Joy sighed one more time before finally lifting herself off him. It took all his willpower not to grab her and force her to stay. Now that was odd. They hadn’t even had the kinky sexhe’d hoped for.
Either he was losing his touch or he’d lost his objectivity.Objectivity.
Joy sat next to his legs, her own out to the side, ever the proper miss, but as naked as she was, he had no hope of concentrating.
He phased. “Return clothes.” As soon as he was dressed again, he solidified.
“Oh, you’re no fun.” Joy frowned before she followed suit.
He quirked his lip. “We’ll focusbetter this way.”
“I know.” She smoothed out the edges of her green dress. “Do you still agree that we show Holly what’s in store for Ethan and then the two possibilities for her?”
“No.” At his answer, her attention turned back to him. “I think Holly’s two possible futures should come first. Since we’ve started with her, the probabilities have gone down on both.”
“You really can see the probabilitiesof each?” Her eyes widened with admiration.
He smiled. “You obviously haven’t worked with anyone from the future before. Yes, I can tellexactlywhich future has the highest probability.”
Joy’s brows lowered. “So, at the hospital, when you said Thea dying was the most likely scenario, you actually based that on what you could see?”
The urge to reassure her wouldn’t be denied. He was so farfrom objective on this case, if he was still alive, he would be fired. “Yes, but the probabilities of others are based on how things stand before we start the visit.” He paused. Did Cameron’s bosses understand that?
“And?”
At her prompt, he continued. “But the probabilities on Holly herself, shift depending on how she’s feeling and what she’s learning.”
“That’s odd. I wonder if we’re helpingor hurting. I’ve never had a case as complicated as this one.” She pushed her hair behind her ear, revealing her concern and that she’d forgotten her hair was down.
“You mean in regards to our superiors meddling with it?” He grimaced, not happy about that himself.
“Yes.” Joy scowled. “I hope the powers-that-be don’t want us to hurt Holly. I just can’t do that.”
He understood her concern. Heliked Holly as well and was pleased she was strong enough to take everything they’d thrown at her so far.
Joy laid her hand on his bare knee, sending his thoughts in a different direction all together. “Why do you want to switch the order of the visits?”
He crossed his legs at his ankles to dislodge her hand so he could focus. She was too tempting. “I think we should hold off visiting Ethan.I want to see if she remembers to ask about what happens to him in the future. If she doesn’t, we can, of course, suggest him, but I think it will give us a good idea of how far she’s come in thinking of others, beyond the simple daily life events.”
Joy smiled, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “That’s a wonderful idea.”
He nodded once. “Thank you.”
Her laugh permeated his body and settledinto his heart. “I have to admit, I can’t wait to see how Holly reacts to seeing herself in the future. Which would you like to take, the happy Holly or the grumpy Holly?”
She obviously thought the first would be easier, but he had a feeling both would be difficult for Holly, especially because they each were less than forty percent probable, which meant Holly’s emotions were in flux. “You canchoose.”
She appeared to think about it seriously. “Hmm, I’ll take the grumpy Holly as I think it will be easier to sway her away from it. Besides, you should get to show her a happy event. Maybe this way, Cameron will see that you’ve changed your ways.”
From her concerned look, he had the feeling she was more worried about him than Holly, but he’d grown more and more confident that this wasn’tabout him. “I agree with you that your visit will be easier to talk to her about.”
When she continued to look distracted, he recalled she’d been late to the last visit, which was an impossibility considering their ability to travel through space and time. “Where did you go after you left me in Glasgow?”
Her gaze snapped to his before sliding away. “I went to find Cameron. I wanted to ask himabout you, but he was missing.”
“Missing?” That bothered him more than the fact she’d gone to find out about himself.
She pulled her legs under her so she was kneeling. “Yes. I tried multiple times at his office, but he was nowhere to be found. Then when I tried to join you, I couldn’t get any closer in time then when I arrived.”
