around her belly.
"My stomach hurts."
Grabbing her at the shoulders, he spun her to the left to stare down at her as his mind raced with great anxiety.
"Were you poisoned? Do I need to take you to a doctor?" He asked, his voice raising with worry.
"No, no, I'm fine... I wasn't poisoned. I just... don't feel good."
Aside from her sun-kissed complexion, she looked normal. There was a slight look of exhaustion in her eyes mixed with despair, but Joshua couldn't understand why and he had no clue what was going on.
He hurried her back to their hotel.
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Once inside the air conditioned hotel room, Elizabeth laid down on the queen sized bed and curled up in to a slight fetal position on her left side. She stared up at Joshua, whose back was to her as he stood in front of the mini-fridge. He opened it up to pull out a water bottle, then he shut the door.
Turning around, he approached and knelt down to the floor at her side while handing over the water bottle; he unscrewed the cap before doing so.
"Here," he said. "That should help."
"Thanks." Sitting up a bit, Elizabeth took a careful sip of the cold refreshing water then set it on the nightstand.
"Is there anything that I can get you? Food?"
"No." Elizabeth shook her head.
"Do you need some sleep? It has been a long day."
Silently thinking over what she needed, only for her mind to blank over, Elizabeth looked at Joshua to see the genuine worry on his face.
She broke down crying!
Frowning a little, Joshua reached out and touched her hand-
Pulling away, she turned on to her other side.
"Go away," she quietly whimpered.
"What?" He was taken aback.274Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSsAxA3L1Z
"Just go away, Joshua. Leave me alone."
Joshua looked around the hotel room. He couldn't leave... this was the only room that was booked for them. He glanced over towards the sleeping cot by the window. Rising to his feet, he started walking over there.
"I wish I could, but this is the only room that was booked for us. Why don't I just stay over here until you're ready to talk?"
Elizabeth stared past her blurry vision to see him head over to his cot, where he sat down and stared out the window. Shutting her eyes and squeezing out her tears, she dug down deep in to herself to sort through what it was that she was feeling.
So she wasn't actually sick.
But her stomach hurt, her heart was in pain, and her mind was clouded over with anxiety.
It came on suddenly when she stared up at him while they were dancing. He told her that she was doing great with the dancing even though she messed up twice. She wanted to berate herself but he had quickly praised her for her efforts despite fumbling.
Was that why she was upset?
Was it because she never recieved that in her last relationship?
A small part of her felt lighter to confirm this.
So she didn't have the best of luck in her past relationships; her last one with Jax was heavily abusive after all so she wasn't used to be treated so kindly.
Another part of her felt lighter as this was also confirmed to her.
Wiping away her tears, she stared up at Joshua.
He was the first man outside of her personal relationships to treat her right. Her IAA male coworkers were all great, but they were all like brothers to her; she wasn't attracted to them in a romantic-
"Oh." She perked up as she sat up on the bed.
Looking at Joshuas' backside, she realized what it was that she was feeling.
She was upset because she didn't want them to go their separate ways after their assignment. She didn't want to lose what they had. Aside from working great together, she and Joshua had formed a close friendship; they had each others' backs when they weren't working.
Whenever she was about to get in to a fight, he was there to pull her back and to gently remind her of how much damage she could cause if she let her powers control her.
Whenever he was about to encounter any woman who was crazy enough to try and coerce him in to doing something that he was clearly uncomfortable with, Elizabeth stepped in to get the woman to back off.
She was the first person that he called when he woke up, asking how she slept since he knew that she suffered from nightmares. He was the first person she messaged before she went to sleep, letting him know that she had a fun day with him, whether it was work related or not.
Elizabeth didn't want to lose Joshua because she deeply cared about him and their friendship.
"Joshua?" She called out as she wiped away her tears.
Turning around on the cot to look at her, he rose to his feet and walked over to the bed and sat down.
"I know why I'm not feeling so good," she said.
Staring down at his hand, she gently placed hers on top of his then stared up in to his eyes with deep sadness.
"After this assignment is over, I'm never going to see you again."
