It took him a minute to compose himself. He wiped his eyes. “You are an absolute delight. I have not enjoyed myself this much in a very long time.”
“What’s so funny?” I asked, starting to feel a little insulted.
He smiled affectionately. “If I was going to fall for a young lady, you would be at the top of my list. In fact, you would be the list. But alas, you and I have too much in common for that to ever happen.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That is one of your most endearing qualities, little one.” He stunned me by leaning across the small table and kissing my forehead. “And if you were a man, I would fall madly in love with you this instant.”
If I was a . . . oh. “Oh!”
“Let’s just say I did not spend time with Pyotr Tchaikovsky for his musical genius alone.”
Heat flooded my face. I couldn’t believe I’d suggested Desmund had a thing for me. God I was such a moron. I had always been stupid when it came to guys, but this took the cake.
“I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s not you. I just can’t believe what an idiot I am sometimes.”
He shook his head. “I find your innocence charming.”
“That’s because you are a gentleman,” I replied, feeling a little less embarrassed.
“And because I am a gentleman I am very glad I am not enamored of you.”
My eyebrows rose. “Why?”
He chuckled. “Because then I would have to fight Nikolas Danshov for you and I like my head right where it is.”
Chapter 18
THE NEXT DAY, Nikolas showed me how to execute an uppercut punch and a front kick. Then he put me to work on the punching bag for an hour before he switched over to a grueling workout on the weights. The entire time we were together, he was all business and did not try to talk about the night at the barn or anything about us. In fact, he did not say much at all unless it was directly related to my training. As soon as our session ended, he left and I did not see him again that day.
It wasn’t until that night, as I was creating magical whirlpools in my bubble bath, that I remembered I hadn’t told Nikolas about seeing Aine or about using my power on the vampire at the barn. The last thing I wanted to do was bring up that night, but it was Nikolas who had helped me learn to call on that power and he was still my trainer.
I waited until after we’d practiced my punches and kicks the next morning to bring it up. I wiped my face with a towel and took a long drink from my water bottle before I blurted it out.
“I zapped a vampire at the barn.”
Nikolas set down the pair of dumbbells he was holding and turned to face me. It took me several seconds to realize he was not surprised by my announcement.
“Tristan told you.”
“Yes.”
I tried to guess what he was thinking, but his tone and expression gave nothing away. “Why didn’t you say something?”
He leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. “I figured you would tell me when you were ready, and when you felt like you could trust me again.”
“I never stopped trusting you.” I flushed but refused to look away from him because he needed to know I was sincere. If there was anyone I would trust with my life it was Nikolas. My heart I wasn’t as sure about.
“Do you want to tell me what happened? Tristan said you were able to sense them.”
I told him everything as I had described it to Tristan. Nikolas’s eyes flashed with suppressed fury as the story unfolded, but he merely nodded when I explained the cold in my chest and how I was able to take down the vampire. I could tell he was fighting his demon for control. His angry outbursts whenever I was in danger made sense now. What I didn’t understand was why the bond made him react so strongly, or why I felt a growing need to go to him and soothe away the furrows in his brow and the hard line of his mouth.
Clenching my hands behind my back, I focused on my story instead. “I tried to call on the power like we practiced, but it wouldn’t come until I touched him. Then it just jumped out of me like it did with the other demons. I don’t understand why it burned him, but it didn’t burn you.”
Nikolas gave me a tight smile. “A vamhir demon is always close to the surface because it controls the body. You couldn’t feel my demon until I called it forth.” He stared at the window for a long moment, and his face betrayed the battle going on inside him. He wanted to train me, to help me become strong enough to protect myself. But at the same time, he didn’t want me anywhere near a vampire.
To my relief, his pragmatic side won. “This is good. It means you have a built-in defense against vampires, young ones at least. We need to keep working on it to make sure it is reliable.”