Heat Wave
Page 13
“Holy shit.” Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Is that the sound you heard Cassidy?”
Before she could answer the pen rose into the air until it hovered several inches from her palm. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He did it.”
She didn’t answer Jeremy’s question, because she captured his gaze and held it. She saw in his eyes the utter astonishment. Before anyone else could speak, Mike’s eyes opened and he heaved a big breath. The pen fell, bounced off her leg and onto the floorboard. She leaned over to grab it. The hum stopped immediately.
“Shit, Hexley,” Jeremy said. “That was amazing. I can’t freaking believe it.”
Mike’s smile could only be described as shit-eating. “Believe it. You see how much work goes into it.” His smile faded, and he leaned forward in the seat. “You can’t tell anyone about this. If you do, I’ll deny it. No one would believe either of you anyway.”
Jeremy immediately sobered. “No, we can’t tell anyone.”
“You’d be treated like a circus show freak.” Despite what she’d witness, Cassidy still had plenty of questions. “People have never heard this hum until just a while ago. Why?”
Mike returned to leaning against the setback, looking a bit drained. “Sometimes after a subject like me practices telekinesis for a long time there are auditory aftereffects. No one is sure why, but it just happens.”
“But you’ve been using the telekinesis to scare teens and ghost hunting groups for quite a while,” Jeremy said.
Mike scratched his beard. “Yep. But it wasn’t until recently the humming started whenever I practiced levitation.”
“Why have you been doing this more often?” Jeremy asked.
“I haven’t been doing it more often. The hum just showed up,” Mike said. “I didn’t know anyone was hearing the sound. I thought it was just me hearing it. Never dawned on me until I went into a store one day and heard the clerk talking with a bunch of women about the hum. That’s when I realized my telekinesis work resulted in a sound that other people could hear.”
The SUV went quiet for a moment, as if they all contemplated the ramifications. A revelation came to Cassidy, but she didn’t think Mike would like it. She swallowed hard, not sure she wanted to broach this subject.
“You have to stop practicing,” she said.
Mike looked suspicious. “What?”
She almost winced, sure he wouldn’t comply with her suggestion. “You have to stop the telekinesis. The hum is causing some weird side effects in town.” Heat filled her face. “Sexual effects. People are starting to hook up who wouldn’t be interested in each other. The temperature has gone up in the area—”
“Hell, no.” Mike held up his hands. “I’ve got nothing to do with the weather. That’s a natural thing. As for people hooking up…” He cracked a smile. “Are you blaming what you were doing in the SUV on my humming? I wasn’t humming when you—”
“So what?” Jeremy turned to look at Cassidy. “People’s relationships may or may not be changed by this humming.” He returned his gaze to Mike. “But eventually someone will link you to the humming…someone who isn’t as laid back as we are.”
Mike’s eyebrows lowered. “Is this blackmail?”
Cassidy almost objected.
Jeremy beat her to it. “No. I don’t know everything that happened when you were in that secret military program. I’m hoping you’ll do the right thing and stop the hum.”
“He’s right.” Cassidy couldn’t stay silent. “It’s for your good as well. If people find you out here and realize it’s you that’s causing the hum, we know that won’t go well.”
Mike crossed his arms, his mouth taking on a stubborn line. For a moment Cassidy held her breath, wondering if the older man would protest.
Instead he closed his eyes. “I heard what your father did Mr. Tate. How he was a serial killer and offed those prostitutes. I was ashamed of that.”
Jeremy shifted in his seat, his eyes filled with turmoil. “What are you talking about?”
“If I’d known what your father was doing, I would have tried to stop him.” Mike looked sad. “I wasn’t spending time at the old house when it happened. I was in a cave most of the time. I was pretty rattled back then, realizing I had this ability and couldn’t do a damned thing with it to help people.”
Jeremy didn’t answer for a moment, then he said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. None of us did. The past is the past. I’m all for living in the present.”
“Help people now, Mike. Stop the hum,” she said.
Mike smiled and held his hand out to Jeremy. “Deal. Shake on it.” Mike then shook hands with Cassidy. “Now if you don’t have any other questions, I suggest you get outta here.”
“One question left,” Jeremy said. “Why did you tell us this story?”
Mike tapped the right side of his head with his index finger. “Remember I can sometimes read minds. I can feel the vibrations of whether people are lying to me. Whether they’re as good as their word. I know you two are good people.”
With that Mike climbed out of the SUV, slammed the door, and headed into the darkness toward the house where he’d left his weapon. Cassidy sat there, her mind reeling from everything they’d learned in a short time. The glow from the interior light made Jeremy look pale and worried.
“You think he’ll live up to his part of the bargain?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He buckled up and she followed suit just as he started the engine.
