by Marie Harte
The Rhodes op was still fresh in his mind. He had been pissed when he had found out why members of his old unit had been killed and he had demanded to be put on point. He’d wanted to kill Rhodes. As it was, Miles had been granted that gift. And, though it took him three months of hunting in that stinking hot desert, he had got to clip each and every one who participated in the ambush.
“That sounds like Secret Service or CIA stuff.” She yawned covering her mouth.
Alex didn’t respond until she looked at him again. “We don’t have the government ties, the agencies in the States have, because we are not a government agency. We are a military unit.” She stared back at him and he could read on her face that she didn’t know whether to believe him or not. Not that it mattered, but he was telling her the truth.
“My turn. Can I ask a few questions now?”
“No.” She rolled onto her back once again and began toying with another curl.
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle. “Too bad.”
Eve smiled into the darkness at the sound of Alex’s laugh. It was a deep laugh. A sexy laugh.
“When was the first time you saw a median?”
Eve concentrated on the ceiling. “The first median I saw was on the same floor in the hospital as my granddad. He was a young man mid-twenties, nice looking. Of course, at the time I had no idea he was actually a median. He was standing in my granddad’s room when we went for a visit. At the time I remember thinking granddad had a lot of visitors but then my mum spoke to the man and when I was older I learned she had gone back and merged him.”
“Your mom could merge as well?”
“Yup, she was an amazing person.” Her mother’s face flashed before her eyes, and like every other time, she wanted to reach out and touch it.
“How’d she die?” His voice was low.
Eve closed her eyes. She remembered coming home from work just as the ambulance had been pulling away. When Gran had told her what’d happened, Eve had refused to believe it and had rushed into the house to see for herself if her mum had gone. The house had been quiet. Her house had never been quiet, her mum had always had on music or been singing, and that day it had been dead quiet. Then the guilt and the ‘what if’s’ had crept into her mind like they always had. What if her mum hadn’t given her the medallion? Would she still have tripped and fallen down the stairs? The ‘what if’s’ gave her chills.
“Are you still here?”
She shook her head. “It’s really none of your business.”
“I know. But you’re still going to tell me.”
Why was he right? “It was crazy how she died, a total accident.” She took a deep breath. “She fell down the stairs vacuuming. She did it for me because I was pregnant at the time and she was worried about me falling down the stairs and getting hurt.”
He was silent for a few minutes and Eve had no idea what he was thinking, and she certainly didn’t have enough courage to ask.
“I wouldn’t call that crazy. Accident yes. Crazy no.”
“Why isn’t it crazy?” She asked surprised by his response.
“A man broke into my house when I was eighteen and shot both my parents. When I hunted him down I asked him why did he did it, his answer was because someone bet him twenty bucks that he couldn’t. My parents were killed over a stranger’s bet. That’s crazy.”
Sadness poked at her heart. How terrible to have both parents taken away in such a manner. Her need to heal was always present, and the only difference was that Alex was sitting on her bedroom floor instead of down in her studio.
Eve gripped the blanket and very carefully spoke. “I’m sorry.”
She didn’t know if she would get a response so she kept talking using a delicate pitch. “You hunted down the man who killed your parents when you were eighteen? How did you do that?”
He sighed. “Don’t use your voice on me,” was all he said before he continued, “I have no idea. It seems to come naturally to me.”
Eve didn’t know if the goose bumps on her arms were because of his answer or because he’d caught her using her gift to help him.
“You’re a natural at hunting down and…” She stopped hoping he would fill in the blank with arresting or catching.
“Killing,” he finished.
Eve stared up at the ceiling exhaling a long breath. “And you wonder why I can’t sleep?”
His deep chuckle made her relax a little, a very little. “You have nothing to worry about unless you plan on becoming a danger to society.”
“Sorry, my schedule is full for the next ten years.” She chuckled. Geez this was nuts. Joking with a man who had just confessed he was a trained killer—like her life wasn’t full enough already.
“Too bad, I think I would enjoy hunting you down.” His voice had become deep, with a sexy twist.
Air caught in her throat. “You would?”
“Oh yes. I can think of a few sweaty ways to deliver your punishment.”
Eve felt her eyes grow wide the same moment her stomach fluttered. It had been a long time since a man had made that kind of suggestion to her.
In the dark part of her mind, she wondered how many people she would have to bump off before Alex came knocking on her door to deliver his…punishment.
“You’re wondering what you would have to do in order for me to deliver my punishment, aren’t you?” The sexy humour in his voice had her smiling into the darkness.
“No.” Her face heated up.
“I’ll tell you anyways. Jaywalking.”
“What?” Eve rolled back onto her side to face him.
“All you have to do is jaywalk.” She could see him turn his head in the dark to face her. “And I’ll come knock on your door.”
Eve froze, she didn’t even blink. He had to be joking, except…he didn’t sound like he was joking. “Would you like to hear what your punishment would be?”
Absolutely she would. But for some reason she couldn’t tell him that, couldn’t even move.
“Undecided eh?” Sitting up, he turned. “How about I tell you anyway?”
