“What are we, really?” He stalled. “It’s hard to answer. I’m thirty and I still don’t know. If you’d asked me what I was at the age of thirteen, I would have flipped you the finger and insisted I was pure human. I sided with my mother and saw no advantage to chasing after a facet of divinity that could so easily walk away from me. But as I grew up, I had to accept that I was different. That incident with old Yuri’s mega yacht drove the point home that I’d better start exploring what I am and learn to get it under control.”
“I haven’t soulscanned a single person all day and you know what? I don’t miss it. It’s weird. I’m an empath, it’s what I do and yet I think I could let it go. I might be happier without knowing all the petty things that are floating around in other people’s heads. I feel like I can breath for the first time. Be myself. Does that sound pathetic or ungrateful for the gift?”
He leaned over and kissed the crown of her head.
She drew back and gazed at him with sparkling eyes that reflected the colored lights of the fountains. “What was that for?”
His heart filled. For a moment he allowed himself to indulge a sweet fantasy of sharing everything he’d ever desired with her. “I’ve never met anyone that I could tell this stuff to and know they really got it. It’s such a relief.”
A faint smile flickered on her lips as if she didn’t dare permit it to slip into full-blown joy.
“What are you thinking?”
Adara glanced away. “I’m so glad you can’t read my mind.”
He drew her against his chest and looked into the amber depths of her eyes. “But I can read your smile, and the joy on your face.”
“This has been the strangest, most eventful day of my life. Even all the chaos hasn’t put a damper on things. I’d like to feel this way everyday. I’m scared I’ll wake up tomorrow and be back inside other people’s heads, and you and I will go our separate ways.”
“That doesn’t have to happen.”
“But it might. The boon will wear off. I’m sure these things don’t last. Skinwalkers could attack again. Anything could happen. I have to keep reminding myself we are strangers and...”
“And what?”
“We might be under the thrall of a Fae enchantment.”
“I don’t feel like I am but we could be. To be honest, I don’t care.”
“Me either. I want to live for the moment. If this isn’t real and it doesn’t last, I‘ll hate myself for not completely diving in and just enjoying it for what it is.” Her eyes widened. “No one needs us now. This is our time until Roy calls. Oh what the hell.” She stood on tiptoe, took his face in her hands and kissed his mouth. The first touch was soft, little more than a whisper of warm breath and the brush of her silky lips that left him wanting more. The second was bolder and bloomed into a luscious wet embrace.
With pulse racing, he tangled his hands in her hair and held her captive against him. Her breathless excitement was so easy return. Why had he never suspected another elemental, his opposite to boot, would feel so right? “Adara,” he murmured. “I have no idea what just happened to me but I’m feeling it.”
A shy smile brought her dimple out of hiding. “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no more murders or drama and we had the night to ourselves?”
His thigh brushed hers. “That would be good.”
“We should check out our room.”
“Rooms.” He corrected. “You could get lost in the penthouse.”
“I’ve never seen the penthouse. Let’s get lost together.” Taking hold of his hand, she took the lead. “Come on.”
As if in a dream, he allowed her to guide him along a walkway stamped with seashell patterns. She looked adorable in his oversized jacket and he noticed passersbys were looking at them. He wondered if the other men in the crowd envied him and suspected they did.
*
Entering the hotel had a sobering effect on her senses. The loud colors on the carpet and the faint hum of the air ducts were all too familiar and signaled a return to business. She drank in the high-strung tension in the air. “I hope we don’t run into anyone we know.”
“We shouldn’t have to.” He steered her toward a discreetly marked bank of private elevators. Removing a card from his pocket, he swiped it through a scanner.
“Are you going to be okay inside a high speed express elevator?”
Kai nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
The elevator door opened and they stepped inside and pressed P.
She noticed Kai tense as he stared at the floor and waited for the metal doors to seal him inside and the steel cable to yank them a thousand feet into the air. “Have you always had a hard time in elevators?”
He swallowed. “Uh huh.”
The ascent was so smooth she barely noticed they were moving. “Bad experience?”