Read Playing My Love for Free Online

thrown off an elephant on my honeymoon, dogs have never liked me, and did I mention the time I got chased by a bull when I was younger?  It stayed with me for years!"
      "That's one persistent bull!  How did you shake him off in the end?"  she joked, but then she saw my exasperated face.  "Oh wow, you're seriously freaked out, aren't you?"
      I nodded emphatically, my eyes wide.
      "Must have been some chase"  she murmured, then moved to stand between me and the cattle.  "Okay, here's what we're going to do.  Look at me, Alison, not them.  Alison!  Eyes on me!"
      "But they're watching us"  I whispered, and she put a hand on each cheek and turned my head to face her.  I was again taken by surprise at how warm her hands were, and also how soft they were. Our faces were just inches apart and I could feel her breath, warm and sweet as she spoke, leaving her hands resting on my cheeks to keep my attention.  It worked.
      "I've never been chased by bulls, or any kind of animal, so how about I walk this side.  That way, when they look over they'll just see me and be like 'oh, it's alright, she's ok ay' and go back to grazing the grass while we exit the field in a nice orderly fashion!  Okay?"
      I nodded, but I was completely distracted by her eyes.  This close, they were the most interesting shade of brown I'd ever seen.  The depth of colour was astonishing, sort of like a deep, rich mahogany?  In fact, they were incredibly captivating and almost hypnotic.  They were certainly hypnotising me!  I couldn't seem to breathe or look away.  As I stared into them with her almost electrically charged warming hands on my face, I felt the strain ebb away, as if she was transferring her calm energy into me.
      "Okay"  I mumbled, and was rewarded with one of her winning smiles.
      "Good.  You ready?"
      I nodded and she dropped her hands from my cheeks, leaving them feeling cold and empty.
      How does she do that? 
      Keeping eye contact with me, she ran one of her hands lightly down my arm until she found my hand, then she interlinked our fi ngers and gave a soft squeeze before pulling gently to get me moving.
      "Remember, nice and casual.  Don't look at them.  Just focus on me and the gate ahead.  If we ignore them, they'll ignore us."  Her voice was soothing as she almost sang the words of encouragement to me.  I felt reassured.
      "Are they ignoring us?"  I asked breathlessly, trying not to look.  We were about fifty yards from safety.
      "Mm-hm.  Hey, you want to know what I really fancy for dinner now?  A nice juicy rare steak!"
      I laughed aloud.
      "I'll buy it for you, my treat for rescuing me!"
      "Yeah…"  she sounded a little bit distracted.  "Oh dear.  Um, do you fancy a race to the gate?"  She suddenly quickened our pace and I looked across…just in time to see two of the herd were stampeding (Darcy later claimed they were trotting, but to my trained eye in these situations, it was definitely a stampede) straight for us.
      " Ohmygodohmygod, shitshitshit!"  We broke into a sprint across the field toward the gate that seemed too far away for my liking.
      "It's okay, we're going to make it!"  Darcy shouted, keeping a firm grip of my hand in hers ( like I had any intention of letting go!) as we navigated the bumpy cowpat ridden ground.
      "We're not gonna make it!"  I wailed, my lungs burning already.
      "Yes we are!"
      "We're not!"
      "We are!  We're nearly there already!"
      Ten yards from the gate, I allowed myself to think that yes, we were actually going to make it…but then I heard their hooves thundering behind us.  I squealed in terror at how close they sounded.  Darcy released my hand and I practically vaulted over the gate, landing in an unceremonious heap in a hedge the other side.  Darcy landed next to me and we both lay gasping for air just as the two bulls (who both looked very angry) reached the gate and snorted over it at us in extreme