Page 8 of Joshua's Mistake
Chapter 2
Tessa watchedout the window as they drove through the pinelands, into a suburban area and then into rolling countryside. “I didn’t realize New Jersey was so pretty.”
“Yeah, most people only see the airport or the turnpike. There’s a lot of good country in the Garden State.”
“It reminds me of where I grew up.”
“The Midwest somewhere?” he asked.
“Ohio.”
“Big city or a small town?”
“Small town.” She had no idea why she was answering so many questions. He asked and she answered without even thinking of the consequences. She must have lost her mind. Why did she trust him? This was one of the most dangerous men in the world. He was even more unsafe than she had first imagined and she was feeding him ammunition to use against her. Yet she had a sense he wouldn’t.
He ran his knuckles down the side of her cheek. It was an intimate touch. “What are you thinking?”
“Don’t you know?”
He pulled his hand away and she watched his frown deepen. “Just because I could pry into your thoughts doesn’t mean I would without permission.”
“Sorry. I was thinking I shouldn’t trust you.”
“Yet I’m all you’ve got.”
“True.” She wished she could dispute him, but at the moment, she had no one she could trust. Joshua might not be the best choice, but he was all she had. She remembered the way he had protected her while he’d been probing her. He could have hurt her. The fact was, he could have killed her, but he’d taken special care to keep her safe and sane while gathering the information he’d been ordered to obtain.
The memory of his gentle mind slipping through hers should have terrified her, but she found it arousing. In fact, it had turned her on at the time too. She wanted to deny it, pretend she’d hated having someone invade her consciousness, but it hadn’t been an invasion. It had been an experience and one she would never forget. He’d caressed her from the inside out and made her consider things she’d always avoided.
Most telepathically talented people opened their minds during sex. It allowed them to experience the pleasure from both their own and their partner’s point of view. Tessa had always shied away from that type of intimacy. It was too raw, too personal. Yet she yearned for exactly that type of familiarity with a man she’d only met a couple of hours ago.
If he sensed what she was thinking about, he was gentleman enough to keep it to himself. She blushed and focused her attention back to the scenery as they turned off the road into a long, treed driveway.
At the end of the driveway she saw an old, white farmhouse. She could just make out two people standing on the porch. As they drove closer she noted the couple was older and the man had a shotgun in his hand. “Where are we?”
“Somerset, New Jersey.”
“That’s not exactly the answer I was looking for.”
He smiled and pulled the car to a stop several feet away from the house. Joshua opened his door and stepped out. Tessa watched from inside the car as the older couple beamed at the sight of him. Then she got out of the car.
He was hugging the old woman. She never would have believed a man like Joshua Lakeland would have a soft spot for an old couple, but the way he looked at these two changed her mind.
Tessa approached the porch.
The woman said, “Who’s your friend, Joshua?”
He turned halfway toward Tessa while still keeping his attention focused on the couple. “Bill and Peggy Flack, this is Tessa Clark. We work for the same organization.”
Bill shook her hand, frowning. “And you’re both in trouble, if my instincts are right?”
Peggy was lean and muscular while Bill was stocky and several inches shorter than his wife. They both looked to be past seventy yet there was a kind of strength about the pair. Tessa liked them on sight.
“Sharp as ever, Bill. Are you sure you’re not a psi in your own right?”
“Just good instincts.” Bill was still holding the shotgun though he had it pointing toward the ground.
Peggy said, “You’d better come inside and tell us what this is all about. I’ll put some coffee on.”
