She struggled to draw a breath. Partially, it was his nearness, the overwhelming nature of being caged in by him. But mostly it was shock, as Nicholas subverted every expectation life had taught her to have. “Everyone,” she whispered. “Everything.”
“Then everyone is wrong. Your magic doesn’t define you. You are so much more than your power. And frankly, I’m not convinced your power is so scary either. So what if you can read my thoughts? I can imprison you in my wards, a far more serious threat.”
“But you can control your power,” Sadie protested.
“Not around you, I can’t.” He pressed a hand against the ward behind her, directly next to her head. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have a habit of trapping you in with me.”
She licked her lips, and Nicholas tracked the motion of her tongue with predatory focus. “I don’t mind being trapped with you.”
He closed the distance between them, his lips against hers, but not kissing. “I don’t mind having you in my head.”I want all of you.
Sadie gave in. Perhaps he’d change his opinion when he had time to think over the implications of her power, but for now, hiswords, his thoughts, seduced her. She couldn’t do anything but live in this perfect moment—she wouldn’t apply the lessons from the past nor plan for the future. She’d drown in the present.
His lips were already there. All she had to do was shape her own, and they were kissing.
He groaned and pressed impossibly closer, and Sadie wrapped her arms around him, telling him without words that she relished the pressure, that she didn’t feel trapped but cherished.
Good, because I don’t think I can let you go.
His thoughts were a perfect response to her own, and with a start, Sadie realized she had telepathed her own thoughts into his mind. Nicholas reacted to her sudden stillness immediately, pulling back. And though the summer night was still warm, she felt a chill without him pressed against her.
“It was too much, wasn’t it?” She clenched her eyes closed. It hadn’t taken long for her to lose control and prove to him why he shouldn’t want to be around her.
His hand cupped her cheek. “That’s what I was going to ask, so why are you acting like you did something wrong?”
She blinked into the soft hazel of his gaze. “You didn’t pull back because I shoved my thoughts in your head?”
He pressed his forehead against hers. “Sadie, I pulled back becauseyoustopped kissing me. Because it seemed likeyousuddenly regretted it.”
“Not because you don’t want to deal with me and all the issues my magic causes? You aren’t realizing that you want me to disappear?” She hated how much she needed reassurance, but Nicholas accepting her was too good to be true. And things that were too good to be true didn’t happen to her.
“Have I said—or thought—anything that suggests I would ever want to see less of you?” Nicholas had pulled back enoughto look her in the eyes, but suddenly his own squeezed closed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t be thinking of you that way.”
Sadie hadn’t seen his thoughts that time, and for once she was disappointed. Knowing how Nicholas saw her, thought of her, was a thrill all its own. And that was a realization in itself. If he really was so accepting of her power… then she wanted to revel in the freedom it gave her.
This time she pressed her hand against his jaw and waited for his eyes to open. “You don’t have to apologize for your thoughts. I didn’t actually see whatever it just was, but I… I liked seeing what you were thinking earlier.”
His mouth opened, but it took him a few seconds to respond. Suddenly he grinned. “The spring isn’t too far away.”
Sadie shook her head, then kissed him before he could apologize for making the suggestion. “The manor is closer, and the bedroom fantasy appeals to me more. Nick.”
Twenty-Nine
???
Nick. She’d purposefullycalled him Nick, the shortened version of his name both an invitation and an admission. He officially crossed from the evening being one of the worst moments of his life to the best. He would not question it. If Sadie truly didn’t care that he had shoved his own fantasies into her mind—and no, it didn’t matter that she was the telepath, he had imagined those things specifically to test if she could see his thoughts, so it was still on him—then he wasn’t going to complain.
If she wanted to sneak back into the manor and up to his bedroom, then he’d ward all the doors closed until they were safely there without interruption. Luckily, that wasn’t required.
“Thank all the spirits we’re done with others staying in my rooms already,” he muttered as they climbed the stairs toward the second story.
Sadie, who was a step above him, but with her arm behind her so she could hold his hand, looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Why? It’s not like you were sharing the room with any of us.”
But he was about to share the room with Sadie, and that meant something to him. “I’d rather not risk running into Pippa by going to your room, and a random guest room wouldn’t feel right.”
Not with Sadie. There was nothing random or impersonal with her.
Her cheeks reddened before she faced forward once more, and he thought she was pulling him along at a slightly faster pace.