She stopped breathing then and waited.
“I would come to you in the middle of the night. Slip into your bed while you were sleeping and begin to remove that see-through T-shirt of yours.”
In the dark as she listened to his sensual summary of her punishment, she saw two small flickers of light.
“Your panties would be next. I’m going to love sliding those down your legs—feel how wet you are for me.”
She blinked, focusing on the flickering that grew brighter and brighter, until she was looking into small beams of blue light.
“Here’s where I’m having a little difficulty—you see I’m torn between bending you over the bed and getting my fill of you from behind or just pulling you down to the floor and riding you hard.” His eyes were beautiful and freaky, but the way they flickered like miniature flames was almost hypnotic.
His voice dropped low. “It’s a little rougher on the floor but it’s deep.” He ran his hand along the top of her carpet and she wished that he was running it over her instead. A hot ache pulled between her legs as he continued. “There will be a lot of panting and sweating and by the end you’ll be begging me to let you come.”
Her throat was dry and she swallowed a hard lump of desire. Was he serious? That wasn’t a punishment. It was a single mother’s dream come true. Her heart jumped.
It was strange though. Should he even be having these thoughts? Did medians feel desire and passion and need? Did the dead? Besides that, how could he feel that way about her…he didn’t even know her…
“Wait a sec,” she blurted out. “Oh my God!” She covered her warm face. “Nice try.” She bit out. “But doing this whole ‘oh babe you turn me on, now merge me and we’ll screw all night’ isn’t going to work. So just piss off, go away, leave, get out.” Did he think she was a fool? She had been burnt by enough guys to know when they were spouting bullshit, even really hot sexy b
ullshit.
Eve turned, facing the opposite side of the room and closed her eyes. She was still aching, turned on by his detailed description and also pissed off. Not just at him, but at herself as well. She had actually begun to feel… It was probably because she hadn’t had sex in a while, but damn it she knew better. Trusting a man was bad enough, but trusting a median was worse and the dead…she didn’t even want to go there.
“You will merge me.” She flinched when the words were spoken next to her ear. “And I meant what I said. All you have to do is jaywalk to have me knocking on your door.” He paused before whispering, “Maybe, even less.”
Chapter Seven
Alex watched Eve sleep for the better part of an hour until he finally got up. He was done tormenting himself. He stared down and watched as she stretched, extending her arm over her head. The movement was innocent but it turned sultry when it caused her breasts to lift and push against her T-shirt.
Shit! There it was again, that need to touch her. He took one step back, keeping his eyes on her face. There was something about Eve that turned him on. The feeling had come out of nowhere, catching him off guard and he silently wished he was in his body, so he could feel if her skin was as soft as it looked.
He took another step back. This was not him. He didn’t allow himself to become attracted to a woman he didn’t know. He didn’t feel much for the women he did know. And Eve was not the type of woman he slept with. She wasn’t what he wanted in a woman. He liked them tall and leggy, with straight hair. Eve wasn’t short but she wasn’t what he would call tall and those auburn curls. Curls always reminded him of a mess and he liked things orderly. She was also a mother. She had an attachment in her life, a family, families were a distraction, they could be used against him, and that was something he would not allow.
No attachments. No feelings. It was a self-imposed rule and one he had kept. He only slept with woman that wanted what he wanted, sex. No more, no less. None of the women he spent the night with had a family or kids, and none of them would pose a threat to him. He made sure of it by researching each one of their backgrounds before he took them to his bed.
No, Eve was not his type and the sooner his body realised it the better off he would be. He turned from Eve’s still form and moved to the door. Why was he feeling anything? Emotions, sure, but his body was turned on. He had felt his cock swell at the thought of Eve’s naked body wrapped around his…except he didn’t have a body for her to wrap around.
Stopping at Eve’s bedroom door, he sighed. There didn’t seem to be any clear cut guidelines for a median. He felt emotions, which he guessed were generated from the soul, and could feel the physical stir of his body yet he wasn’t a solid mass. He could walk through doors when Eve shut them on him, or in the case of her trying to lock him out this morning, all he did was think about being in her house and he was. Yet, he could sit on the floor or lean against walls and not fall through them, like he imagined a ghost would.
Slowly extending his arm, he reached for the door handle and watched as his hand floated right through it. He pulled back and tried again, with the same result—nothing. Annoyed, he stood back and studied the handle. There must be more to it. He thought about the day. Every time Eve had closed a door on him, he had been irritated enough that he had walked through to her. Everything he had done today had occurred when he’d had an emotional response to Eve’s comments or actions.
He turned back to Eve and remembered the shaky way she had exhaled after he had said he would come back and pay her a visit, once he was whole again. He meant it too, even though it went against his normally strict practices. And it pissed him off that he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight the urge. He would come back here all right and spend a very long, very sweaty night getting to know her body. If she knew what was good for her, she would hurry up and merge him and get away from him a-sap. But she was so damn stubborn.
