Page 26 of City of Love

Gideon laughed, her surprise and joy moving through his own body like a tickle of champagne bubbles.

“How is this possible?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “As far as I know, it’s unheard of.”

“Wow.”

“Indeed.”

She snickered.

“What?” he asked.

“You use that word a lot. You say it like a pronouncement.” She mentally imitated his deep voice. “Indeed.”

This time they both laughed, and hearing her do so, the sound felt oddly familiar, comfortable, like he’d been hearing that laugh for years. Was it possible he had been?

Her mood sobered then. “Gideon, what happened to Vik and Alana last night?”

His shoulders dropped with the reminder, and he filled her in on all he knew, which wasn’t much, but she must have felt his worry and caught a hint of the suspicions he’d examined with Vik and Alana.

“Wait, do you guys think I had something to do with that?” Indignation combined with panic poured off her, swamping his senses. He stifled an urge, which wasn’t his own, to get up and pace.

“No, Lexi, we don’t think that.” At least, not directly.

“Are you sure?”

A wall of worry, and years of hurt, rolled off her and pummeled his mind and gut. A lifetime of Lexi being questioned, doubted, rejected. Now she’d found a world where she’d be understood and accepted, only to feel questioned yet again. Gideon shifted uncomfortably as her heart rate sped up, fight or flight kicking in, and right behind it a deep sadness as she braced herself for more loss.

“Yes, I’m sure. Please believe me.” He suddenly wished he could pull back even the most tangential doubt from his mind, appalled that his most minor thoughts could somehow be a source of distress for her.

He gripped the arms of his chair, anger building with each beat of his heart. She’d experienced pain over and over, all because her world failed to understand, and therefore feared, a perfectly normal skill, one which in his world was considered a blessing. He fantasized about rounding up everyone who’d ever caused her that pain and giving them a little taste of his own abilities. Maybe toss them a few hundred feet into a brick wall.

“Uh, Gideon? What’s all that?”

Shit. He was unused to having someone in his mind. And, yeah, what the hell was all that? Breathe, you damn brute. She didn’t ask for a vigilante hero.

But her anxiety calmed, and she giggled. “Hey, I appreciate the thought, even though, yeah, I probably wouldn’t choose to have anyone thrown into a wall.”

Again, he’d forgotten she was in his mind too. Damn.

Every girl dreams of a hero, though, he heard next, though like his own previous thoughts, the words weren’t really spoken to him; they were her own private musings. They both seriously needed to learn how to safely navigate these telepathic waters.

What he accidentally heard made him smile though. The thought of being her hero made his blood pump a little faster. His cock grow a little firmer. Which brought a new concern—would she sense his physical reaction?

She gasped and giggled. Yeah. She sensed it, and though a wave of self-consciousness threatened his ego, her own body pulsed in response. He felt that too.

“I guess we have much to learn about this telepathy,” he offered, as her blush heated his thoughts. “I apologize for the unintentionally intrusive experiences I’m sharing with you. Not very… heroic… of me after all.”

He felt her eyes widen as she realized what she’d accidentally shared with him, but she didn’t flinch at the vulnerability. In fact, he sensed her smile.

He teased further. “Although I can’t say I’m not enjoying this unique conversation.”

“Are you mind-flirting with me, Mr. Ashe?”

He tipped his head back and laughed. A truly robust laugh of his own, a joy he hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever. She’d caught him; he had indeed been flirting. Which had not been his intention when he’d reached out to her. Though if he were truthful, he’d been unable to stop thinking about her late into the night and again upon rising this morning, even before their minds had begun melding. This woman kept him honest.

“Yes, I suppose I am,” he conceded. And wasn’t that just the pisser. Because every time he intended to shut down their interaction, for all his long list of very good reasons, something about her pulled him in deeper instead. Whether she was standing right in front of him or speaking to him from another goddamn dimension.

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