Steam

by Lynn Tyler

  “What’s vexing you, lass?” Leith said from behind her.

  She spun around, clapping her hand to her pounding heart. “You scared the shit out of me,” she said. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  Leith raised an eyebrow and wandered over to the cappuccino machine in the corner. He made his selection and pressed the brew button. “I made plenty of noise. You weren’t paying attention.”

  The machine beeped, signaling that the coffee was ready. Leith took a sip and sighed. “As much as I detest technology sometimes, I have to say, this coffee is so much better than it was when I was young.”

  Sunny grinned and plopped into a seat next to Leith. “What did you do all those years ago? Grind your coffee beans between a couple of stones?”

  “You know, anyone else would treat me with respect,” he commented lightly.

  She giggled and patted his hand. “I’ve figured you out.”

  Leith rolled his eyes but didn’t refute her comment. Instead, he went back to his original question. “What’s bothering you?”

  Sunny felt her smile fade and she fidgeted a little in her seat. She really didn’t know how to explain what she was feeling so she didn’t say anything at all.

  Leith didn’t seem to need her to speak. “You’re still punishing Sloan.”

  “No,” she denied with a gasp. “I forgave him as soon as he apologized.”

  “But you’ve been going out of your way to avoid him since you came home, and he’s been bending over backward to try and make you happy again.”

  Leave it to Leith to bluntly tell it like it was. “I know.” And she did. She just didn’t know what to do about it.

  Leaning forward, Leith pressed a soft, paternal kiss to the top of her head. “Do you really forgive him for his words?”

  She nodded before letting her forehead rest against his collarbone for a minute. If Matthew was becoming like an older brother, Leith was definitely becoming a father figure. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him, despite their awkward position.

  Leith squeezed her in return before pulling away. He tilted her head back with his fingers under her chin and looked her straight in the eyes. “Then do you think perhaps something else is going on?”

  Sighing, Sunny nodded again. “How do you know me so well?”

  Leith smiled softly and ruffled her hair. “I told you before. You remind me so much of my Elizabeth. I’ll leave you to your thoughts. But I want you to think about Sloan and why you’re so reluctant to let him get close again.”

  He stood up and strode to the door, pausing to look at her over his shoulder. “I’m not saying you have to forgive him. I am saying you should understand if you’re pushing him away because of what he said or if you’re pushing him away because you’re afraid of something.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of her chair. Leith was right, of course. She wasn’t upset about his words. She’d gotten over those long ago, recognizing he’d said them in the heat of the moment.

  It was the fear of being abandoned stopping her from moving forward.

  She’d always thought she was a strong, independent woman. But it turned out that when she was confronted with the possibility of happiness, she was a wimp who ran away from the fear of being hurt instead of fighting for her happiness.

  It wasn’t fair to her and it certainly wasn’t fair to Sloan.

  The man in question shuffled back into the castle and stopped hesitantly in the library doorway. “Sunny. Hi.”

  It was now or never. Ignoring the sudden flight or fight instinct that churned in her gut, urging her to run, she smiled. “Hi, Sloan.”

  The hopeful smile that bloomed on his face proved she’d made the right decision. “I got a couple of movies. What do you think about taking a break from training today and having a movie marathon? We can grab Anna, and Raven could probably be talked into watching at least one of them.”

  Crossing the floor, Sunny took the bag from Sloan and peeked inside. It was full of romantic comedies. They weren’t something she could picture Sloan picking out on his own, so he’d probably had her in mind when he chose them.

  Touched, and a little amused since she would have been thrilled with a horror movie marathon, she reached for Sloan’s hand and laced her fingers with his. “Let’s watch them alone.”

  She walked with Sloan to the media room, never letting go of his hand. She couldn’t guarantee she would be able to move past her fear, but, damn it, she would try.

  Chapter 20

  “Crap.”

  Sloan’s voice drifted from the kitchen, startling Sunny. Curious, she wandered in the direction of the man’s frustrated voice and poked her head in the room.

  She didn’t know whether she should laugh or not. Thick, black smoke rose from a frying pan as he used his magic to pour water on its contents. He muttered under his breath, something about never cooking again.

  Finally, she couldn’t hold her curiosity in anymore. “Um, Sloan?”

  The man in question spun around, spatula in hand, and stared at her with wide eyes. “Hi, Sunny,” he answered.

  “What are you doing?” She tried to peek around his body at the stove, which still issued copious amounts of smoke, but he blocked her.

  “Making dinner.”

  Sunny raised her eyebrows and took another step forward. She deked left and scooted around his right side to gaze down in the pan. An unidentifiable piece of…something…sat in the middle of the metal surface. Whatever it used to be, she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to look the way it currently did.

  Sloan joined her and poked at the burnt mass with a fork. “It’s chicken.”

  Sunny had to clear her throat a couple of times to prevent herself from laughing. He looked so forlorn. “Why are you making dinner?” she asked when she finally got a hold of herself. “I heard Raven mention something about pizza.”

  He smiled at her a little sheepishly. “I kind of talked him into ordering out so I could make dinner for you. But, as you can see, I can’t really cook.”

