Anna crossed her legs and speared him with a homicidal stare.
He fought a smile. Her attitude had been pure sass since that day he’d called her useless. The girl certainly knew how to hold a grudge.
“Was just curious,” David said, laying on a thick layer of boredom.
The corners of Anna’s mouth tightened. “I’m not interested in an audience, so you’re either joining or you’re leaving.”
Ha.He should have known she wouldn’t tolerate his insouciance. She’d been jabbing at him for weeks now, which…fair. She gave as good as she got.
He prowled into the room. “Guess I’m joining, then. You’re getting pretty bold with the ultimatums.”
“I’ve found it’s the quickest way to get what I want.”
An intriguing statement. What exactly did she want?
I can hear how much she thinks about you.
His mother filled with a joy that fizzed like bubbles against his skin. “You may have my seat, if that would please you.”
David made a home in the settee across from them. “I’m good.”
Still bubbling, Elenya reseated herself. “Anna has been practicing hard. I’m quite proud of her progress, though she still has work to do. It will be good for her to practice on someone other than me.”
A rosy flood washed into Anna’s cheeks, somehow making her eyes more blue. Her smart mouth finally softened into that smile he hadn’t known he’d been craving.
Fuck.
She wasgorgeous.
The thought rose from nowhere, or maybe it spewed from the new jagged piece in his chest, like it had been waiting to spring from the void. How annoying. Now that it existed, he couldn’t un-think it.
Maybe he’d been thinking it the whole time.
The jagged thing cracked quite abruptly, spilling far too many emotions between the fissures in his ice—blistering hot and viscerally hungry. He sucked in a breath at the onslaught and rushed to reinforce his barricades. This new, unwanted desire had to freeze before it melted anything else. Sitting in the company of two womenwho felt emotion in the very air, he didn’t need these weird feelings slipping out.
Useless feelings.
The pretty smile faded as soon as Anna’s gaze met his, a saucy expression taking its place. He sat in a staring contest with her, refusing to be the first to back down. He’d learned long ago that eye contact was a silent weapon, and he would not surrender his only remaining ammunition against her.
“I want ground rules,” she said.
Ground rules? What?—
“I think that’s wise,” his mother said, a faint crease between her smooth brow.
Alright, then. Ground rules.“Make all the rules you want, pixie girl. I’m listening.”
“The point of this is to teach me how to use the voice. You’re allowed to use it on me as an exampleonly.”
The smile that wanted to break free earned its due reward.
She scowled. “And don’t smile like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to know what I look like naked,” she said with a glorious roll of her eyes.
Hmm. Okay. Maybe Autumn was onto something with the smile thing.
