by Marie Harte
As she began to cleanse her breasts she stopped in mid-motion and looked in his direction. She knew he was here, she had said she could feel him.
“Alex?” she called nervously covering her chest.
He knew she could see him, what was the point of hiding. “Yes.”
“Why are you in here?”
He smiled when he heard the shyness of her words. “There’s a sexy, naked woman in here. Where else would I be?” he said lightly, even though his throbbing body wasn’t taking anything he said lightly.
“Alex,” she breathed.
“Relax,” he soothed. “I’m leaving.” He turned for the door but stopped, looking back over his shoulder and mumbled, “Damn sexy.” Then left the room.
* * * *
To keep his mind off Eve, her lush body and his now hard cock, he walked around the house, checking the perimeter. It was an old habit and he had done it every night since he arrived, and continued to do it despite the fact that Eve had a top of the line security system, which she set faithfully every night.
When he reached the second floor, he checked the spare rooms, then quietly entered Noelle’s room. He expected to find her asleep but was amused to see the bright beam of a flashlight under her covers and the rustle of pages.
“Good book?” he whispered so as not to startle her.
The light turned off and Noelle popped out from under her flowered sheets. Her eyes widened when she saw him.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he whispered again.
She blinked up at him and opened her mouth but nothing came out.
Alex thought that she had got over the other night, maybe he was wrong. “Do I scare you?”
She shrugged. “A little at first, when you were in the kitchen and when you came into my room a couple nights ago, but not so much now.”
“Good.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Am I the first median you have seen?”
She pressed her lips together. He studied her, tilting his head. He guessed, “Are you worried I’ll tell Eve?”
She nodded silently.
“Well you don’t have to worry about that. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
“You’re the first one I’ve seen.” She looked thoughtfully at him. “At least I think you are. Gran said it will be hard to tell at first.”
“Your Gran, she knows you can see medians?”
“Yah.” She nodded eagerly. “But mum doesn’t want me to. Gran says it scares her.”
“It scares her that you might be able to see medians?”
She nodded her answer again, then added, “But also because Gran says that medians have hurt mum before, because she said no to them. I think she’s scared of them.”
Alex kept his reaction to himself. That was a huge piece to the puzzle and he was one step closer to understanding why Eve was fighting him. He would, of course, keep at her until she merged him. He just had a better understanding now as to her behaviour towards him.
The topic was a bit heavy for a kid so he changed it. “So, what are you reading?” She turned the book so he could see the front cover. “Not Another Flying Turtle.” He couldn’t help but smile at the title.
“It’s about a little girl who has magical powers and how she gets into trouble every time she uses them. It’s really funny.”
“Sounds like a page turner.” He stood smiling and turned to leave.
“Are you going to tell mum I was reading?”
“No. Are you going to tell Eve that I was in here asking you questions?”
She shook her head. “No. Then I would get into trouble too.”
“All right then. We keep this to ourselves, deal?”
“Deal.” She gave him a wide smile, showing him that she was missing a bottom tooth.
He smiled back. Damn this kid was cute. “Pull up your other blanket. It will help hide the light while you read,” he said, before leaving the room.
Chapter Nine
Lying in her bed, Eve stared up at the ceiling. She was still thinking about what Alex had said. Damn sexy. He thinks I’m sexy?
Her first thought was that he was trying to use compliments to win her over like before. But he had mumbled the words subtly to himself, as though she wasn’t meant to hear them. Could she be wrong about before, when he had told her he wanted to come back when he had a body, and spend the night with her? He had been so detailed in his description and then said she was damn sexy. She smiled despite herself. She was flattered. Who doesn’t want to hear that? But it was kind of creepy too because she couldn’t forget the fact that there was a good possibility that he might be dead.
Better yet, why was a ‘possibly dead man’ having sexual feelings anyway? The dead that refused to leave were either lost or confused, or they wanted to be alive again. Gran had never mentioned anything about dead souls hitting on her. As for medians, her experience was limited to the few souls she had merged and none of them had displayed any sexual characteristics. Then again, none of them had Alex’s unusual strength either.
Still, what if Alex wasn’t a dead soul? What if he was just a very strong median, who could still feel the same emotions and needs as the soul in a living body? Was that possible?
She pressed her hand to her forehead. She wished she could ask Gran. It had been days since she had visited her. But Eve had been putting off seeing her because Alex might realise something was up and begin pestering Gran instead and she didn’t want that. Gran had helped enough people in her very long life and it was time she got some rest. Even if she did complain about being bored half the time.
“Something bothering you?” Alex asked. He was sitting on the floor in the same spot next to her bed, resting his large frame against her bedside table.
Eve turned onto her side to face him. Thanks to the streetlight she was able to see him lean his head back and look up at the ceiling. She studied his profile. Sharp chin, straight nose, his eyebrows were black slashes over his intense eyes, and the scar he had running through his left brow just made him all that more appealing. The muscles in his arms and chest were well defined, she knew this, thanks to the dark grey shirt he wore, and she guessed his legs were just as athletic. Alex was a very attractive man, there was no denying that.
