Adrian

I thought for sure Reese would stop me from kissing her, like she had at the beach. The beast inside me jerked with fervor when she didn’t, but then settled into a calm the longer our mouths pressed together, as angst turned placid, free from the violent turmoil that usually ran through my blood. Kissing Reese gave me the same calm as a leisurely swim through serene waters. Happiness flowed through my core at the gentle swirl of her tongue against mine.

This was exactly what the beast needed.

She was exactly what the beast needed.

She was exactly what I needed.

The dragon had never been this calm. I was amazed and had a powerful possessive feeling toward Reese that I didn’t think I could control. And now I was even more determined than ever to convince her she should be mine.

I slid my palm down her back as my other hand settled on the side of her neck and she let out a soft moan as I felt her fear subside. The idea of drowning had scared her. I saw it on her face when that shade of white flowed over her otherwise pink cheeks. The only thing I thought to do was kiss the fear out of her mind. I didn’t want her to be afraid. The fact that she was scared told me she wasn’t like me, in the sense that she could go long periods of time underwater without taking in more air. But neither could I unless I shifted. Could she shift into another being? As I continued to kiss her the beast calmed tremendously. I became lost in her lips, her mouth. My pants became tight as I considered picking her up in my arms and taking her to my bed.

I needed the fear inside her completely gone in order for her to trust me and having the beast settle down was an added bonus. I ended the kiss and slid my thumb over her soft lips. She licked hers then opened her eyes and gave me a trembling, sexy smile. She was perfect. I loved how the kiss returned the pink flush back to her cheeks. I needed to convince her that she could trust me. If I let her know her secret would be safe with me, would she believe me? Maybe I should reveal myself first to let her know I wasn’t a normal human male.

She licked her lips and took a deep breath. “Wow. I think I need a sip of wine.”

I handed her the wine glass, but I wanted to kiss her again and impatience had me grabbing for the glass to place it back on the table. It tipped, red liquid spilling down the front of her dress. My eyes grew wide as my hand stayed suspended in midair, frozen in the exact spot where it accidentally knocked her wine glass. “Shit! I’m so sorry.”

Crap, she could have easily stopped that wine from ruining her dress. Why hadn’t she?

She gasped and glared at me.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” I blurted out then quickly clamped my lips shut. Fuck, I couldn’t believe I said that out loud. How the hell did I explain why I asked her that? I wasn’t sure what to say as I stared at her beautiful white dress, now covered with red wine. My heart beat erratically against my chest at how clumsy I’d been.

She frowned. “Did you just spill wine all over me on purpose?”

I opened my mouth to speak but shut it immediately. No, I hadn’t, but dammit if it didn’t seem that way, which made me look like a dick.

“You did, didn’t you? Why would you do something like that? And stop you from what? Kissing me? If you wanted me to stop you again, why did you kiss me?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I repeated. “The kiss? No. I didn’t want you to stop the kiss. And I didn’t knock your glass on purpose, I swear, but even so, I’m surprised you didn’t stop the wine from spilling on your dress.”

She blinked. “What?”

I ran my hand through my hair, tugging it tight, before letting it go. Her astonishment at my statement didn’t surprise me. There was no way she’d simply tell me why. It was time for me to come clean and confess what I knew. “I saw how you stopped the candle from falling over the railing outside. I would think you could have kept the wine from getting on you.”

She was on her feet now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re certifiable. You’ve ruined my dress.” Her face was red with anger. “I think you should take me home now.”

“I may be crazy but hold on. Your dress isn’t ruined.”

I hadn’t imagined it. I knew she stopped the candle mid fall. But seeing her do it and getting her to admit it were clearly two totally different stories.

“It looks ruined to me,” she accused with a frustrated sigh. Despite her anger and the current situation, I was still turned on by her and I wanted to suck in that lower lip that was pouting out. But instead, I hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a spray bottle of wine stain remover and walked back over to where she sat. “This stuff is amazing, just watch.” I sprayed the liquid onto the white fabric and watched as the red stain turned dark before completely disappearing a few minutes later.

She looked down at her now wet dress. “Thanks, but I do think I should leave now.”

“Wait. I said I was sorry.”

“You did, but it’s getting late and my dress is soaked from the wine and that spray stuff and it’s starting to stick to my skin.”

She stood there, waiting for me to take her home, never saying she accepted my apology. She didn’t believe it was an accident. “Wait, Reese. I’m sorry about your dress. I can give you something dry to put on. Please, tell me, what do I need to do to make you believe it was an accident?”

