Part 7 (2/2)
”Help-” I started to scream, feeling I had nothing left to lose.
Before I got more than the H out of my mouth, Theo jerked me toward him, both his arms coming around me in a steely grip. His black eyes flashed with irritation, the last thing I saw for a few seconds as his mouth descended on mine in a bruising kiss that drove everything from my mind.
Chapter 7.
I would like to think that I'm a rational, relatively intelligent, down-to-earth sort of person, who doesn't get rattled when a handsome man plants his lips on hers. I'd like to think that, in that sort of a situation, I would handle myself with aplomb and dignity.
I would like to think that, but the sad reality was that the second Theo stopped trying to shut me up by swallowing my yells for help, and started really kissing me, I was a goner.
Oh, the a.n.a.lytical part of my mind had quite a pleasant time examining the mechanics of the kiss. It noted that once his lips softened against mine, my breath started coming in short little gasps that had me parting my own lips. It understood that the act of his hands, sweeping down my arms, around to my back, and finally down to my b.u.t.t, where they pulled me up against his body, were responsible for a sensation that left me feeling as if my entire body was tingling. It noticed that when his tongue touched mine, my knees seemed to be unable to support my weight, and deep within me, sensitive areas started to throb with an almost primal need. It made no judgment when I started kissing him back, sliding my fingers through his hair as I twined my tongue around his. It didn't even care when people walking by us giggled at the sight we made, kissing like crazy on the sidewalk.
But when Theo managed to retrieve his tongue and lips from where I was nipping at them, the a.n.a.lytical part of my mind pointed out that I had just been necking with a man who only the day before had kidnapped and a.s.saulted me.
Oddly enough, that seemed to fade into unimportance in the face of what must surely be the world's best kisser.
”Sweet mother earth,” I swore when he stepped back, releasing me.
”Salus invenitur,”he said at the same time, his black eyes mirroring my surprise.
”What was that?” I asked, ignoring the giggles of three teenaged girls as they skirted us.
”A kiss. I think.” Theo looked just as disconcerted by the experience as I felt. His expression changed to one of annoyance, though.
He looked upward for a moment, then frowned at me. ”Stop that.”
”I would like to point out that you are the one who kissed me, not vice versa.”
He raised one ebony eyebrow. ”Really? So that wasn't you trying to suck my tongue out of my head?”
”I kissed you back. I did not initiate the kiss. If your tongue gets sucked out of your head, it's no fault of mine,” I said righteously, straightening my shoulders and ordering my knees to stop melting at the memory of the kiss.
Theo walked next to me as I continued up the hill toward the pub, taking my hand again in what was no doubt a precautionary move to keep me from bolting. The fact that escaping him had slid down my top ten lists of things to accomplish in the next half hour was neither here nor there. ”I would like to think the responsibility and praise for a kiss lies with both partic.i.p.ants, not just one. Will you please stop that? It is getting annoying.”
”Stop what?”
He pointed overhead. ”Stop raining on me.”
Good gravy, the cloud hallucination was back, and it was following me!
I'm not ashamed to say that, for a moment, a wild irrational fear gripped me. ”I'm not doing that!” I wailed, then shook my hand free of Theo's and raced up the hill to the safety of the pub.
”Portia-”
The d.a.m.ned cloud followed me the whole way, raining harder and harder with each step, so that when I arrived at the pub, my breath coming in big rasping gasps as I clutched the st.i.tch in my side, I was soaked to the skin.
”Portia, stop!” Theo had been right beside me as I bolted, a look of concern on his face. ”You can't outrun it. You have to make it stop.”
I spun around, water flying from my sodden hair. ”I cannot control the weather!” I yelled.
”Yes, you can.” We stood outside the pub in the parking lot, which was thankfully unoccupied at that moment. Theo grasped my forearms and looked me deep in the eyes. ”You have the Gift. You do not wish to acknowledge it, but you must in order to control it.”
”It's impossible for a person-”
”Don't you have any faith in yourself?” he asked, shaking me slightly. ”Of course I have faith in myself!” My teeth started chattering with cold.
”Then prove it! Prove that no matter what situation you are in, you believe in yourself.”
”This is asinine. I can't control the weather!” Overhead, my cloud rumbled ominously, the hairs on my arms standing on end with the feeling of static electricity.
”Yes, you can,” Theo yelled over the noise. ”You can make it stop, Portia! The power is yours. Will it to go away!”
Rain pelted down on us with such force that it stung my bare skin. I looked around frantically, but there was nowhere to hide from it except the pub itself. ”I'll go inside-”
”No! You must learn to deal with this!” Theo said, pulling me back. His fingers tightened on my arms as, around us, three streaks of lightning exploded so close that my skin buzzed with the power. ”Make it stop!”
”I can't!”
”You have to believe, Portia. You have to have faith!” he yelled in my face, his voice barely audible over the roar of thunder immediately overhead. My skin tingled, heralding another round of lightning.
”I lost that years ago,” I screamed, giving in to the horror and frustration that were roiling inside me. I threw myself into his arms, clinging to his rain-slicked body and wis.h.i.+ng I could hide from it all.
”Believe!” he bellowed as lightning danced around us in a circle of blue light. ”I know you can do this!”
His heartbeat was as wild as mine, and I knew instinctively that, about this, he was telling the truth. He believed I could stop this freak storm. For a moment, for the time between seconds, I considered the possibility that he was right. What if I could control the weather?
The storm overhead dissipated into nothing.
Theo peeled me off his chest, his black eyes unreadable. ”That was very well done,” he said slowly. ”We'll make a virtue of you yet.”
Water dripped down my face, down my soggy clothing, to fall with soft little patting noises at my feet. ”I didn't just...no. It's impossible. It can't possibly happen.”
He laughed and turned me toward the door of the pub. ”Let's have that drink and we can talk about it, all right?”
My legs were shaking so hard Theo thought it wise to help me up the stairs to my room first. ”Change into something dry. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.”
”You're just as soaked as I am. You'll catch pneumonia or something if you sit around in wet clothes.” I wondered why I cared whether or not the man who had tried to kidnap me got sick, but I did, and since I didn't seem to be able to change that, I decided it wasn't worth angsting over. There would be time enough later, when I had life in control again, to worry over the fact that I found my kidnapper incredibly attractive.
”My things are in my car. I'll bring them up here and change.” He bent forward, his lips brus.h.i.+ng mine for a moment in a caress that promised so much. I clutched the door frame to keep upright. ”I'll see you downstairs in a few minutes.”
I peeled off my wet clothing, towel dried my hair, which was hanging to my shoulders in limp strings, and hesitated at the wardrobe over what to put on to meet Theo. It was inconceivable that I should be dithering over what to wear to meet a man I had tried to have arrested practically since the moment I'd met him, but dither I did. I selected and discarded a few pairs of pants, finally settling on a long crushed-velvet dress that I'd bought for visits to the theater and any publis.h.i.+ng parties Sarah would drag me to. I twisted my hair up into an untidy French twist, wis.h.i.+ng that it was a more attractive color than walnut. My hazel eyes peered back at me in the mirror with acknowledgment that they would never inspire anyone to write sonnets.
”You've never found yourself lacking in the looks department until now,” I told my reflection with a grimace. ”So let's just not go overboard, shall we?”
I tried, I really tried not to care what Theo thought about me, but in the end I broke down and dug out my bag of cosmetics, quickly applying mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick before telling myself I was completely insane.
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