“Maybe I shouldn’t have come so early,” he said, his gaze flicking over her.
“No, it’s okay.”
She made the first mug for him. “You want anything in it?”
“Black is fine.”
When the machine had made her serving, she added cream to her mug, pulled out a chair, and sat at the table.
“So how does it work?” he asked. “What does it mean that he’s with you?”
She shrugged, feeling awkward again. Now she had two new relationships she never could have imagined. With Travis she had an unbelievable intimacy which she wasn’t going to try to describe to Gabe or anyone else. And with Gabe she had a kind of unintended intimacy. He knew the secret of her bonding with Travis. And he believed her.
But it was more than that. She knew he was attracted to her, and she realized that somehow her bonding with Travis made her more open to him as well. If that made any sense.
Deliberately letting the observation go, she focused on his question. “I don’t know how to describe it. I feel him with me.”
Putting it politely,Travis chimed in.
Stop it. This is hard enough without your making editorial comments.
Gabe was speaking again. “Can he move away from you?”
“I don’t know. You woke me up. We haven’t tried anything fancy yet.”
As she spoke, she was aware of Travis’s silent laugh.That wasn’t fancy enough for you?
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
“Let’s find out,” Gabe suggested.
“Okay.”
Olivia felt Travis step a few feet away. She saw him, but more dimly than he’d been manifesting to her before their crazy transformation.
As he walked several feet farther, she began to feel a tug or a strain. When he took another step, she called out, “Stop.”
He went still.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
Yes. It was unpleasant.
Right.
“What’s the answer?” Gabe asked, barging into the silent conversation.
“At the moment, about twelve feet. But we can probably make that farther if we practice.”
“Um, maybe you should.” He paused before saying, “I asked you to do this so that Travis can help me capture one of the men who’s staking out his house. And I’d like you farther away when we do it.”
“You belong to the school of—the guys do the dangerous stuff and the womenfolk hide in the bushes?”
He shot her a sharp look. “Look, you know what he did to Travis. What do you think he’d do if he had a woman in his clutches?”
Olivia winced. She didn’t like the answer, but it made sense. She felt a little chill sweep over her as she remembered Travis’s description of his own interrogation and murder.
“Okay, we’ll see how far apart we can get,” she said. “Make yourself comfortable, and we’ll go outside.”
