Write for Ten-Vulnerable

I’m running behind on my Camp NANOWRIMO manuscript. Not dangerously behind, I have about 13,000 words and will be able to catch up, but I don’t want to get further behind. I’d really like to get caught up this weekend.  One of the ways I’m doing this is by actually using the Write for 10 writing prompts. This is a website that provides a prompt and encourages people to use the prompt to write for 10 minutes flat. The subject and the quality of the writing doesn’t matter, the only thing you have to worry about is getting the words down. 

The writing prompt on Tuesday was the word vulnerable. I took the word, grabbed the two main characters from Wishing For … and let ‘er rip. I’m quite pleased with the snippet I got, and managed to add 300 hundred words to my word count.

His fingers stroked along the side of my cheek and he stared deeply into my eyes, his gaze so intense so steady, it felt like he was able to see directly into my soul. He leaned forward and brushed his lips across my forehead. “I love you,” he murmured, his voice so low I barely heard it. That didn’t stop the pain from slashing through me.

                It wasn’t the first time I’d heard the words. A couple of the guys I’d dated had said the same thing from time to time. The difference between now and then was that I always knew the reason behind their declaration. They usually wanted to get me naked and horizontal, or I already was.

                Cooper’s different. He was too good, too honest, to try using such a declaration as an attempt to get into my pants. I knew him well enough to know that if the only thing he wanted was sex, he’d say so. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

I closed my eyes and swallow. Why was he doing to too me right now.

                He loved me. Looking at him, feeling his touch, I knew he spoke the truth, or at least what he believed to be the truth. Right here, in this moment, he loved me. What really disturbed me was the way he wasn’t afraid to tell me, how he could willingly leave himself vulnerable to rejection.

                I wondered what would happen if I turned away, if I left him standing there with his heart in his hands and love in his eyes.  I wondered if I was really cold-blooded and bitchy enough to do such a thing to him.

                This would be so much easier if the only thing he wanted was to get inside my pants.