Steam (8 page)

“I asked if you would mind walking with me to the dining room. I swear, I need a GPS to find my way around this place.”

“Sure. I was heading down to breakfast myself. And don’t worry, you’ll figure out your way around the castle soon enough.”

Together they walked down the hall in companionable silence. She seemed happy to be there, which he found slightly odd. He would have thought having been forced to leave her home, especially given that she had pretty much been kidnapped, would have been traumatic. He’d expected her to rage against her situation, or at least be a little resentful. “How come you’re not pissed about being here?” he blurted.

Sunny shrugged. “I can’t really explain it. I’ve never really fit in before. I’ve always kind of felt restless, you know? I’ve always had these visions of fire I couldn’t explain. I actually spent time in a psychiatric hospital when they couldn’t figure out if I was a danger.”

She fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a few seconds before looking up at him with a sheepish smile. “There’s something about being here that makes me feel at peace. And something about the people here, especially Matthew, that soothes me.”

Jealousy hit Sloan so hard, he nearly stumbled. She found Matthew soothing? What was it about the little pup she found so comforting?

Just as quickly, he pushed the thought aside. What did it matter to him if she found Matthew comforting? He had Dara’s memory to keep him company. Except, it had been getting harder and harder to remember how she had felt in his arms. He had to look at her photograph now if he wanted to remember her smile.

He’d promised at their wedding to never love anyone else and it was an insult to her memory if he lusted after another woman.

Except he knew Dara wouldn’t have wanted him to live out the rest of his very long life alone.

“Which way do we go from here?” Sunny asked suddenly.

He was really out of it this morning. They’d made it to the bottom of the stairs but he’d apparently stopped walking. “This way,” he said, pointing to the left. The tone of his voice came out a little sharper than he’d intended, and she shot him a weird look.

He wasn’t exactly sure how to apologize for his abrupt change of attitude, or if he even wanted to. All he knew was there were two empty chairs at the dining table and she headed straight for the one next to Matthew.

Which only left one chair vacant. And it happened to be right next to Sunny.

He sighed and headed for the table, knowing if he attempted to skip breakfast again, Raven would probably tie him to the chair and force-feed him.

Matthew looked over at him when Sloan collapsed in his chair. “Having a rough morning?” he asked.

He resisted the urge to drop his face to his hands and grabbed a platter of bacon instead. How could he explain why his mood had gone from fantastic to shit in the matter of a few seconds?

“Apparently, it’s a lack of coffee,” Sunny said with a grin.

Why wasn’t she upset with him? Hell, she didn’t even look perturbed.

Nonplussed, he reached toward the middle of the table for the pitcher of orange juice. Sunny, who had reached out at the same time, closed her hand on the handle of the pitcher at the exact second his did.

The contact between them was electric. Literally. He vaguely remembered touching the end of a battery to his tongue once on a dare and the buzz and hum that had traveled through him. It felt like a line of cartoon sparks running up his arm. His dick stiffened in his pants and, amazingly, he realized he was only seconds away from coming.

Almost instantly, the sensation changed. It was as if his magic had become magnetized, and it immediately reached for Sunny’s magic.

He yanked his hand back, knocking the jug over and causing the bright orange juice to spread across the pristine white tablecloth.

“What’s the matter?” Raven asked sharply.

Sloan was about to say something sarcastic, or at least nasty, but one look at Sunny’s face told him she’d been as affected by their accidental touch. There was no way he could play this off as his usual morning attitude. “Our magics reacted when our hands brushed against each other’s,” he said gruffly.

Raven nodded even as Sunny started rubbing her hand. “It’s okay,” the leader said to Sunny. “I’ve been told handler magic responds fairly strongly when it comes into contact with another handler’s.”

Sloan would have left it there but Sunny was already shaking her head. “I didn’t feel like this when I touched Anna for the first time.”

Raven raised his eyebrow and looked at them both. “Was it the same with you, Sloan?”

There was no point in lying. Everyone had seen his reaction. “Yes. It was a fair bit stronger than anything I’ve experienced with any other handler.”