She shook her head but didn’t reply.

“I mean, okay, I admit I was curious about your ability, but deliberately spilling wine on you is a dick move and I’m not in the habit of being a dick. At least not on purpose.”

Her lip twitched slightly, but she didn’t smile.

“Look, I know there are people in the world who can do stuff like move things with their minds. I know, because I can do things, too.”

Her eyes widened with interest. Or maybe surprise, but I had her attention now. I knew if I told her about my ability, she’d trust me. “Please stay. I’ll be right back.” I placed my hands on her shoulders and she glanced up at me. “You won’t bolt while I get you some clothes, will you?”

She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

I went to my bedroom to retrieve some sweatpants and a T-shirt, leaving her standing by the sofa thinking about what I just said. When I returned, she had moved to the kitchen and was pouring herself more wine. That was a promising sign. I handed her the clothes. “The bathroom is right down that hallway. There’s a hanger by the sink for your dress.”

She changed and met me back in the kitchen where she picked up the glass of wine.

“What is it you can do?” she asked while she sipped. I picked up my own glass and gulped most of it down.

I placed my glass on the counter and grabbed a tumbler from the cupboard and filled it with water. Then I placed that one on the counter and stared at it. She stood watching me, and I pointed to the glass of water. When I was sure her gaze was on the glass, the water began to swirl, forming a perfect vortex. It stayed that way until I finally stopped looking at it. Her eyes lit up with amusement and she smiled. At that moment I knew I had her, until she said, “Is that it?”

I couldn’t do much with the water other than that, so I’d hoped she wouldn’t press me for more tricks. I could manipulate larger bodies of water, but we would need to be closer to the ocean or a pool for that. But she was no dummy and wasn’t about to be swayed.

“For now. It’s a give and take thing, Reese. I show you mine, you show me yours.”

She glared at me with those beautiful green gems. “I’m not the one who deliberately spilled wine all over your white dress.”

I sighed. “It wasn’t deliberate, and if I had a white dress, I’d let you spill a gallon of red wine all over it.”

She laughed. “Baby steps, huh? One can hardly consider moving water around in a circle inside a glass telekinetic, but since there’s no other explanation and I don’t know much about physics, I’ll give it to you.”

I grinned. “Gee thanks. Okay. Your turn.”

I didn’t think she’d give in and show me much, considering she didn’t really know much about me and I knew that individuals with supernatural abilities weren’t very trusting of others. But she had let me kiss her, so there was hope.

And hope became reality when she held her arms out and lifted the entire coffee table up from the floor. The blueprints and dolphin shaped paperweight rolled to the carpet as the table hovered, suspended four feet in the air.

“Will this suffice?” Her tone dripped with arrogance, or maybe it was annoyance. It was difficult to tell as she stood there with her arm stretched out and the heavy table floating in mid air. She made it look easy. In fact, I had to wonder if it was all too easy. She’d denied and denied that she had any powers, even called me crazy and then abruptly changed her mind and offered me this delicate information. Something wasn’t right.

“Tell me something.”

“What?”

“Why are you trusting me so easily with your secrets?”

“You asked.” She grinned and set the table down on the floor. “And because I really don’t care if you know about them because I can simply make you forget.”

“What do you mean, you can make me forget?”

She gave me a pointed look. “I can alter your memory so you won’t have any idea I just did that.”

My mouth hung open, gaping at her.

I’d never heard of anyone being able to do something like that. An ability to alter someone’s memory could be very dangerous if the wrong person ever had it. But then I smiled at a random thought that ran through my mind. “Sort of like a vampire?”

“Vampires are a myth, but yes, I guess it would be similar if they actually existed.”

I grinned at the vision of her sucking on someone, preferably me.

“Right. Can you read minds?”

“No.”

I was relieved about that, because as much as I wanted her, I didn’t think she was ready to know that. “Then how do you know what memories to extract from someone?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just do it. I know what memory I want to erase. I don’t need to read someone’s mind to find it. Her gaze shot to mine. “I could do it while you’re kissing me even.”

I could swear the temperature in the room increased, and I became uncomfortably warm and the air grew thick with desire as we silently stared at each other, but neither of us moved except for me running my tongue over my bottom lip. Then a great sadness came over me, and I broke the silence.

“I hope you never do that.”

“Do what?”

“Erase my memories of kissing you.”