They drove away, the night cloaking them and a hundred thoughts running through her mind. “I guess you believe in the paranormal now?”
“Yeah. I guess you do, too.”
“Yes.”
They were quiet for a long time.
Finally she said, “Are you all right? That was a big fall.”
“I’m sore as hell.”
“I’m going to be sore after pushing that thing away from the door. Maybe we can give each other a massage tonight.”
One corner of his mouth turned up in a wicked smile. “Oh, yeah.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay. I thought…” She frowned, and brushed her fingers over his. “You were right. We shouldn’t have explored this place.”
“I dunno. Seems like it was a good experience. I faced my father’s demon, if you want to call it that…I feel like there’s a weight off my shoulders.”
“We can’t tell anyone about Mike, can we?” she asked even though she knew the answer.
“No.”
Silence opened up between them again until she dredged up the courage to ask him an important question. “Can I stay with you for the rest of my vacation? I mean there’s a lot of time left. I’ll cook. I’ll—”
“Hell, yeah.” She saw the ghost of his smile in the dim light from the dashboard. “Besides, you want to stay long enough to see if the hum goes away, right?”
“Yes.”
She only hoped he was right, and Mike would keep his part of the bargain.
Three Weeks Later
* * *
Cassidy sighed as she lay in Jeremy’s arms and absorbed the delicious sensation of his muscular arms around her. Sex with this man didn’t get old. And although they weren’t doing the two-backed beast every day, the lust and affection remained heated. The last three weeks had turned out so well she didn’t want to leave when her vacation ended. The heatwave in Bristol Peak had subsided and temperatures had retreated to more normal levels. A crisp bite of cold was in the air.
“Feel good?” Jeremy drew his hand down her back. Only a nightlight illuminated his bedroom.
“Great. Where did you learn to do that?” she asked with a smile.
“Didn’t. I just invented it.”
She heard the humor in his voice. “Uh-huh.”
They went silent again for a short time before he spoke again. “Glad Mike stuck to his promises.”
So was she—it had surprised the hell out of her when Mike had notified them by phone a day afterward
he’d demonstrated his ability to levitate objects. He’d told them he would stop the hum and he had. Cassidy and Jeremy said they wouldn’t tell a soul what he could do, and they’d kept quiet. Even Joanna and Booker didn’t know their secret. For three weeks Jeremy and Cassidy enjoyed exploring each other physically and mentally. Each day her feelings about Jeremy grew.
“Glad I’m going with you to Costa Rica tomorrow,” Jeremy said.
“Me, too.” A glow warmed her heart and soul. “Even if you’ll only be in Costa Rica a few days.”
“All I could get on short notice.” He kissed her forehead.
She already understood that. Yet there was one thing she had to know for certain. “Jeremy, I’m so glad we connected. I didn’t come to Bristol Peak to start anything, but these last three weeks have been amazing.”
“For me, too.”
She propped up on one forearm to look at him in the semi-darkness. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
His grin was mischievous. “I need to know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“How do we keep this thing between us going?”
She hadn’t expected that sort of question from him. “One step at a time. We’ve got a lot to learn about each other. But I feel like what we have between us is good and strong.”
He slipped his fingers into her hair. “Yeah.”
“This is really too early to talk about but…”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been in Costa Rica a long time. I’m not looking for a career change…” She stuttered a little. “But I want to change where I work. I want to be closer to Bristol Peak. To friends and the people that matter to me like Joanna. And you.”
His smile grew broad. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Where would you find work?”
“There’s a geophysics study happening in connection with the university in Tucson, and I’m considering teaching. It’s still closer than Costa Rica.”
He made a low sound of satisfaction as he brought her into a sweet, delicious kiss.
When they surfaced, he brushed her hair back from her face. The warmth in his eyes filled her. “I know this is quick, but I’m falling for you.”
Heat stirred low in her belly and in her heart. “I’m falling for you, too.”
And they fell into a new kiss filled with hope and promise.
* * *
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About the Author
Denise A. Agnew is the best selling author of over 65 novels. Romantic Times Book Review Magazine called her romantic suspense novels Dangerous Intentions and Treacherous Wishes “top-notch” and her erotic romance Primordial received a TOP PICK from Romantic Times Book Review Magazine. She won the 2001 EPPIE award for Best Historical Romance in 2001 with Love From The Ashes. Denise’s novels Love From The Ashes and Blackout were optioned for film/TV by Where’s Lucy Productions. Denise lives in Arizona with her husband and a Mini Schnauzer. Denise is also a paranormal investigator, Reiki Master and Certified Creativity Coach.
For more Information:
@DeniseAAgnew
denise.a.agnew
www.deniseagnew.com
danovelist@cox.net