This time, Leith spoke to him. “Explain.”

Sloan rolled his eyes at Leith’s terse command but answered nonetheless. “My magic reached for hers with an intensity I’ve never felt before.”

“Interesting,” Leith said, tapping his finger against his lips. “I’ve never heard of that before. Normally, handler magic either repels another handler’s power or feeds it. I’ve not run across a case where magics are reaching for each other, especially when those powers aren’t being used.”

“That wasn’t exactly helpful,” Sunny said bluntly. “You’re something like one thousand years old. You should know something.”

The silence which fell over the table was deafening. No one had ever dared to speak so frankly to Leith. Even Leith looked a little surprised.

“What?” Sunny said with a sheepish smile. “You were all thinking it.”

Every gaze at the table was fastened to Leith, waiting to see what the blond giant would do. Instead of growling about showing him the respect he deserved, which Sloan had expected him to do, Leith burst out laughing. “You are so much like my daughter,” he said when he finally stopped laughing. “Thank you for not treating me like an old man who can’t handle a little humor once in a while.”

Sunny’s blinding smile was back in full force. “I figured you out as soon as we met,” she admitted.

Leith’s smile remained for the rest of breakfast, but Sloan was more focused on the effect the new handler had on him.

It terrified him.

As the morning meal came to an end, Raven cleared his throat. “Leith has informed me that Sunny’s magic is quite strong and neither he nor I will be able to train her. So, I think it’s best if Anna and Sloan train her right from the get go.”

Shit
. Sloan had forgotten the tiny detail about how he would be training Sunny. If his magic reacted this strongly to hers now, what would it be like when they were actually using their powers? Hell, what would it be like when they had to merge their magics? “Absolutely not,” he said firmly.

“And why not?” Raven asked.

He said the first thing that came to him. “Because our magics are opposite. You know, fire and water. I’ll only make things harder for her to control.”

Raven narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and Sloan got the idea the leader saw right through his excuse. “Fine,” Raven said. “Stay out of her training for now. But when Sunny has enough control, you’re going to have to work with her.”

Sloan nodded, relieved he had a little time, at least, to work out how he felt.

In the meantime, all he had to do was find a way to completely avoid the new fire handler.

* * * *

Sunny sat, staring at Sloan, well aware her mouth hung slightly open. His excuse not to train her was complete and utter bullshit. There was no way their magics would repel each other, not when every fiber of her being was somehow yanking her toward him.

The man was returning to his jerky self, his true self he’d shown last night. She couldn’t believe she’d masturbated to his image the evening before, much less had the orgasm of her life.

There was going to be no way she’d let Sloan know how much his refusal to train her bothered her. “It’s okay,” she said with another grin, hoping no one could tell it was fake. “Anna’s probably a better teacher than Mr. Cranky Pants anyway.”

She kept a pleasant expression plastered to her face until enough time had passed that she could escape to her room. Fake it until you make it. That had been her motto for as long as she could remember.
Pretend to be happy with your life and maybe, just maybe, you can fool everyone.

Faking it didn’t help the pain though. It never did. And for some reason, Sloan’s rejection hurt worse than anything else had in recent memory. Maybe it was because of the actual conversation they’d had on the way down to breakfast, when he hadn’t been a dick. Or maybe it was the way her magic responded to him.

That had to be it. She had come to realize her magic was almost like a living thing existing inside her. It wanted Sloan’s magic badly, and it still roiled around in her veins, trying desperately to connect again with the man sitting next to her.

How could he leave her like this? It made her physically uncomfortable not to be touching him.

But he’d made his intentions to stay away from her more than clear.

She took a deep breath and hardened her heart against Sloan. Why would she set herself up for more heartache than she was already feeling?

Finally, she pushed her plate away and stood up. “When do you want to start, Anna?”

Anna gestured to her glass of juice. “As soon as I finish my drink, we can get started.”

Sunny nodded. It would give her a little time to pull herself together. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable.”

