The Key (Heartfire) Read Online Free Page A

Freshman year in high school. He would have been embarrassed but he wasn't. He knew it was because of her. He was overwhelmingly drawn to her in every way.
    Including his dick apparently.
    Dylan was stymied a moment later when the class abruptly ended. He couldn't stand up right away for obvious reasons. But he couldn't let her disappear on him again.
    Hi, yeah I'm the guy from your dreams. The one with the massive public erection. Emily Bronte does that to me.
    Not.
    Yeah, that would not go over well. He cursed when he saw her making a beeline for the door. Boner or not, he couldn't let her get away again.
    He stood up and chased after her.
    Pushing his way through the crowd, Dylan lifted his arm and touched her shoulder just as she stepped out of the building. She turned and her eyes widened. She stepped away from him, almost stumbling down the stairs. He reached out for her and steadied her.
    The next thing he knew she had darted out into the crowd of milling students on the quad. She was pretty fast for such a little thing. Dylan followed her, unwilling to give up so easily. He still held his jacket in front of him, trying to hide the trouser tent he was sporting.
    "Wait- I just need to talk to you-"
    She ignored him, weaving through the crowd of students until she stopped short, blocked by a game of catch football. Dylan grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him.
    "I know you."
    Her big eyes blinked up at him. He knew she was about to lie to him. Even before she opened that beautiful mouth of hers.
    "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen you before in my life."
    "Yes, you have."
    He smiled at her, shaking his head.
    "It's okay. I'm scared too. This whole thing- it's crazy."
    She stared at the ground as if willing him to go away. Then she shook her head, as if she was trying to clear it.
    "Yeah. I guess you're right."
    His heart was clanging in his chest as she took a deep breath and looked up at him. Her beautiful golden eyes were rueful as she seemed to relax suddenly.
    "It is crazy. I think I'm going crazy."
    Dylan smiled at her.
    "Maybe we both are."

Kaylia
    ☽

    Kalia's heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was a horse that might gallop away from her. He was here. And he was demanding that she talk to him, that she admit what was happening.
    God help her, she wanted to talk to him too.
    She wanted everything in the dreams to be real. The long walks. The handholding. The kiss.
    Especially the kiss.
    Everything inside her warned that there would be consequences if she gave into that desire. That this was not a free gift. She didn't know if it was just nerves, or a lifetime of being the odd girl out, but her internal warning bell was clanging and it was loud.
    She let herself look at him, silencing the voice inside her that told her to run. She just... looked. Her eyes drank him in like the tall, cool drink of water that he was.
    Lord have mercy the boy was fine.
    His eyes were the same as she remembered, his shoulders just as broad. His hair was shorter, cut for the upcoming football season most likely. She missed the tousled curls he'd worn the last time she saw him. It softened him somehow. Now he looked... hard.  
    Determined.
    He was staring at her, begging her with those deep blue eyes to say the words that would make this all real.
    Too real.
    Once she said them out loud though, she wouldn't be able to take them back. It was a line in the sand and she realized with a sense of inevitability that nothing would stop her from crossing it. Maybe this was fate. Maybe it was magic. Real magic, not the kind you read about in fairy tales. Either way, she couldn't fight it any longer.
    She sighed, unable to resist the entreating look in his beautiful eyes.
    "Your hair is shorter."
    He smiled at her with such relief that it almost made it worth it when they both ended up in the loony bin.
    Almost.
    "Yours too."
    She ran her hand through her new haircut distractedly.
    "Yeah, well my Gran cut