Insight (11 page)

“How do you remember them so clearly?”
he thought softly.

“It’s easy to recall them,”
I thought, feeling a little embarrassed.

I reached my finger to the pad and traced the outline of the blue and green flowers, each with different petals.

“I think they represent you and me,”
I thought, as the emerald of my eyes met the blue of his.

A slow sweet smile emerged as he eased his fingers through mine, gently squeezing my hand as if to tell me he agreed, that subtle move managed to rock my body, my pulse quickened, heat flushed in my chest.

“Where were we? Whose house was that?”
I thought.

“Ours,” he said softly.

A breathless smile escaped my lips. He leaned closer to kiss me, his lips feathered across mine ever so briefly, before his arm reached around me to pull me against him, when he drew me forward I felt him tense at the pain coming from his shoulder.

“Can I see?”
I asked.

“Really, it’s nothing,”
he thought, trying to smile.

I knew it was something. I could see the pain in his eyes.
“I need to put the medicine on it anyway.”

Landen gave me a wary look then began to unbutton his black shirt. I swallowed nervously, and my breath seized ever so slightly. His body was flawless—his skin was tan and lush, his muscles were defined, he was built like a warrior, or an archangel. Pristine, too perfect to touch, yet it took all I had to hold myself back.

Underneath the black shirt was a white tank top. He pulled it over his head. At first I didn’t see the damage, my eyes raked over every chiseled lean muscle in his chest. My soul was pulsing with anticipation. I had no idea how I was managing to look so calm. In my mind I was envisioning my hands rushing across his skin, tasting his kiss, feeling the power of his embrace. The thought alone left me breathless and flushed.

I gasped at the sight of his shoulder.

“I told you it’s nothing,”
he thought, trying to downplay it.

He was wrong. The burn started at the top of his shoulder and curved around his shoulder blade.
“How did you do this?”
I reached for the medicine my father had given me and gently rubbed the cool cream across his blazing skin.

“It’s just the storm. I wasn’t paying attention. I was being careless.”
His breath whooshed out in relief as I gently rubbed the cool cream over the wound, then he lay on his side, allowing the medicine to dry. His eyes drifted up to mine seeming to carry the same hungry desire that my soul was filling with.

The air around us was so warm, so numbingly calm, that I felt like I was locked in my own world with him. A place I never wanted to leave.

“What did they want with you outside?”
I asked trying to get my thoughts to move in a more innocent direction.

Landen smiled up at me through his thick eyelashes, which outlined the pools of blue, my window to his soul.
“Your father told me that he’d never shown you how to travel, that you didn’t travel the way the rest of us do,”
he thought with a mischievous grin on his face.

I loved it when he smiled and his dimples came to life. Apparently so did my heart. I could swear it was never going to beat at a normal rate again.

He reached for my hand and let his fingertips glide across my skin. That simple sensation was mind-boggling.

“How do I do it differently?”
I asked, shaking my head and bringing myself back to reality. Innocent thoughts. I needed to hold on to innocent thoughts right now.

“Well, the rest of us travel through the strings, like the one you saw me come from. Your dad said that you use people, that you see them through emotions
.” He tilted his head, finding it somewhat amusing.

I made a face. It bothered me, being different. I’d always been different, but I thought that after all this, I’d find my normal.

“How weird am I?”
I asked, holding my eyes low.

I felt a fluttering kiss on my hand, then he leaned up and traced the side of my face, ever so sensually.

“It’s not weird.”
He pulled my chin up, still smiling, so I’d have to look him in the eye.
“It has to do with your insight. The insight of emotion is not a common one. In fact, it’s unique that you, your father, and sister all have a gift.”

“But, they’re all different.”

“You still all have one,”
he pointed out raising his brow to stress that point. His hand had drifted down, now his fingertips were casually moving across my neck. It took all I had to hold in a sigh.

“Do you have one?”
I asked.

“I do,”
he thought as he leaned in and brushed a kiss across my neck, before reaching down to the quilt at the end of the bed, pulling it over him, and settling in to sleep.

“Aren’t you going to tell me?”
I protested.

He let out a quiet, mischievous laugh. Clearly he was enjoying keeping me in suspense. He reached for me. I crawled into his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

We had held each other like this for years, he knew how to make me feel safe. This time though, he reached for my chin and guided my lips to his. His kiss went deep fast, as his hands slid down my back. I moved forward without a thought, framing his face with my hands. I was lost in the sensation, drowning in anticipation, thinking of all the things we could get away with in this private room. Then I stopped short. I had no idea what his insight was. For all I knew I was being all too revealing at that moment.

“What is it?”
I thought as loud as I could.

He reluctantly stopped kissing me, doing his best to suppress a sensual laugh, and stared into my eyes as his fingertip traced my bottom lip, then gently eased down my neck and settled just beside my collarbone.

Innocent thoughts, Willow. Get it together.
Right
now.

“Well, it’s not as interesting as all of yours.”
His tone was deep, and entrancing. When he spoke aloud I felt the words caress my skin, when he spoke in his thoughts I felt them hum within my soul. It caused every part of me to fill with fire. This was going to be the longest night of my life. I was sure of it.

