“Zach,” came Dix’s voice.
“Cassidy says she can sense him.
He’s angry and he’s feeling trapped and betrayed.”
Reaching the top of the escalator, Zach leaned over the side of the glass railing and looked down at Cassidy and Dix.
He immediately reached out to her and their minds merged completely.
Zach caressed her mind, giving comfort.
Then he expanded his focus and through their link, the Reaper’s fear and smoldering jealousy sizzled against his mind.
I’ve found another of your Achilles’ heels, you bastard.
I guarantee she won’t be yours.
He concentrated on the Reaper’s link inside Cassidy’s mind and aimed some thoughts directly at the Reaper.
“
Not powerful enough to keep track of your women, August?
Most men who try to compensate for a lack in the manly department just buy a sports car or get a toupee.
Cassidy is mine
A feral smile crawled across Zach’s face as the Reaper’s sudden wall of rage assaulted his shields.
It’s working!
Zach closed his eyes and reached for the Reaper’s shields.
As he’d hoped, the anger caused him to become sloppy.
He used the Reaper’s link to Cassidy like a homing device.
Eyes closed to see through the Reaper’s eyes, he spoke into the Nextel.
“Gerald, right in front of you and coming up fast.”
Zach watched through his link as Gerald pulled his gun from his shoulder holster, only to have the Reaper hit him with a surge of psychic power, causing Gerald’s boneless fingers to drop the gun.
Everything suddenly dragged into slow motion.
Zach watched helpless as the Reaper—whose gun draw wasn’t impeded—aimed straight at Gerald’s head.
“No!”
Zach yelled and sent a mental burst of energy through the triangulated mental link.
He cursed as the connection broke.
Cassidy had pulled away from the Reaper, unable to watch more.
And since hers was the main connection, he couldn’t maintain it.
Later, he’d curse Murphy’s Law that her powers were growing at the wrong moment, but for now, he sent her a quick mental reassurance and sprinted toward Gerald.
“Dix!” he growled into the Nextel.
“Call an ambulance.
Gerald’s been shot and I don’t know how badly.
Anderson
, he ducked through the service entrance next to the candle shop, he’s headed for the northeast parking lot.
Call for backup to see if we can pin him in.”
He reached Gerald a few steps later.
A bloom of red against his upper right thigh grew before his eyes.
He sat on the floor on top of a small pool of blood using his shoulder holster as a makeshift tourniquet.
Waves of relief washed through Zach.
He hoped Cassidy was relaying the situation to Dix.
Zach pulled out his identification and held it up to fend off the mall security who had finally arrived.
“FBI, please stand back.”
“We lost him,” came
Anderson
’s angry voice over the Nextel.
Chapter Seven
“Hello?”
Zach called through the front security door.
“Cassidy?”
“
I’ll be out in a minute.
Why don’t you have a seat—I’m making us dinner.
”
Zach smiled.
Her abilities had grown as well as her confidence, even if she didn’t realize it yet.
He only wished she hadn’t severed the connection with the Reaper when they almost had him.
But even if she hadn’t mentally disconnected from him, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have gotten away from them anyway.
Zach sat on the black leather sectional he’d slept on the night Cassidy asked him to stay.
He winced—all the sexual dreams and fantasies he entertained about her that night had left a distinct sexual psychic aura on the couch.
“Terrific, it will be like adding gasoline to a bonfire.”
He shifted as his jeans suddenly became tight and uncomfortable.
He immediately moved over to the love seat instead.
No sense making his already frustrated sexual state worse on purpose.
The love seat was far enough away where he could still sense the aura from the sofa, but at least it wasn’t affecting him physically.
He’d just gotten comfortable when Cassidy walked into the living room.
His breath caught at the sight of her.
She wore black jeans and cowboy boots with a soft-looking, clingy, green top that matched the green flecks in her eyes.
Her shoulder-length auburn hair fell in a soft cascade around her face and brought his attention to her full lips and the wonderful dimple that winked in her cheek.
Most women would look casually comfortable in the outfit, but on Cassidy it looked seductive and sexy as hell.
His fingers itched to delve into the soft waterfall of hair while he ravished her mouth.
