This is
A Gift from Shetland by Chris Carr!
I love this fic, Winnie and Jess are so nice characters!
Ok, this is from a very talented author:
"What are your real intentions?" She knew she was blushing as she voiced the question, but she refused to play the role of the coquette and lower her eyes. "What do you want from me?" Why do you make me feel beautiful and wanted, she almost added, but bit her lower lip instead. He had claimed several times that there was nothing on his mind other than talking. Somehow, she couldn't believe that. She didn't *want* to believe that.
She heard him inhale sharply, and she held her breath as she waited for his words to hit her.
"I don't know what I want," he whispered fiercely, his eyes burning with renewed intensity and his posture tense. "But I know what I *don't* want. I don't want to passively watch you walk away from here. I don't want to live with the feeling that what I've been missing all these years was within reach tonight, and, fool that I am, that I let it go."
simona
