a Touch of TNT (An Everly Gray Adventure) (6 page)

Angling for some thinking time, I took a swallow of watered down mall soda. “There’s a definite connection both with and without words—but my touch thing is doubly hard for him because of his work.”

“I get that. Took me a while to get used to you too. To learn when to keep you at a physical distance, and when it was okay to act normal,” she explained as she grabbed the dress and headed for the register.

I picked up the shoe bag and followed. “Mitch is all logical male. He tries to understand me. I know he cares about me.”

“But the connection thing—”

“What I have with Mitch is good. Solid. And more than I’ve ever shared with a man, so I’m willing to wait it out on the hinky touch verdict. See what happens.”

She signed the receipt and slipped her Visa back in her wallet. “Okay. Knowing you have questions about the whole man-woman thing makes it easier.”

I touched her arm, glanced down at my abdomen. “There’s something else.” I slowly lifted my shirt to expose my belly. “This was a gift from Pierce.”

We stared at the diamond nestled in my navel.

It took a minute, but Annie managed replace her open mouth with words. Clipped. “Tynan Pierce? My former partner? That Pierce?”

“That’d be him.” The edge of my shirt slipped from my fingers and covered the diamond.

“Surely, you…what have you done? Pierce is…dangerous, at best. Usually lethal.” She shook her head as we started walking again. “It’s the Irish in him, and those damn blue eyes. Women drop at his feet. Not that I’ve ever known him to take up with anyone for more than a night. Pierce is elusive. It would be like falling in love with the wind. Surely you didn’t? Haven’t?”

I rescued her. “Nope. Nothing physical and nothing emotional. At least nothing that would account for a gift like this. There’s Mitch. And in my book that doesn’t leave room for anyone else. I definitely appreciate that Pierce is gorgeous. And sexy. And dangerous. But no.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I get that.”

“It’s one of the diamonds from the West case, and I’ve been wondering exactly how he got it.” My words littered the space between us, sharp with anxiety.

“No worries there. He purchased it. It wasn’t evidence, it was available on the open market. I guarantee Pierce didn’t steal it. He may play fast and loose with rules, but he would never steal evidence. Which leads us to the bigger question.” Those too-knowing green eyes of hers held me captive in their glare. “Why did he give it to you?”

“I’ve worked on that one for a while, couldn’t rest easy until I figured it out. He saw the storyboard I built for the West case, knew the picture of the belly jewel fascinated me, and knew I wanted one. But the biggest reason is that it was a tribute to my belly, to my intuitive skills that helped us end that nightmare.”

“Makes sense. And it’s exactly how he thinks. You’re sure you’re not—”

“Of course not. But we do have an…understanding.”

Her aura sparked. “An understanding? What the hell does that mean?”

Whoa. I didn’t usually see stuff like that. “You have to promise not to get mad.”

“Do I look mad?” she asked at the top of her whisper.

“Well, yeah. You’re all scrunched up, and your aura has red and orange sparks flying around.”

Her face went smooth. “No promises. Come on, give.”

“He’s teaching me how to pick locks.”

“Teaching you—I’m not even going to ask how that happened. Better if I don’t know.” She took a long swallow of soda. Another one. Backed me toward a bench until I sat, then loomed over me. “Pierce is dangerous, El. I mean really dangerous. He goes places and does things that you can’t—don’t want to imagine.”

I squirmed a bit. “Okay, Mamma Annie. Time to let it go.”

She caught my arm. “Question. What did Mitch think about your new jewel?”

“When he first noticed it he said, ‘pretty’ and then his attention moved on to other things. Not surprising considering where it’s located.”

“Good point.”

After the horrific day yesterday, an amazing night, and a long morning of shopping, every muscle in my body ached. All I wanted was a long, cold shower with an ice cream chaser. As I shuffled through the front door, I managed to bang my elbow and drop my handbag, spilling the contents all over my office floor.

Correction on the ice cream chaser: this called for an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s finest.

I stuffed everything back into my handbag, and spared a cursory glance at my calendar.

Katelan Finn.

Damn if I hadn’t forgotten my one o’clock client. I ran upstairs to my living space, my gaze zeroing in on the wall clock in the kitchen. Mixed up numbers were piled along the bottom of the clock face, and “Whatever” stared at me in condemning black letters. The designer had a sense of humor that I could appreciate. Katelan would be here in fifteen minutes. Shower? Yes. Ice cream? No.

I’d never forgotten a client before. A flicker of unease skated along the back of my neck. Was it too much for me? Helping Adam and the chief? No. Finding Jacobson was so far over the top as to be stratospherical, but the rest of it I could handle. That meant it had to be the problem with my fingers going hinky. Yeah. That one triggered gut-wrenching fear.

The long, cool shower I had planned turned into a ten second walk through a burst of icy cold, revitalizing spray. I quickly pulled on a tiered skirt in soft shades of blue, and then added a matching jacket. I hadn’t seen Katelan in over six years and wanted to look professional.

Katelan’s car turned into my driveway at the exact moment I reached the bottom of the stairs. Body language is telling, and as a personal coach I made it a point to watch my clients as they moved between their cars and my front door. Katelan looked good. Petite and slim, of Eurasian descent, almost fairy-like with midnight black hair that hung straight down her back, stopping just above the waist of her cropped jeans. Full lips accented her features, and when she saw me at the window they curved into a warm smile. This Katelan had come a long way from the unhappy woman I’d worked with six years ago.

I welcomed her with a hug, my fingertips confirming what her body language told me. She was in a good place. “It’s great to see you, Katelan.”

“You, too, and I can hardly wait to tell you what’s happened since…gosh how long has it been? I love the new office. It’s homey, welcoming compared to the space you had before.”