He shook his head. Why couldn’t the only person that could merge him be willing to help him instead of fight him? And why did she have to be so damn sexy? With agitation, flowing through his veins he reached for the door and turned the handle. It swung open and he stalked down the hall.
* * * *
“So doc, what’s on the agenda for today?”
Eve groaned loudly when she heard Alex behind her. “I’m not a doc. And I thought I told you to go away.”
“And I thought I made it pretty clear last night when I said I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Eve sighed. “Really, I must have tuned you out.” She turned to face him and found him leaning against the counter next to the fridge.
He crossed his arms, displaying the well-developed muscles of his biceps and shoulders and gave her a smile that only curled up one side of his mouth.
Eve almost allowed her mouth to drop open. He looked so casual and sexy and before she could stop it, her body reacted. Her skin heated, her arms and legs felt tingly and her insides twisted into a hot eager knot. Oh man, this couldn’t be good. Getting turned on by a median or…dead soul…maybe dead, maybe not. This might be easier if she knew what clues to look for in the dead but she didn’t because there weren’t any. Oh Lord. She groaned, hoping he wasn’t dead, because, if that was the case and he was, not only would she be out of her mind but what kind of fulfilment would she get? Nothing. And it certainly wouldn’t be like her dream. A vivid image popped into her head of Alex making love to her on the floor. Of his hot, sweat covered body pinning her against the rough carpet, his hand slipping between their bodies, fingers teasing her moist lips and clit, his mouth nipping and licking, covering every achy, wet inch of her.
The sound of running water from above snapped Eve back to where breakfast was waiting to be made, and the hottest median she had ever come into contact with, smirked knowingly at her. Heat spread though her face again when she realised she still needed to get the milk for Noelle’s cereal. Alex gave her a wink when she sighed again. He had the ability to irritate her and make her blush at the same time. Fantastic.
She walked over to the fridge, despite the close proximity, and withdrew the milk. Straightening, she faced him and gazed into deep pools of blue. Alex had the most vivid blue eyes she had ever seen—they were beautiful—considering he might actually be dead. He gave her a playful wink, hinting that he knew exactly what he did to her insides. Her stupid stomach fluttered in joy and annoyed she quickly turned, placing the milk on the table. Remembering the door to the fridge was open, she turned to shut it but was too late, it was already closing.
Eve froze, watching the door to the fridge being pushed closed. She shifted her eyes to Alex, who was staring back. “Guess what I can do?”
Oh shit! He had done that, he had shut…the…door. She exhaled a slow breath, an eerie chill causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. Medians couldn’t touch…stuff. The dead, well they were different. Her Gran had told her about the different things she had seen the dead do. Some weren’t able do anything, others could move objects or open and close doors. The rare few had the ability to appear to the living. And a very select few were able to talk and move as if they were still living. Gran had explained to her when she was young, that the abilities the dead had were directly related to the age of their soul. Young souls were the weakest, with little or no experience at living, only dwelling in one or two bodies, they could do very little. The older, more experienced souls were stronger, having lived many lives in many different bodies and therefore had the ability to do more once they passed.
She should probably talk to Gran. Make sure she wasn’t wrong. Make sure Alex was what she believed him to be, an old soul. A dead, old soul.
Noelle arrived shortly after Alex displayed his new trick. So he never got the chance to ask Eve why it scared the hell out of her. Instead, he stood back and watched mother and daughter. He listened as they talked about the day ahead.
“We have gym today with Mr Larson.” Noelle said, before scooping more cereal into her already fu
ll mouth.
“Chew first please,” Eve commented, and then asked, “Who’s Mr Larson?”
“He’s our new gym teacher.”
“I thought Miss Penny taught you gym?”
“She does. But she broke her foot playing for her soccer team. So she can’t.” The girl shrugged.
“Oh that sucks! Tell Miss Penny I hope she feels better soon.” Eve took a sip of her coffee and licked her lips.
Alex felt a tug in his groin and he clamped his teeth together, annoyed that the simple gesture could do that to him.
“I will.” Noelle blinked up at Eve with wide hazel eyes. “Hey! You should help her mum. You can fix anybody.”
“Honey. You know I can’t.”
“But you help all those sick soldiers. You make them better. Why can’t you help Miss Penny?”
“For one, I’m sure she already has a very good physiotherapist, and two I have a contract with the Military saying I will only treat soldiers.”
“What’s a contract?”
Eve sighed. “Well, it’s a—” She paused, struggling to find the words.
Alex didn’t want to interrupt, and though he knew Noelle saw him, he never spoke when in her presence because he didn’t want to frighten her, but Eve looked as though she needed the help. “It’s like a promise,” he suggested.
Eve shifted her eyes slightly in his direction but then focused back on Noelle’s questioning stare. “It’s kind of like a promise. I promised the Military that I would only help soldiers.”
“That’s because they’re really special, right?” Noelle asked shovelling in another scoop of food.
“Yup. Some of them are,” Eve confirmed, taking another sip of her coffee. “So what’s this Mr Larson going to be teaching you?”
“Football.”
“Gran’s version of football or American football?”