Impulsively, Eve reached out to touch him. She was actually expecting to touch the solid mass of muscle that was his shoulder, but she was disappointed when her hand floated through instead. Alex turned his piercing eyes on her.
“I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand back. “I just wanted to see something.”
“No you wanted to feel something.”
“Yes.” She focused on his shoulder.
“What were you expecting?”
She met his blue stare. “I’m not sure. Nothing I guess.”
“Try again.”
Eve pressed her lips together and slowly stretched out her arm, her hand coming to stop just under his chin. “Do it,” he ordered gently.
She ran her fingers along the faint outline of his chin and up the side of his cheek grazing it with the back of her fingers. “It’s warm.” A slow smile curled her lips as she pulled her hand back.
Alex scowled at her.
“I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be.” He cut her off, shaking his head. “Do it again.”
Eve sat up when she saw the scowl on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“There was something—” he sounded confused, “—Do it again.” He paused looking at her hand. “Please.”
Seeing the look of confusion on a man who usually radiated confidence was a little troubling. “Okay.”
Reaching out to him once again, he stopped her. “No. Come sit here in front of me.”
Eve blinked. It was close and very intimate but she accepted and slipped out of bed, settling herself between his outstretched legs.
Leaning towards her, Alex rested his hands palms up on his thighs, ready for her. “Go ahead.”
Taking a slow breath, Eve ran her fingers down
the length of his forearm. She could feel his warmth as she touched him. It was the same as a living, breathing person. “My God,” she breathed out.
“I can feel you touch me.” Alex raised his head, a half smile on his face.
Her eyes met his. “You do?”
He nodded. “Again.”
This time, she started at his shoulders and ran her hands down the entire length of his arms to his hands, where she made an attempt to clasp them in her own. The same sensation occurred, but now she could still feel his warmth seeping into her as she rested her hand in his. Smiling, he shook his head. “How are you doing this?”
“I don’t know? How can you feel me?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know?”
Staring down at their hands she asked. “What do you feel?”
“It’s like when your foot falls asleep and you get that ‘pins and needles’ sensation, mixed with a warm tingling.”
Eve met Alex’s stare. “You’re really not dead.”
He studied her intently. “Is that why you won’t help me, because you think I’m dead?”
Embarrassed, she turned away. “I thought you might be and that you were having trouble…moving on.”
“Moving on?” he repeated. She heard him exhale in a huff but didn’t want to face him yet. “Eve?” He used her name to get her attention but she didn’t budge. “Evening.” This time her name was said with more force.
Her cheeks were warm when she faced him. She expected him to be annoyed but he only showed concern. “Do you see the dead too?”
“No. Never, just medians. My mother did, I thought maybe it had started for me too. It was the only explanation I could come up with as to why you were still hanging around me.” Her throat felt like it was beginning to close up with the thought of it, but she asked him anyway. “Have you seen…them…out there?”
Alex was going to ask if she wanted the truth, then saw the fear in her eyes and lied. “No, I haven’t.”
The truth was he had seen many dead people walking around the hospital, mixing in with crowds sitting on benches in the waiting rooms, following around nurses and patients. The difference he noticed between the dead and the living was purpose. The living had a purpose, work needed to be done, people needed to be taken care of, the living had things to do, places to go. The dead didn’t do anything but follow the living. None of them had any direction, all of them were lost. All of them were unnoticed.
After a long silence, while she rested her hands in the ghostly shadow of his, she finally asked, “What hospital are you in?”
Surprised, he studied her carefully. “Memorial. Seventh floor, east wing.”
“That floor is for military personnel.”
“You know it?”
She nodded. “I have a few patients there. I’ll switch appointments and go there instead.”
As she began to move, Alex tried to keep her hand from slipping away but it was pointless. He came to his feet, as she slipped back under the covers.
Standing next to the bed, Alex gazed down. Eve’s arm rested above her head again, an auburn curl wrapped around her finger. She appeared calm, but he knew she wasn’t. The thought of merging him terrified her and he had no idea why. And that really worried him.
He shouldn’t care why he was bothered by her fear. All that mattered was that Eve merged him. He could then get his hands on Miles and finish what he had started, then Jillian and her baby would be safe. He had wasted so much time here with Eve and Noelle. He was frowning before he finished the thought. No, they were not a waste of time and though he wished Eve had agreed sooner, he didn’t regret coming to her.
“Alex,” she exhaled. “There’s one thing you must understand first.”
“What’s that?” He watched as she focused on him. Once again his body reacted to her, except this time it was strong enough to cause the muscles in his groin to harden without the added torment of erotic visions.
“If your body has too much damage to it, I won’t merge you.”
Crossing his arms he demanded quietly. “Why not?”
