“She’s not human. Why didn’t I see that from the beginning?”
“Your talents are still revealing themselves, also you allowed yourself to see what you wanted as opposed to looking for the truth. No matter how great your talents, if you choose to believe a lie, that’s what you will see.”
“Because I was convinced she was human that’s what I saw?”
“Yes. You can still deceive yourself. To prevent it, you need to be on guard.”
‘It’s those pesky emotions coming back to haunt you.’ She could hear Voyager in her ear warning her.
“Do you want to ignore the Sudir in order to have dinner?” she asked Cal softly unsure what their next move should be.
“He’s trying to rattle you, Paige. You’re stronger than he anticipated. Now he needs to find a way to breach your defenses and keep you off guard. Don’t let him get to you.”
She nodded turning around in her chair bringing herself face to face with Cal. Not having her eyes on the enemy caused her already bruised heart to skip a beat. She took a deep breath calming her pulse that was hammering within her veins. Cal would protect her, she was certain but there was so much more than just that. Her talents, the ones she wasn’t putting much faith in until now, would need to give her a warning if the Sudir made a move towards her. In this moment she was making the biggest investment in her life, in herself. She would put her faith, her life, in the gift that resided inside of her instead of cold hard logic that screamed at her to run. Absent-mindly Paige rubbed the ring on her finger loving the solid feel of Cal’s connection to her.
She lifted her head to Cal, her eyes burned with an internal fire. The gold on the edges of her iris mingled with the rose gold of her eyes in flashes of color.
“A romantic dinner with a side of suspense, who could ask for more?”
When their waiter arrived with the food, she was so engrossed with Cal she never noticed the look of fury on the Sudir’s face, but her talents recorded all of it.
Chapter Twenty Three
They left the restaurant happy with their attraction on a slow simmer, she was sure it would lead to a natural conclusion then he hit her with a snowball. A snowball that found its way through her defenses causing her to laugh and declare war to Cal.
“It’s on, Cal!”
“You can’t touch me, Paige.”
Multiple snowballs came toward her at once testing her, making her stretch to keep them from touching her. She grunted in frustration; he was like a machine never letting up on the intensity. All she could manage was to defend her position, and she was slowly giving up ground as she took tiny steps backwards.
She needed an opening in order to have a fighting chance. The snowballs came at her faster until she wasn’t able to stop them. They penetrated her defenses, smacking her with cold anger.
Paige stumbled over the bottom step to the porch falling on her rear and waiting for the rest of what Cal was throwing at her to fall like an avalanche. She curled up into herself, tears glittering on her eyelashes as she blinked fast. Admitting defeat, she sat with a lump in her stomach making her gag reflex start.
“Cal?” her voice came out low and tentative.
The anger she felt was no longer emanating from him. Warm arms went around her.
“I failed. I’m sorry, Cal, it made you mad.”
“No.” His tender voice reached out to her.
She tried to pull away in disbelief.
“Paige, wait. I wasn’t upset with you, but you’re right I was upset. All I could think was that we should be having fun, the kind where I don’t have to test your defenses. I shouldn’t have to push you because your talents are the stronghold standing between whether we live life on this plane or the next.”
He pulled her closer wrapping her in his arms. Lowering his head he dropped a lingering kiss on her trembling lips slowly warming them. His lips pressed against her generating heat without dipping inside before covering her ear and whispering how beautiful she was.
Fire jumped in his eyes matching the fire in hers. He stood taking Paige’s hand, pulling her to her feet.
“Let’s go in.”
She nodded, her eyes twin flames of need. The foyer as well as the living room was empty and a small niggle of worry went through her mind. It was much too early for everyone to have retired, wasn’t it? Opening her mouth to ask Cal, she was caught up in his smoldering gaze promising her a trip to nirvana. Every thought was crowded out by the desire in his eyes.
Thoughts of living or dying quickly packed their bags to leave. Right now there was just this moment with him and her. A world alone where no one else was welcome.
He took the first stair with her following behind him. She watched the flex of the muscles in his rear as he walked, licking her lips as she thought of hissing and biting him there. A blush rose from her throat to cover her face as thoughts she would have deemed much to wicked took over. She wanted to slide her hands over him, get to know every plane of his hard body.