  Her heart gave a little flutter. None of the men she’d dated in the past had ever cooked for her. Touched, she made a resolution that she would choke down every single bite.

  Luckily, Sloan poked at the meat and sighed. “This isn’t fit for beast, nor man. I guess we’ll have to join the others for a slice of pepperoni.”

  “I think Raven ordered a couple of supreme pizzas. And, if you really want to eat pizza with them, that’s fine, but you have to eat the mushrooms. I don’t like them.”

  “Deal,” Sloan agreed. “I wish we could have had a quiet dinner. I even bought wine.” He gestured toward the small room off the kitchen, where Anna sometimes attempted to sew.

  Curious, she wandered over and looked inside. Her fluttering heart melted. The small table was covered by a pristine white tablecloth. A bottle of white wine sat chilling in a silver ice bucket and two tall candles were standing in matching silver sticks.

  By the time she’d gotten a hold of herself and returned to Sloan’s side, he was scraping the pan clean. “The pizza should be here by now,” he commented.

  “You know what?” she said, putting her hand on Sloan’s wrist. “I don’t feel like pizza. How about pasta? I could really go for some fettuccini alfredo.”

  Sloan placed the pan in the sink with a clatter and grimaced. “I don’t know if we have the ingredients.

  Sunny reached into a cupboard and extracted a jar of sauce and a bag of macaroni noodles from the depths, setting them down on the counter. “It’s not exactly gourmet, but it will taste good.”

  He looked at her skeptically but bent down to retrieve a pot from under the oven. His pants stretched tight across his ass and she took the opportunity to ogle it without having to hide her interest.

  “Are you sure you want macaroni with jarred alfredo sauce?” he asked as he straightened.

  “It’s perfect.”

  They worked together
and were sitting at the table, candles lit and wine poured, after half an hour. The noodles were over cooked and the sauce tasted like the jar instead of parmesan cheese, but she didn’t care.

  “Would you like to go back into town?” Sloan asked after a sip of wine.

  “Now?”

  “Sure, why not? We could get some ice cream for dessert. I have very fond memories of that ice cream stand.”

  She took a sip of wine to cover her smile. The image of him with the little girl tugged at her soul. “Do you ever want kids?” she asked.

  Sloan smiled and his gazed focused somewhere over her shoulder, as if he was looking into the future. “Yeah. I do. How about you?”

  She was only twenty-five years old. She had lots of time to have a family so there was no rush. But she already knew the answer. “Yes. How many do you want?”

  “I’d love as many as you want,” he said without missing a beat. It might have sounded like a line coming from someone else, but she could tell from his expression he meant every word. If she wanted to stop at one, he’d be fine but if she wanted five or six, he’d be okay with that too.

  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. She wasn’t ready to set herself up for possible heartbreak from the man, let alone have his kids. And yet, the picture of him cradling a small baby close to his wide chest did funny things to her.

  “So, what do you think? Do you want to go into town?”

  Sunny looked down at her plate of soggy macaroni noodles swimming in white sauce and her half-full glass of wine. “No. Actually, I was thinking we could spend the evening in.”

  “Really?” Sloan’s voice clearly reflected his surprise. “It’s been a while since we’ve gotten away from everyone.”

  Obviously, Sloan had not caught on to her meaning. “I didn’t mean we have to spend the evening with everyone.”

  Understanding slowly dawned on Sloan’s face. “Want dessert upstairs?” he asked, grabbing a plate with a slice of chocolate cake and waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

  She smiled and pushed away from the table. “As long as you let me have the last bite of cake.”

  Sloan surged to his feet and blew out the candles. He linked their fingers together and started leading her toward the back staircase once meant for servants. “Of course. As long as you eat it off me.”

  Sunny spit out a strand of hair and stretched. The beam of sun shining through the small crack in the curtains told her the sun was high in the sky. Her stomach growled, not content with last night’s meal, and she turned her head, searching for her lover. The bed next to her was cold, and she couldn’t hear anything from the bathroom.

  Last night had been amazing. The effort he’d put into the dinner, the conversation about children, and the fact that he’d spent all night long making sure she was satisfied had brought her to the very edge of love. All it would take was one little nudge and she would be unequivocally in love with him.

  She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. Looking around, she found a folded piece of paper on the pillow Sloan had been using.

  Curious and more than a little anxious, she picked it up. Didn’t people write notes when they wanted to break up?

  Taking a deep breathe, Sunny opened the paper and nearly cried when she read the words.

  My beloved Sunny,

  As I sit here, watching you sleep, I know I need to drive home just how much I love you. So these are my promises to you.

  I will kill all the bugs, even the centipedes that creep me out.

  I will always let you have the last bite of dessert, even if it’s my favorite crème brulee.

  I will let you choose the radio station in the car, even if it’s country music.

  I promise to kiss every burn, every slammed finger, and all the table-bumped hips.

  I will always let you sleep on my chest, even when you drool.

  I will thrust harder and faster. I will be rough when you want and tease you when you don’t.

  I’ll leave you random gifts.

  I’ll make the bed every morning.