Cassidy smiled, causing the sexy-as-hell dimple to wink at him again.
“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment since you’re staring at me with your mouth hanging open.”
“Uh, sorry.”
His mind blank, not sure where to go from here, he groped for something to say.
Surely it must be the effects of the sexual aura he’d left on the couch—right?
He finally gathered enough brain cells to think of something.
“You look…amazing.”
Cassidy blushed, which made her look even sexier.
Her ability to be totally seductive, yet innocent, was a contradiction that kept him in a frenzied state of sexual frustration.
She sat on the sofa and Zach had to fight back a groan as her nipples stiffened to attention under the clingy cloth.
Apparently the aura on the sofa affected her, too.
She shifted uncomfortably for a second, but then cleared her throat.
“So, about this morning.
I’m sorry I got so upset with you about the leave of absence.
So many things have happened in a short period of time, and I haven’t been able to get my bearings yet.”
Zach couldn’t resist reaching out to take her hand.
Instinctively, both of their shields dropped and their minds merged as if they’d been doing it all their lives.
Waves of shock registered fully as they realized what they’d done.
Cassidy stiffened against him and began to pull away.
“Don’t,” he said, refusing to relinquish his grip on her hand.
“We need to deal with this.
I’m sorry, too.
I know I’ve sent you lots of mixed messages.
I haven’t meant to, I just never expected to find myself in this situation again.”
She visibly relaxed and allowed her mind to stay loosely linked with his.
“I didn’t mean to pry.
I didn’t fully understand.”
Her discomfort flowed around him along with the silence.
Mesmerized, he watched her hardened nipples move enticingly as she took a deep breath and blew it out.
“Zach, I’m up here.”
When he raised his gaze, he met her slow smile.
He cleared his throat self-consciously as he realized she knew exactly what he’d been watching.
“Sorry, it seems I left some sexual psychic aura on your couch the other night—It’s difficult to sleep down the hall from you.”
Confusion raced across Cassidy’s face, slowly chased away by stunned realization.
“I’ve been wondering what happened to me every time I sat on this couch.”
She took a firmer grip on his hand and tugged him over to sit beside her.
“But as long as it’s here, I’d rather not waste it.”
Her voice lowered to a breathy whisper.
“Especially if it’s because of me.”
As if they’d come together a thousand times before, they sank against each other.
He tried to find all the reasons he shouldn’t do this, but she felt too right in his arms.
When their lips met, molten fire raced through both of them via their mind link.
Zach gave into his earlier fantasy and combed his fingers through her silky hair, enjoying the cool cascade over his hands.
The color of her hair fascinated him, red and brown with hints of several lighter colors which shifted as the light hit.
Softer than any fine silk he could ever imagine.
He skimmed his lips over hers, gentle as a summer breeze, erotic enough to make them both gasp.
He couldn’t resist dipping inside to taste her when she sighed and opened her lips to him.
She tasted hot and sweet under his tongue, a delicacy he could delve into forever and never grow tired.
She kissed him back eagerly and explored under his T-shirt with her busy hands.
“I’ve waited so long to have you in my arms.”
Zach surprised himself by letting go all his inhibitions.
Needing her closer, he pulled her onto his lap and cradled her against him.
He skimmed lips and tongue along her jaw and then down to the sensitive skin of her neck.
She smelled of lavender and some musky scent that must be her perfume mixed with the primal scent of aroused woman.
“
God, what are you doing to me?
” he heard inside his head.
That one innocent statement sent a hot ball of desire shooting through him.
At her gasp, he tightened his shields.
When she began to protest, he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from moving.
“
If I don’t pull back now, I won’t make it another minute.
”
He kissed her again tenderly.
“
Don’t worry, I’m done running away from you, Cassidy
She leaned back then and studied his eyes.
He watched mesmerized as a mischievous smile stole across her face.
“Good.”
Then she scrambled his thoughts by turning so she straddled him and they were face to face.
He buried his hands in her hair and licked and nibbled a slow line up her long silky neck.
She shuddered against him and he groaned at the sexy purr that sounded from somewhere deep inside her throat.
She leaned her head back in utter surrender, and he opened enough to know she floated inside a wave of the sensations pouring through her.