“Thanks. I really like living and working in the same place. Let’s see, it has to have been about six years. The last time I saw you was just before I moved here. Doesn’t seem that long, does it?”

“Not really. But then my life has been crazy busy.”

“Please sit,” I said as I settled into a chair and pointed to the end table. “There’s a cold bottle of water for you. I can’t believe it’s this hot and heavy so early in the summer.”

“I know,” she said, reaching for the bottle. “I heard it’s going to rain later tonight, break up the heat wave we’ve been having.”

I curled both legs under me and gave Katelan my full attention. “Your smile tells me how well things are going. You’ve moved through the divorce, and that’s good to see.”

Katelan nodded, grinned. “I have. My life has taken an amazing turn. I found a fantastic job as an interpreter for The Barton Group. It puts my knowledge of Chinese to good use, and keeps me busy traveling between here and Mainland China.”

“Umm. I’m not familiar with The Barton Group or what they do. Is the company based here in the Triangle?”

“Oh, no. San Francisco. Which is where I live when I’m not traveling. We negotiate contracts between Pacific Rim and European, or sometimes American companies. I’m only back here for a few months to work on a contract negotiation with a Raleigh company.”

Her fingers were busy with the cap on her water bottle, and her eyes were focused off in the distance. Her attention slowly came back to me, and she took a deep breath. “I want you to teach me how to access my intuition, to use it wisely.” The words rushed from her mouth, unsteady.

An odd shiver passed through my body.

Katelan wanted a
teacher
.

“Me?”

“Of course, you. We talked a little about your extra-sensory fingers when I was going through hell with Kevin, but I was in no condition to fully appreciate how you work.” Her voice filtered through the fog of my apprehension.

I pressed my hand tightly against my mouth. The silence hung heavy.
You have to say something, El. Words would be good here. Seriously, you need to find some words.

Katelan put the water down, uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “The time I’ve spent in Asia studying Eastern traditions has made it clear that I have strong intuitive ability.”

She stood, strolled to the window. “I don’t know if it’s been activated because of my daily Tai Chi practice, or because I’m finally at peace with myself, but I’ve been using my intuition when I work with the negotiating teams.”

“Sounds like you’re progressing well on your own—”

She whirled to face me. “Not like I could with you as my teacher. You blend your gifts with the rest of your life and I want to be able to do that. I usually sense what’s needed before it comes to the negotiation table, and I use that knowledge to augment the discussions. But when I stop and think about it, I get scared. So far everything has gone smoothly, but what if I make a mistake?”

A mistake. My biggest fear when I worked with clients.

Katelan dropped back into her chair. “El?”

Right. Me. She needed answers from me, not a discourse on the fear of screwing up.

I cleared my throat, took a swallow of water, and hoped the words I’d found were the right ones. “It can be frightening when you first start to sense things others don’t see. We all have the ability to use what I call subconscious wisdom. It’s just that some people access it and some don’t.”

My index finger strayed to the diamond nestled in my navel. “Apparently, you’re going to be one of those who listens to that wisdom.”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly so. Can you help me to be more comfortable with this, teach me what I need to know? I’m not sure why or how I think you can help, but I know you can.”

Katelan had more faith in me than I did—especially since I was still reeling from the past twenty-four hours. Coincidence that she just happened to be sitting in my office? Not a chance. And now I was about to become The Teacher. Right when I’d suddenly bumped into a lack of faith in my own subconscious wisdom.

Damn it all to perdition.

“You know, Katelan, I’ve never taught anyone before. There has to be someone better suited—”

“No, I want you.” Excitement and enthusiasm sparkled in her energy field. “We can learn together.”

I took a deep breath and let go of the pressing desire to run as far and fast as my bare feet would carry me. “All right. Let’s see what the universe has in store for us.”

Katelan dug through her tote, pulled out a pad and pen and waited, pen poised, to write down my every word.

It scared the bejeezus out of me.

“Where should I start? What’s my first assignment?”

Damn. I had a student. Right here, right now, waiting for some incredibly wise words. I paced to the window and back, frantically praying for guidance. Thought back to that long-ago seminar where I met my teacher.

Okay. I could do this. “Your first assignment is to go to the mall, sit on a bench and watch the people that walk by. Select someone who seems interesting to you, someone who doesn’t seem to fit into his or her body comfortably. Let your mind take a video of that person, focusing on how they move, then write down the characteristics that catch your attention. Watch and listen to conversations. This will teach you to read body movement and facial expression, and how to balance what your intuition senses with what your rational mind understands.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, her pen flying across the paper. “I didn’t know what to expect when I asked you to help me, but somehow I thought it would be more metaphysical. This seems so practical.”

“It is—” I nodded— “and when you use your intuition wisely, it’s always balanced with practicality. Think about being in one of those negotiations at work when things aren’t exactly clear and you get conflicting information between what your gut and mind are telling you. That’s when fear pops up and you second-guess yourself. When you don’t know what to do, whether to rely on your gut or your mind, your belly is most always right. It will put your mind at rest if you can substantiate your gut feeling with a physical sign.”

She sat quietly, brought her hand to her abdomen, then tucked the pad and pen away. “Okay. I’m armed and ready to invade the mall.”

“Another thing. If you’re in doubt, mimic the body language of the person you’re watching. Becoming them, in a sense, will help you understand the body-mind-spirit connection in that person.”

I sent Katelan on her way, my mind spinning.

My plan: revisit the demolished shopping mall, sit and observe just like Katelan was doing, only then I’d follow up by touching whatever caught my attention. And I’d keep touching stuff until I figured out what was causing the foggy image syndrome.