Safeword: Storm Clouds(45)

Kendra kept her distance from him, a few feet between them, and he didn't push it to keep her any closer. They walked the gardens and then sat down in a seating area in separate chairs. She found out that he was working off Broadway as a dancer. He'd had to start his own theater in order to do it, and no one who knew him as a dancer realized he owned the theater, but it was the only way to be sure that all rehearsals and shows would take place at night and not during the day. The director only knew that the theater owner wanted to hand pick a few people, and that Norris was one of the ones he'd hand picked. Norris had set the theater up to hold acting classes during the day and the director was only allowed time in the theater from nightfall until morning – this meant there as no arguing about when the school had the building and when the show had the building. Norris was an incredible dancer and entertainer and she was happy for him that he'd found a way to get back on stage. When they went inside about thirty minutes before dawn he took her into his arms and kissed her. And she let him. She realized during the kiss that she was indeed more powerful than him now, if they drifted off towards a power exchange he would be the one submitting this time. But, that kiss told her loud and clear, this was Norris. The same Norris she had once loved, and that she could easily love again. But... he had a life in New York and she had a life here. Surely he could see that?

He asked her to go back to New York with him, for a visit, let him show her around the city as a tourist. She said she had obligations here. When he asked her if she was seeing someone here, she avoided the question. She realized she didn't really know for sure how to answer it. When he left he told her he'd be back once he fixed things with Marco and then did whatever he needed to do to get Abbot to allow him back into his territory.

In a way Kendra wished that Eric hadn't been so clear that they weren't exclusive, because then she'd have had a reason to not kiss Norris goodbye. And that kiss practically made her come undone.





Chapter Twelve





Kendra had an email from Eric when she awakened that night.

Ranger had a great interview today, I think he's seriously considering accepting their offer. I want to be able to talk to him about you, can we tell him your secret? It's going to be hard to explain why you're only around at night, and why you don't eat with us.

She emailed him back that if Ranger came to live here they would figure something out, but that telling him right now was out of the question.

Thirty minutes later she got the buzzing vibration she would get when someone who was bound to her was thinking about telling the secret. She followed it to see where it came from, knowing where it would lead before she followed it.

Since Kendra didn't have a mind link with Eric she couldn't warn him without calling him on the phone, so she let Abbot know what was going on and asked him to contact Eric via the mind link and let him know he was treading on dangerous ground.

And then it hit her. Eric was just another form of the bad boy that she used to be attracted to. The danger element was different since he did it by hang gliding and parachuting instead of breaking laws and rules, but it was still there. Damn, maybe she hadn't outgrown her bad boy fascination after all.

She also realized she didn't have anything to do tonight. She decided to take a trip to The Library and see what they'd managed to get done since the last time she checked on it.

As she was pulling out of the driveway her cellphone rang, it was Eric. "I didn't tell him anything, I was just thinking in my head that if I let him test the game for me it might be obvious to him what you are. As I was telling him the storyline I considered how he might figure things out, since he's so suspicious of you. I wasn't going to tell him."

"You were laying the foundation for him to figure it out later. It's like Abbot said, the binding keeps you from telling in any way. You can't even play twenty questions with someone to help them figure it out. Look, if Ranger comes here to live, we'll figure something out. Trust me, I'm not going to put you in a position to keep an impossible secret."

"Okay Kendra, I just really wish I could talk to him about this."



"I'm sorry Eric, Abbot is going to say that is out of the question unless Ranger moves here. Okay?"



"Okay. I thought I might take him to TBR tonight for some pool, want to join us?"



"Sure, I'm going to run downtown and check on The Library and then I'll come back to TBR and play some pool with you."



As she hung up Kendra wondered if Eric was ever going to feel comfortable with her binding him to her enough so they could mind link. She hadn't liked having to ask Abbot to talk to him, but she'd also known that a phone call right then would have put Ranger on edge, since he'd have heard enough of Eric's side of the conversation to know that she wanted him to not tell Ranger something. Also, she kind of needed that mind link with people she was intimate with, it was like there was something missing when it wasn't there. But Eric had asked her to not do anything else metaphysical, and she would honor his request.