“I can determine truth or intent, but it’s flawed. People can change their intent in an instant.”
The sinful smirk on the corner of his lips stopped my breath.

What was he saying? He could feel my intent? This internal war I had going on right now.

“How does it work?”
I asked as I told myself to stop blushing.

Landen lay back down, still staring at me.
“I feel it. I can feel if they believe what they’re saying. The intent is harder to explain. I don’t see it or hear it, but I know what they intend to do.”

I turned crimson. He
did
feel my internal war, but he was being a gentleman. They didn’t make guys like this where I came from. At least I’d never gotten close enough to one to know whether they did.
“Do they think it came from your dad? Does he have insight?”

“No. That’s why your family is rare. There is usually one gift every other generation.”

I suddenly realized that I didn’t know anything about his mother or whether or not he had any brothers or sisters.
“Where is the rest of your family? Are they in Chara?”
I asked, watching him grin as he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear so he could see my face more clearly.

“My mother, Aubrey, and my sister, Clarissa, took a cab from an airport in New York to a hotel and have been shopping, using your mother’s credit cards. My brother, Brady, is in Washington, using your father’s credit cards.”

“Why?”

“They’re just trying to leave a paper trail for your world. Because you lived there so long they needed to fade you away.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about fading away from all the people I loved here.

“It was just a precaution,”
Landen thought, seeing the effect that his words had on me.

I nodded understanding.
“What did you talk to your father about?”
I asked needing to change the subject.

“It wasn’t really a talk. I asked if he knew you were the one I dreamed of when he asked me to come here.”

“What did he say?”

“He was silent.”
Landen paused then glanced up at me.
“He understands my insight. He knows if he doesn’t answer, I won’t be able to tell if he’s telling the truth.”

“What is his intent?”

“All I can see is that he wants us safe at home,”
Landen thought.

“None of this makes any sense to me.”

Landen pulled himself up on one arm and gazed over me, taking in every part of me. His hand fluttered over my body, barely touching, yet it felt like he was consuming me.
“Everything has its reason. It may not be clear to us tonight, but one day it will be. You and I have proved beyond any doubt that our beliefs are not false. We are meant to be with someone, the one. I found you. No one can keep us apart now. Our love will now be the story told to define how sacred love is.”

Nervously I leaned up and framed his lips with mine. “
I do love you,”
I thought softly, knowing that before he very well could have not heard my words.

Those words seemed to ignite the raw cravings that were seeping from each of our bodies. He leaned into our kiss, let his tongue wisp across mine, I groaned with pure pleasure, his strong hand eased down the side of my body
. “And I do love you.”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and bowed my back trying to get closer to him. His lips escaped mine, trailed down my jaw, gently nipping the skin there before finding my neck. That sensation, the feel if his lips right
there
, the embrace of his hands as they innocently explored was enough to make me gasp. I started to tremble again with pure desire, those angelic lips eased back to mine, slowly ending the onset of deep passion.

His eyes fell into mine as he gently squeezed my sides.
“We’ve waited so long, I don’t want to rush this. I don’t want you to tremble in my arms.”

“I’m not trembling out of fear,”
I thought with a blush.

His hand moved down my waist, eventually finding my thigh, he squeezed that flesh and moved his hand slowly forward, I close my eyes as I sighed.

I felt his lips on my neck once more, but the kiss was all too brief.

“I know.”

A sinful smile echoed on my lips. I was going to have to be careful about setting intent around him.

“I just want it to be right, our house. I want to take my time with you. Love you the way I have dreamed of every day of my life.”

I cradled his face with my hands. A boyish smile came to his lips.
“This cabin is too crowded.”

I giggled at that.
“Then you are going to have to talk to me. Distract me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Tell me about your family. Are you sure your f
a
mily is okay with running around this dimension for us?”

He wrapped the quilt around us and pulled me against him, we fit so perfectly this way, it was a well-practiced embrace, only now the heat of his body was present.

“My sister loves Infante, especially New York. She’s always thought that she’d find the one she’s looking for there. She told me she was ready to look the day my father came home, asking us to come here.”

“Infante…is that what this dimension is called?”

Landen nodded
“It means ‘young.’”

“How is it young?”

He smirked.
“Travelers consider it young because the cultures are still divided and war still occurs here.”

“What does Chara mean?”

Landen smiled, and I felt a love come through him
“‘Joy,’ ‘happiness.’”

I couldn’t help it, my hand started to move across his chest. I was captivated by the beat of his heart.
“So, Chara has no war or different cultures?”

His fingertips traced my eyes tenderly.
“There has never been a war in Chara, and because everyone leaves to find someone, our culture is blended. Everyone has characteristics from several dimensions.”

I smiled, thinking of how beautiful the people in Chara must be.
“Has your brother, Brady, found his soul mate?”

A proud grin consumed his image.
“Her name is Felicity. She’s at home. Their first child will be here soon. Trust me, she’s going to be thrilled to meet you.”

Just the thought of meeting new people put me on edge, but it was hard to worry about that in this moment.
“How old are they, Brady, and your sister Clarissa?”

“Clarissa is twenty and Brady is twenty-five. That’s why my father didn’t believe me when I told him about you. Apparently, you don’t get the urge to search until you’re in your early twenties. He thought I was too young.”