Without waiting for an answer, she hightailed it out of the dining room and found her way to the stairs. She bounded up them but stopped when she realized she had no idea how to get back to her room.

Cursing herself for not paying more attention when she’d gone downstairs, she peered up and down the hall, hoping that at least one way would look familiar. Of course, both ways looked the same.

Why had she thought living in a castle was a good thing?

“Lost?”

The voice was the last one she wanted to hear. Why couldn’t it have been Matthew who found her?

“Can you show me the way back to my room, or are you too much of a jerk?” she snapped.

Sloan drew even with her and tilted his head. “Not so sunny, Sunny? And to think, you had everyone thinking your personality matched your name.”

She propped her hands on her hips and leveled a glare at him. She was so damn sick of hearing that joke. “Didn’t you know? The sun can burn you too.”

“Oh,” said Sloan, motioning for her to follow him as he started down the hall. “So you’re also a little fireball? Fitting.”

“Listen here, you,” she just about shouted. “What the hell is your problem? First thing this morning, you were all smiles, and now you’re the most sarcastic bastard in Scotland.”

“You know many men in Scotland?” he said.

Something about the way he said it, the possessive way he looked at her, made her grit her teeth.

Without even stopping to think about the consequence, Sunny raised her finger and poked him in the exact center of his chest.

Whatever she had been about to say flew out of her mind the second she touched him. Her power rose and seemed to latch on to Sloan. She couldn’t have pulled her finger away, even if she wanted to. The feeling was entirely sexual and she desperately wanted Sloan to bend her over the nearest flat surface and slide into her.

It was Sloan who broke the contact when he stepped back and pushed her hand back to her side. There was no expression on his face at all. “Did you really not feel that?” she asked.

Sloan’s mouth tipped up in a slight sneer, but she didn’t miss the way his eyes focused on her face for a moment. “What I felt was similar to what I feel whenever I accidentally touch Anna, or another handler.”

“Liar,” she said. “At the table, you said it wasn’t like anything you’d ever encountered before.”

“It did feel like that at first,” he admitted. “But the feeling has faded.”

She didn’t believe a word of what he said, but she didn’t have a chance to accuse him of lying again. Anna came up behind them and squeezed in between them. She shook her head at Sloan and took Sunny by the elbow. “Come on, Sunny. I’ll show you the way back to your room. Sloan? Don’t you have some practicing to do?”

Sloan nodded curtly and turned on his heel, stalking away without another word.

Still irritated, Sunny stuck her tongue out at his back. She knew it was childish but at this point, she didn’t care.

“Thanks,” Sunny said to Anna.

“No problem. But he’s not all bad. Before his wife, Dara, was killed, he was really fun to be around.”

Against her will, her heart softened when she heard about Sloan’s wife. How much pain must the man be in?

Not that it was any excuse to be a jerk, she told herself harshly.
Don’t let your guard down. You’ll only end up hurt.

The water in the pond swirled as Sloan made it ripple lazily. He wasn’t really trying to do too much with it right then. He was working off some of the magical pressure that built up in the last few days. Besides, if he did anything too drastic with it, he wouldn’t be able to see Anna training Sunny.

It had been three weeks since Sunny had come to the castle. Three weeks since Sloan had first felt a buzz of sexual thrill awakening in his body after a quarter of a century.

He’d tried hard to avoid her at all costs. He’d been rude and mean. He’d stopped coming to meals until Raven had threatened to lock down his magic if he didn’t eat. He had taken to isolating himself in his room―not much different from before. No, the only difference was that now, something in him desperately wanted to be out of the confines of the four walls and close to one person in particular.

Of course, he hadn’t been able to avoid Sunny completely. Fate seemed to be working against him. He always seemed to open his suite door just as she passed by and he either had to walk down to breakfast with her or look like a fool.

All the accidental body contact didn’t help. At least three times a day, he would find himself touching Sunny, whether their shoulders brushed against each other in the hall to reaching for the same platter at exactly the same moment.