Joshua frowned a little and cast his eyes down at their hands; he nodded sadly.
"I know. I've tried to avoid thinking about it as well but it's been pretty upsetting for me too."
"So you feel the same way?"
They made eye contact; he nodded.
"I've enjoyed the time that I've been able to spend with you, Liz."
"Same here, Joshua. In fact, I uhm... w-well I..." She took a moment to brace herself; she let out a sharp and heavy exhale.
"I... I really... I really care about you, Josh." She admitted.
Instantly, more of her tensed up muscles relaxed, but her heart remained in a twist. She leaned in to that sensation to uncover what emotion lied underneath it.
She cared about him a lot because...
It was right there on the tip of her tongue; she knew that she had to say it out loud but it got stuck in her mind and the words refused to reveal themselves.
Digging deeper, she focused on what those words were in order to uncover her true feelings for him. What were they?
Why was her heart in pain?
How could she care this much about him?
Sure, she liked him... she really liked him, but it was more than just that. She liked how he treated her, she liked his gentle personality and she liked his gentlemanly manners. She liked his laugh, she liked his protective nature...
Like didn't sound appropriate for these thoughts. Her heart was begging to be heard, all she had to do was allow herself to speak.
Feeling her throat close, she swallowed hard as she looked up at him.
The tenderness in his eyes broke down her last barrier.
"I love you."
The twisted feeling in her heart released, opened up, and soared!
Her entire body relaxed and she let out a gasp of realization as tears streamed down her face. She saw the smile on his face as his eyes lit up with joy, causing her to smile as well; she let out a laugh and she covered her mouth.
"I love you!" She said, this time with joy in her voice. "Joshua, I-"
Leaning in close to her, Joshua gently pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss; she kissed him back though it was a pretty brief kiss before he pulled away.
Cupping her left cheek, he stared lovingly in to her eyes. "I love you too, Elizabeth."
He brushed back her hair. "I have for a while, I just didn't think that it was appropriate to say at the time."
"I get the feeling that you needed to say it first; there was that look in your eyes."
Softly chuckling, Elizabeth nodded. "It takes a while for me to sort through my emotions."
"I understand; take all the time you need to figure out what you're feeling, I can always wait. I want you to feel comfortable with me."
Elizabeth smiled. "That's all I've ever wanted."
She leaned in close and kissed him again, this time more deeply. Putting his other hand to her cheek, Joshua gently pulled her closer to him, causing her to scoot closer as they sat kneeled on the bed together.
Feeling her hands grabbing at his shirt, Joshua stopped kissing her and gently put his hands on her wrists.
"Uhm... we don't have to do this you know," he said to her. "I don't want you to think that we need to just because."
Elizabeth looked away for a moment. Did she want to just because or was it to genuinely express love to him?
Looking back at him, seeing the love and tenderness in his eyes, she yearned more than ever to know what it was like to experience it for its intended purposes rather than for entertainment value. She trusted him more than she ever did with her ex, and she felt a genuine emotional connection where there wasn't one in her last relationship.
She didn't feel the need to tell him about that, but she sure did want to express the overflowing amount of joy that was now in her heart and soul.
"I want to do this with you," she confessed. "Joshua, I love you so much, I don't know how else to express it. Can we do this?"
Smiling, happy to hear her question, Joshua nodded. "Yes, we can, if that's what you truly want."
"Is it what you want?" She asked.
Leaning in close, brushing her hair away from her face once more, Joshua pressed his lips to hers in a soft and gentle kiss, then he looked in to her eyes.
"Yes, Elizabeth, it is. I love you; I want to share this with you."
Feeling herself melt like a puddle, she pulled him back close to her to kiss him.
Gradually, the two laid down on the bed together.
One by one, articles of clothing came off and fell to the floor.
The covers were pulled back, they buried underneath them, and while lying on his back, Joshua reached over to the lamp and turned off the lights in their hotel room.
The Striker Series follows the story of Elizabeth Striker, who gains powers at a young age, making her the only female in the world to possess them as powers are a predominently male genetic trait.
To learn more about her, check out Inhherited Power on Amazon!
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