Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1)(29)

“How do you remember them so clearly?” he thought softly.

“It’s easy to recall them,” I thought, feeling a little embarrassed.

I reached my finger to the pad and traced the outline of the blue and green flowers, each with different petals.

“I think they represent you and me,” I thought, as the emerald of my eyes met the blue of his.

A slow sweet smile emerged as he eased his fingers through mine, gently squeezing my hand as if to tell me he agreed, that subtle move managed to rock my body, my pulse quickened, heat flushed in my chest.

“Where were we? Whose house was that?” I thought.

“Ours,” he said softly.

A breathless smile escaped my lips. He leaned closer to kiss me, his lips feathered across mine ever so briefly, before his arm reached around me to pull me against him, when he drew me forward I felt him tense at the pain coming from his shoulder.

“Can I see?” I asked.

“Really, it’s nothing,” he thought, trying to smile.

I knew it was something. I could see the pain in his eyes. “I need to put the medicine on it anyway.”

Landen gave me a wary look then began to unbutton his black shirt. I swallowed nervously, and my breath seized ever so slightly. His body was flawless—his skin was tan and lush, his muscles were defined, he was built like a warrior, or an archangel. Pristine, too perfect to touch, yet it took all I had to hold myself back.

Underneath the black shirt was a white tank top. He pulled it over his head. At first I didn’t see the damage, my eyes raked over every chiseled lean muscle in his chest. My soul was pulsing with anticipation. I had no idea how I was managing to look so calm. In my mind I was envisioning my hands rushing across his skin, tasting his kiss, feeling the power of his embrace. The thought alone left me breathless and flushed.

I gasped at the sight of his shoulder.

“I told you it’s nothing,” he thought, trying to downplay it.

He was wrong. The burn started at the top of his shoulder and curved around his shoulder blade. “How did you do this?” I reached for the medicine my father had given me and gently rubbed the cool cream across his blazing skin.

“It’s just the storm. I wasn’t paying attention. I was being careless.” His breath whooshed out in relief as I gently rubbed the cool cream over the wound, then he lay on his side, allowing the medicine to dry. His eyes drifted up to mine seeming to carry the same hungry desire that my soul was filling with.

The air around us was so warm, so numbingly calm, that I felt like I was locked in my own world with him. A place I never wanted to leave.

“What did they want with you outside?” I asked trying to get my thoughts to move in a more innocent direction.

Landen smiled up at me through his thick eyelashes, which outlined the pools of blue, my window to his soul. “Your father told me that he’d never shown you how to travel, that you didn’t travel the way the rest of us do,” he thought with a mischievous grin on his face.

I loved it when he smiled and his dimples came to life. Apparently so did my heart. I could swear it was never going to beat at a normal rate again.

He reached for my hand and let his fingertips glide across my skin. That simple sensation was mind-boggling.

“How do I do it differently?” I asked, shaking my head and bringing myself back to reality. Innocent thoughts. I needed to hold on to innocent thoughts right now.

“Well, the rest of us travel through the strings, like the one you saw me come from. Your dad said that you use people, that you see them through emotions.” He tilted his head, finding it somewhat amusing.

I made a face. It bothered me, being different. I’d always been different, but I thought that after all this, I’d find my normal.

“How weird am I?” I asked, holding my eyes low.

I felt a fluttering kiss on my hand, then he leaned up and traced the side of my face, ever so sensually.

“It’s not weird.” He pulled my chin up, still smiling, so I’d have to look him in the eye. “It has to do with your insight. The insight of emotion is not a common one. In fact, it’s unique that you, your father, and sister all have a gift.”

“But, they’re all different.”

“You still all have one,” he pointed out raising his brow to stress that point. His hand had drifted down, now his fingertips were casually moving across my neck. It took all I had to hold in a sigh.

“Do you have one?” I asked.

“I do,” he thought as he leaned in and brushed a kiss across my neck, before reaching down to the quilt at the end of the bed, pulling it over him, and settling in to sleep.

“Aren’t you going to tell me?” I protested.

He let out a quiet, mischievous laugh. Clearly he was enjoying keeping me in suspense. He reached for me. I crawled into his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

We had held each other like this for years, he knew how to make me feel safe. This time though, he reached for my chin and guided my lips to his. His kiss went deep fast, as his hands slid down my back. I moved forward without a thought, framing his face with my hands. I was lost in the sensation, drowning in anticipation, thinking of all the things we could get away with in this private room. Then I stopped short. I had no idea what his insight was. For all I knew I was being all too revealing at that moment.