Banishing the Dark (Arcadia Bell #4)(66)

He snorted but didn’t pull away. “You’ve probably got a knack for that.”

“Probably. I’m going to try to read you now. Ready?”

“No.”

I ignored that and clamped my hands on his shoulders, making a fuzzy connection with his emotional rumblings. “Amazing. I can just hear you. It’s the direct contact that really does the trick, isn’t it?”

His Jupe-like dramatic sigh confirmed. “Go on, then.”

I slid my hands up to his neck so I got some skin contact. It turned up the volume from one to ten. “Wow. Just . . . wow.”

After a moment, he said, “What do you hear?”

“You’re still a little panicky.”

“You would be, too,” he complained.

“But you’re curious, too.”

“Of course I am. The last empaths I knew were my parents. It’s been years since anyone could hear me.”

“Does it bother you?”

“You tell me.”

I calmed myself down so I could listen in better. “Wow, this gets really jumbled. It’s hard to tell whose emotions I’m feeling—mine or yours. Whoa.” I sank a little further into the chair cushion and wobbled until my knees hit the back of the chair, putting me just above his eye level.

He slid warm hands around my waist to steady me and said, “You learn to sort that out with practice. Other people’s feelings have a different frequency.”

“You’re . . . a little unhappy. But resigned. Wait, you’re not really unhappy. You’re embarrassed?”

“Uncomfortable,” he corrected, smoothing one hand up my back, then down again. “Not unhappy.”

That hand was distracting me. “You’re worried about something. Oh! I heard that. Right about the worrying, for sure. Why are you worried?”

“Do I really have to list it all out for you? Or have you already forgotten everything that’s happened over the last twenty-four hours?”

Good point. “I’m trying to forget, at least for a few minutes. So don’t remind me. And hush, I’m trying to listen.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled, wrapping his arms around me a little tighter. Which felt damn nice. He made a short chuckling noise near my ear, so I guessed he was listening to me, too. I had to adjust my position to keep a hand on the back of his neck. “What else do you hear?” he asked.

“Let’s see. Your feelings aren’t as loud now. Or . . . well, that’s not exactly right. They’re loosening up? It’s like a slower rhythm or something. I can’t read it as easily. And . . .” He ran his fingers through my hair and pushed it off my shoulder, combing it several times down the back of my neck. “Oh, that feels nice,” I mumbled as goose bumps broke out on my scalp.

“What else?”

“It’s really hard to listen while you’re doing that.”

“Try.”

“Okay, I hear something. A twang. It’s sort of, well, not anxious. It’s too calm for that. But it’s got a similar urgency. Just lower-pitched. What is that?”

“That,” he said, grazing my ear with his lips, “is the sound of my willpower breaking.”

His mouth opened on my neck. Hot, wet, pulling kisses that made me forget all about his feelings and my feelings and every shocking thing I’d learned that day. My breasts pushed against his chest as I melted into him, turning my head to give him better access. He took it. And more. While his mouth was busy setting fire to my throat, his hands trailed down either side of my spine, following the curve of my lower back until he palmed my ass and gave it a slow squeeze.

“You want me,” I murmured, excited by the scrape of his whiskers against my cheek as I angled for a proper kiss.

“You think so?”

“I can hear it.” I shifted all my weight to my knees so I could tip forward to press closer. “Jesus, I can almost feel it.”

“Is that right?” He pulled me tight against his hips until his erection butted against me. “You feel it now?”

My pulse doubled. “I don’t know . . . it’s hard to tell from this angle. And last time, you wouldn’t let me touch you long enough to really know for sure.”

“You win. Let’s try again.” He pried one of my arms off his neck and guided my hand down between us. He pushed into my palm as I stroked him through his jeans. Whatever teasing taunt he’d been ready to wield morphed into a low moan.

“That feels promising.”

“Promising?”

“I’m not totally convinced.”

“I can hear the lie, Cadybell,” he whispered against my cheek, making me shiver.

“Oh, that’s right,” I whispered back, giving him another rub before my fingers sneaked up to his belt buckle. “Show me what a lie sounds like. I want to hear one, too.”

“Mmm.” He dragged his mouth against mine and kissed me slowly. “I’m not attracted to you in the least bit, and I haven’t spent the last week in agony, wanting to touch you.”

“Oh?”

“I haven’t thought about how soft your skin is or how sexy it is when your eyes tilt up at the corners when you laugh or how obscene your ass looks in those pants—and I definitely did not come close to pummeling that trucker who was watching you bend over to reach the bottled water in the convenience store at Bakersfield.”