She's confused, but I'm beyond relieved as it dawns on me that this must be another side effect of Arati's blessing. I've never really been around empaths to test it before, but that's really fucking useful to know.
I'm not about to explain my blessing or the origin of my magic, though, so I just shrug.
Heidi's pretty face lights up with curiosity. "Okay, call me fickle, but is it okay if I touch you for a second? I want to test something."
She can touch me wherever she wants for as many seconds as she wants.
Keep it professional.
I hold out a hand, watching the dime piece in front of me closely. She swallows hard and seems to mentally brace herself before her soft fingers skate over my rough palm.
Breath whooshes out of her, and she beams up at me like she's sunshine itself. "Thank gods! Nothing happened."
Maybe not for her.
Me? I'm burning alive.
I can't think of a single time in my life that a touch this innocent has affected me this intensely. My heart rate is going nuts, my hand is tingling, my stomach is full of fucking butterflies, and there's a situation quickly developing down south.
Is this what actual chemistry feels like? Damn, that's potent.
In some other universe, if Heidi wasn't my client and wasn't Frost's sister, I would be going out of my fucking head right now trying to catch her eye.
On second thought…
Fuck that.
So what if she's Frost's sister? As soon as I get through this job as a professional without screwing anything up, and as soon as she's not officially my client, I'm pulling out all of the stops to sweep this knockout off her feet. I'll do whatever I can to get another hit of that adorable blush all over her skin.
I bet she'll blush even prettier while she's moaning my name.
Fuck.
But until then, this is my client. This is a job. So whatever it takes, I need to keep my hands to myself and keep it professional.
Gingerly pulling my hand away, I move to stand behind the island in her kitchen. Leaning against it, I pray like hell that I look completely unfazed, and she didn't notice the excited idiot growing in my pants.
"Yep, nothing. What'd you think would happen?" I ask.
Heidi sets the two plates of pancakes on the island along with butter and syrup, looking strangely giddy. Her smile is quickly getting the butterflies in my gut drunk on dopamine.
"Not nothing." Heidi doesn't offer any more details as she hands me a fork.
Instead of sitting, she leans forward to rest her elbows on the kitchen island. The position squeezes her perfect tits together, making it fucking impossible to rip my eyes away from all that lickable cleavage until just before she looks up from taking a bite of her breakfast.
I take one bite of steaming chocolate-chip pancake and immediately hang my head in defeat.
She's good in the kitchen, too? Godsdamn it, this is just getting cruel now.
"That terrible, huh?" she jokes brightly as she watches me scarf down the rest of my stack. "I can make eggs if you want protein. It'll be fun to cook for another person again. Oh, and most of my roommate's stuff is still in her bedroom, but if you want to move anything, there's a storage shed?—"
"I'm not going to kick your roommate out," I scoff.
She pauses, her expression turning a bit odd. "Uh, actually, you wouldn't be. She's dead."
Dead?
I set down my fork, glancing again around Heidi's cozy setup. At first glance, it looks like two people are living here. There are two names on the mailbox outside, pictures of Heidi next to a blue-haired girl in family portraits hanging on the living room wall, and even though this place is tidy, it's filled with more than just one person's stuff.