She looked directly at him. “If you don’t have enough strength to fix your body, you’ll be trapped.”
“Trapped?” he asked carefully. “In my own body?”
She nodded.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Getting back in is the main objective.”
“The soul heals the body on re-entry,” she began with a sigh. “But that can only happen if the soul has the strength to repair it, because once you’re back in, you’re back in. If you, the soul, don’t have the strength needed, then you’re trapped until your body heals itself, however long that might take, or your body dies, in which case you too will die.”
He huffed, not bothering to hide his frustration. “You couldn’t have told me this sooner?”
“I only just figured out you are really a median and not a dead soul.” She pushed up onto her elbows, the dim light helping to shape her breasts as they pulled her T-shirt tight.
He squeezed his teeth together, focused hard on her face.
“You deserve to know all the risks, and what I won’t do.”
Arms still crossed, he braced his legs apart. “You’ve seen this happen. A soul trapped in a wounded body?”
“No.” She shook her head, the movement causing a few unruly curls to frame her face. “I haven’t experienced it but Mum has and so has Gran. They both drilled it into me not to trap a soul and, with my nurse’s training I have been able to prevent it from happening. Then again, the ones I merged weren’t new cases. Their bodies had had time to heal before I merged them.”
He digested the new Intel and asked. “So it would be like being in a prison cell?”
Another curl fell when she nodded, this time resting on the side of her face. He squeezed his hand into a fist before he gave into the urge to brush it away.
“Probably worse, depending on your wounds. You might be able to hear and feel everything but not speak or move. I could never do that to you. So I will make my decision when I see your body.” She tried to make the last sentence a command but her efforts were wasted on him. How could someone with a mess of auburn curls hanging in her face be considered authoritative? He smiled.
“I’m very serious Alex. It would hurt me to know I caused you pain. I won’t allow it to happen.” She revealed, straight-faced.
He lost the smile when he heard the admission. It was an odd feeling to have a person care for him after so long. She wasn’t bullshitting him, it would really do her some damage. He saw the truth on her face, but there was something else behind her confession. “I know you’re serious. But I can’t help feeling that there is another reason why you’re fighting this merge.”
Her hazel eyes grew wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Resting back down on her pillow she closed her eyes, ending the discussion.
He put extra effort into his long drawn out sigh and chuckled when she huffed. “I’ll find out what it is sooner or later, it would make things simpler if we dealt with it now.”
Her response was to fling her arm above her head, her fingers tangling in her hair. He would let it go for tonight. He didn't want to argue over something that made her uncomfortable when she just agreed to go to Memorial. He would have to figure out the rest once they were there.
He watched her breasts rise and fall. Eve had just admitted that she didn’t want to hurt him. That was pretty good considering she had told him to ‘get out’ less than a week ago. Hell, at this rate he might even get her to admit that she’s attracted to him in another week. Not that it mattered. She would merge him and he would be out of her life very soon, he doubted he would be around in a week’s time. The contented feeling he had vanished and was replaced with annoyance.
At that very moment, Eve sighed and pursed her lips. He closed the distance to the bed, silently swearing. It would be for the best if things turned out that way. She was not his type at all, and she had a k
id. But, damn it, she tempted him like no other woman had and he had no idea why.
He bent down closer to her, trying to understand what he found attractive about her. The skin on her face was smooth, with small pin point freckles on her nose. Her thin brows were a darker shade than her hair and her lashes, though they didn’t appear to be long on first inspection, were actually very long and deceptive, because the tips were lighter in colour. And then there were her lips. Light pink and smooth. He guessed they would taste even better than they looked.
She sighed then. The innocent sound had an embracing lilt that urged him closer to her lovely face.
She was lovely. And incredibly sexy. On the other hand she was also lippy and stubborn, yet her compassion and firm protective streak balanced her out nicely. Maybe that’s what pulled him to her. Or maybe it was the fact she was finally going to merge him.
Whatever the reason, she deserved his appreciation.
“Thank you, Evening,” he whispered. Then, as if instinct took over, Alex brushed his mouth against her tempting lips. The tingle on his lips lasted long enough for him to reclaim his spot next to her bed.
Chapter Ten
“Well if I didn’t know better, I’d say Evening has come early today.”
“What are yah on about Dawn? It’s one in the afternoon.” Mrs Winkle, a short woman with an odd yellow wig said, moving to the window. “Is your glaucoma bothering you again?”
“I don’t have glaucoma, you daft old bird.”
“Oh! That must be mine then.”
Eve chuckled as she hugged her grandmother. “Hi Gran.” She kissed the older woman’s cheek. “You look wonderful.”
“Hello my doll—” Was all Gran managed.
“Why thank you Eve, that’s very nice of you to say.” Mrs Winkle beamed while adjusting her wig.
Eve gave the older woman a smile. “You’re welcome Mrs Winkle.”
Gran’s snort caught her attention and she did laugh when she saw the disgruntled look on her face. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”