  I will always need you.

  I will love you.

  I will love you.

  I will love you.

  You own my body, my heart and my soul.

  Yours,

  Sloan

  Sunny blinked the moisture out of her eyes, scared she would splotch the paper if she wasn’t careful.

  The bedroom door eased open and Sloan stepped inside, bearing a huge tray. “Good morning,” he said, setting the tray down on one of the dressers. “How are you?”

  “Fine, thanks,” she answered, her voice slightly husky from the unshed tears. She cleared her throat and glanced up at him.

  His eyes flicked toward the paper in her hands and he seemed to understand the cause of her distress. “Um, I brought breakfast.”

  She cleared her throat again and slid his note under her pillow. “Did you make it?” she asked.

  Sloan chuckled and shook his head. “No. I got everything from the dining room this morning. I brought you some bacon, eggs, and a slice of toast. I thought about bringing up some yogurt, but there was only pineapple.”

  She was surprised he knew she didn’t like pineapple, but didn’t say anything.

  He set up a tray across her lap and placed a plate in front of her, chatting brightly while he settled next to her with his own breakfast.

  Gazing at Sloan, she opened her mouth when he offered her a strawberry.

  She glanced down at her meal and felt her eyes misting up again. Forget being on the edge of love. He’d just provided the nudge she needed to tumble head first into love.

  Chapter 21

  A thick cloud of black smoke clogged Sunny’s throat, and she waved her hand in front of her face, coughing to clear her lungs. “Crap,” she choked.

  “Sunny,” Sloan groaned. “You have to at least try to control your magic.”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she stomped her foot in frustration. “I am trying, damn it.”

  “Okay. Let’s try again,” Sloan said slowly.

  Sunny shook out her hands and stared down at the charred grass. Her magic had massively increased in power since her confrontation with the Takahashi handler. She could barely manage a small ball of fire anymore, let alone raging flames. It was the reason why they had to move their training to the pasture half an hour away instead of the small field near the castle. She’d taken to setting the woods on fire and she was pretty sure a forest fire would attract some unwanted visitors.

  “Sunny,” Sloan called again. “I know you’re trying to release some of the energy before you summon your fire, but you won’t have time to shake out your hands in a real battle.”

  She rolled her eyes. Like she hadn’t figured that out when the Takahashi dude was hurling chunks of metal at her with his mind. “Okay. We’re trying to create steam.”

  “Right,” Sloan said with a nod. “So you need to control the temperature of your fire so my rain evaporates midair. Try not to let things get too hot, or we’ll end up setting the field on fire. Again.”

  Sunny appreciated Sloan’s use of the word we, she really did. She knew it was her fault the field kept going up in flames. She also knew Sloan was trying his best to make up for what he’d said immediately after her confrontation with the Takahashi handler. He’d been attentive and sweet ever since she’d come back from the hospital.

  “Okay,” she said again, and re-focused her attention on the situation at hand. “Let’s do this.”

  She waited until he’d called down the rain before summoning her fire. She let it dance in her palm until she felt she had some kind of hold on it and then concentrated on heating it until the rain hitting the ball of flames sizzled. The drops of water started to explode into steam. “It’s working,” she said, excited.

  “It is,” Sloan responded. “Let’s increase the amount of rain.”

  “Do it,” she said, emptying her mind and concentrating on her fire.

 
; It promptly started to pour. Water streamed down her face, plastering her hair to her skin. Calmly, she manipulated the fire in her hands, slowly increasing the heat until they were completely engulfed in a cloud of steam. “We’re doing it,” she squealed. She felt like jumping up and down.

  “Okay,” Sloan said, moving closer. “Now, I’m going to focus the water into one large stream. Because this is a much stronger manipulation of our magics, you’re going to have to let me help focus your fire. Kind of like how I let Anna move my water when we’re creating a storm.”

  She nodded and tried to calm her racing heart. She relaxed as much as she could as Sloan narrowed the diameter of the stream of water until it fell in a single, colossal column. Directing the ball of fire under the water was the easy part.

  Once the two magics merged, however, things got a little out of hand.

  Something seemed to move in the back of her mind, as if there was another presence in her head. Instinctively, Sunny knew that presence was Sloan, and he would have complete access to everything in her. Her memories, emotions, fears and desires were no longer private. There was no way to hide those parts of her core and, far from being comforting, it terrified her. It made her vulnerable, defenseless, something she swore she’d never be after the last foster home and she panicked.

  Her magic responded to her distress and roared to life. It felt like a living thing, like it was trying to protect her, and immediately surrounded her in a wall of flames. The grass around her began burning immediately and instead of creating steam, Sloan’s water merely extinguished the fire, resulting in another belch of black smoke.

  She yanked back on her magic as hard as she could and managed to draw most of the flames back into her. Her body hummed with power and she jumped around for a few seconds, trying to re-absorb the magic.

  Sloan stood next to her, breathing heavily. She could tell he was trying desperately not to blow up. “You have to stop fighting me,” he said lowly. “Something is blocking you from letting us move forward.”

  “I know,” she cried in frustration. “But I have a hard time letting people in.”