The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(7)

Jesse smiled and winked at her before heading back to Leo’s side.

I wish they were bi.

Just her luck, now that she’d expanded her circle of friends and realized it wasn’t uncommon for people to be poly, she was living with two guys who were gay and not even slightly homoflexible.

Or would that have made them heteroflexible?

Well, it didn’t matter, because they weren’t poly.

After twenty minutes or so, as Eva lay there with her eyes closed while Crawford and Tilly talked and playfully bantered over her, Eva realized she had relaxed. Tilly was actually holding her hand now, not the other way around.

Not once had Eva flinched from contact with Crawford.

When he finished with her about twenty minutes after that and had removed all the needles, Tilly helped her sit up and made sure she was okay before she went to go help one of their friends who was having a corset malfunction.

Crawford walked around the table to stand in front of Eva, staring into her eyes.

She didn’t want to look away.

After glancing around to make sure no one was within earshot, he dropped his voice. “If you ever want to come in, with Leo or Jesse, or alone, I’ll be happy to work with you on managing your stress and anxiety.”

Her reaction must have given her away, because he reached out and, without touching her, indicated one of the faint, pale lines on her upper arm, one that disappeared under the short sleeve of her dress and most people never noticed.

His gaze didn’t falter. “You aren’t the first to do that,” he whispered, “but it carries inherent risks. Sometimes I can help people manage stress and anxiety without you having to resort to that.”

She found herself nodding. Here she’d thought her secret was totally hidden, skillfully, artfully. Yes, Leo, and now Jesse, they knew. Only because they lived with her and knew her past.

This was…well, nearly a total stranger.

The first person to peg her like that. Hell, even Leah, who Eva knew had a rough history, had never seemed to notice. She’d never caught anyone looking at her arms and legs at any of the pool parties when she was in a bathing suit, or wore a tank top or shorts.

Then again, you had to know what you were looking for, and the implications.

He offered her a hand to get down off the table.

After a deep breath, she laid her hand in his and let him help her. “Thank you,” she said.

“My pleasure.” He gave her a slight bow. “I’m glad I could be of assistance.”

After one last look his way, she headed back to the familiar safety of Leo and Jesse.





Chapter Four


Crawford worked with probably a dozen people that night, but his thoughts kept returning to Eva.

The three had left a little before eleven that night, as had many of the regulars who would be attending the wedding tomorrow.

Eva’s energy had responded to him in a way he wasn’t…used to. He’d dealt with people in a wide variety of emotional and physical states, from depression and grief to euphoria and orgasm, the bad kind of physical pain, anger, joy, mellow—

He couldn’t classify her.

That was unusual for him. He considered himself an expert at reading people he worked with. He needed that skill as a necessary component of his job, to be effective with what he did both through Reiki and his other treatment techniques.

Eva was an enigma, as if she were so used to blocking people out that she didn’t know how to open up.

Only toward the end of their session had he sensed the slightest vulnerability, when he’d guessed correctly about what he saw and made the offer to her.

Whether or not she’d accept it was another thing.

He hated seeing people in pain—physically or emotionally—and being unable to help them.

He was a sadist, not an *. And he didn’t really think calling himself a sadist was completely accurate, no matter what Tilly thought. Manipulating a person to get the desired outcome didn’t always involve pain, although it could, if that was what they wanted.

Or needed.

And some people honestly needed it.

He’d worked with one woman who had spent years trading one addiction for another to avoid emotional pain, until she’d somehow ended up in his office. She’d managed to give up drugs and alcohol but still struggled with smoking and then overeating.

Among other things.

When a few gentle questions led him to an accurate conclusion about the original source of her emotional pain, he’d been able to offer her an outlet.

Within six months, she’d reported massive breakthroughs with her therapy and no longer felt the need to self-injure, which she’d just started engaging in before she started seeing him as a client.

Unconventional, sure, but if it worked, why question the means?

She was now letting her doctor try her on anti-depressants that, in conjunction with her therapy, had turned her into a new woman.

Now when she came into his office, she saw him simply for stress and anxiety that tightened the muscles in her neck and shoulders to nearly painful levels. And that he could easily help her with.

But Eva…

She stayed on his mind even after he packed up for the night and was riding home with Cherise.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” she noted. “Usually you’re a little chatterbox.”