Her stomach roiled. “It’s all right,” she said quickly, making sure her thoughts were locked behind steel walls. “I know I need to work through my grief and find closure such as it is, and I will. But how do you cope?”
A shrug. “I’ve lived with it all my life. My childhood was…rough. As I grew older, I learned to shield my mind, my emotions. It was easier that way. Absorbing everyone’s pain and tragedy is harder, and on Empyrea, there are eons of sadness and grief.” He huffed a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “At first, people thought I’d been cursed with no feelings, so eventually, I gave the world a smiling, jovial demeanor, and everyone was happy.”
Leya didn’t understand him. How could anyone function like that?
“You don’t show your real emotions to anyone, not even the people you care about?”
“If I did, I’d go insane with the influx. Shutting down is better. Well, until recently…” He sipped more water, eyeing her over the rim of his glass.
“Oh…” She just had to be the one who made things worse. She swallowed. “Maybe I shouldn’t be here with you. I’m in turmoil, a jumble of pain and hurt right now.”
He lowered the glass. “Leya, you are the only one who blurs the chaos within and gives me much needed quiet.” His gaze moved over her face in a gentle caress, then his brow furrowed.
“What?”
“Hmm…” His thumb stroked his lips, causing her attention to linger on his sensual mouth. “Except for the moment earlier when I felt your agony, I cannot read or feel your thoughts…”
Wait, what now?
“And yet, somehow, you undo all my barriers.”
His words came out of left field, clocking her in the head. “What?”
“I can’t sense anything from you,” he said softly. “I have to fight my natural inclination not to shut down my shields to try and work through what youdofeel. And I get nothing. Most times, I’m sure if I fell flat on my face, you’d happily stride over me and move on without a care.”
She huffed. “No one can miss you, even prostrate.”
A ghost of a smile. “So, Leyathi Park…”
She went motionless at his use of her full name.
“No more hinting. It seems my attempt at doing so is as pitiful as one searching forvapor in fog.” His smile grew as a blush scorched her face. “Yes, I have that on good authority.”
Leya hastily took refuge in biting her cookie and licked the crumbs free.Aaandrealized too late what she’d done.
His amusement faded. His eyes heated, lowered to her mouth, then back up. “I want you, Leya,” his voice dropped to a husky caress. “Did I make myself clear enough now?”
Speech deserted her, her heart colliding against her sternum at his declaration. All Leya could do was nod.
“Don’t worry, I’m not about to have my wicked way with you just yet. Trust me, the thought is always there, wanting to use my tongue to do dirty—sexy—things to you. Like right now, laying you on this counter, peeling off your clothes with my teeth, and wrapping your legs around my head so I can feast on the delicious part of you, is topping the list—”
A spasm of coughing broke free, the cookie jamming her throat. And he was there, smacking her back, probably relishing in it, too. Gah!
“Okay?” he asked, cool and calm, as if he hadn’t said anything to rattle her brain.
Leya wiped her eyes, watery from her hacking, so sure she would die of embarrassment. She grabbed his water from the counter and gulped some. When she could breathe again, her quick mouth was way ahead of her thought processes. “Oh, right. You did mention you were quite the lecherous species.”
He laughed. “Aye, we certainly are.”
God, that laugh of his. Warm and husky, it had her heart tripping, then expanding, taking up every inch of her chest. Crap, this wasn’t good at all.
She blurted, “Did the horrible wound on your side heal?”
He leaned against the counter next to her, casting her an amused sideways glance. “You haven’t answered me, but I’ll let it pass for now. As to my injury, is it still bleeding? No, but it’s on the mend.”
So, that was a no. “Why is it taking so long? I thought you healed fast?”
“It’s a demon wound, Leya. Those things are unpredictable. Whatever the healer from Dregarus gave me aided it some, but…” A shrug. “I need to Ground completely for full healing to occur. I managed to do so for a few hours last night, but the white quartz in those mountains was too weak to absorb the buildup of kinetic energy.”
