Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-six

“Let me get this straight,” Gideon said. “You think you might accidentally shock my aura if we have sex?”

“Something like that,” she mumbled. She was mortified. “This is absolutely the most awkward pre-sex talk I’ve ever had, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to be responsible for damaging your energy field.”

“Pretty sure my energy field will survive, but I can’t guarantee that my ego will make it through this conversation.”

“I’m serious, damn it.” She realized she was starting to get mad. “I’m trying to do the right thing here. I’ve always had problems with…intimacy.”

“Sex.”

“Whatever. It’s like a part of me is always standing back. Observing. Waiting for something big to happen.”

Gideon’s mouth twitched. “Are you trying to tell me you like to watch? There’s a word for that. Voyeurism.”

“That is not what I meant and you know it,” she snapped. “Looking back, I think my core talent has affected my whole life. It explains why I chose photography as a career. That way I’m always the one who is behind the camera. I’m not part of the action. Maybe it’s the reason I’ve never been able to fall in love.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t know how to be in the moment. Maybe I’m afraid to be there because when I’ve tried, things have not gone well. Dr. Pike said he thinks that because of my past failures I’ve let my risk-averse tendencies take control.”

“Forget Dr. Pike,” Gideon ordered.

“Okay, but what if he’s right?”

“Until tonight, have you ever had an anxiety attack before having sex, or am I a first?”

“I am not having an anxiety attack. I told you, my intuition is trying to warn me that I might injure you.”

“How?”

“Well, I don’t know, exactly,” she admitted. “You told me that your talent has a negative effect on your relationships. I think I’m in the same situation.”

He smiled. “Welcome to my world.”

“I mean it, Gideon. I’m scared.”

Another flash of silver lit his eyes. “This is your lucky night, Amelia Rivers, because I’m not scared.”

Outrage splashed through her. She clutched the sheet to her breasts. “You aren’t taking this seriously, are you?”

“Nope. You have allowed yourself to fall down the rabbit hole of catastrophizing. You’re afraid of your new talent. I get that. But what you need is practice, and that requires a suitable test subject, one who isn’t afraid of your psychic side.”

“You?”

“Me.”

He leaned toward her, yanked the sheet out of her fingers, wrapped an arm around her, and hauled her against his chest.

“Your ribs,” she gasped.

“To quote someone I know, don’t you worry your pretty little head about my ribs.”

She gripped his shoulder. “Gideon.”

He kissed her, effectively silencing her. His mouth was warm, sensual, compelling. She got another lightning-sharp thrill, but it felt different this time—a shock of intense awareness. Recognition. Rightness. It was as if his energy field was whispering to her, reassuring her. Seducing her. She sensed that her aura was doing something similar to his.

The feeling of intense intimacy was beyond exciting. Beyond arousing. It was joyful.

When he finally raised his head she saw that the energy in his eyes was molten. She was still shivering, but not with anxiety.

“What if things go horribly wrong?” she said.

“Then we will practice until you get it right.”

She gave a choked laugh. Maybe there was nothing to fear. Maybe she was overthinking things.

And then she stopped thinking altogether because he was easing her down onto her back. He got up long enough to unbutton his shirt and take off his briefs. She glimpsed his fierce erection before he climbed into bed and got another rush. He definitely wanted her.

The weight and strength and heat of him thrilled her senses as nothing else ever had. Her entire body tightened.

She wrapped herself around him and abandoned her senses to the rising tide of urgency. His mouth moved to her throat. His hand went to her breast. One of his legs tangled with hers.

“Amelia.”

He whispered her name in a way that was both demand and desperate plea, as if he not only wanted her but needed her. No man had ever said her name in such hoarse, harsh, heartfelt tones.

His hands traveled over her in a journey of discovery and pleasure. In return she explored him, sliding her palms down his chest. When she found the rigid length of his erection he groaned and closed his hand over hers, easing her away.

“I’m too close,” he growled against her shoulder.

“You worry too much about control,” she said, struggling to free her hand.

“Think so?”

“Definitely.”

“Let’s see how good yours is.”

He wedged one thigh between hers, opening her for his touch. She almost stopped breathing when he found all the exquisitely sensitive places. She was suddenly drenched.

“Come for me,” he said against her mouth.

And she did. She was shocked by the intensity of her release. She never climaxed without a vibrator.

At some point he lifted himself away from her long enough to sit up on the side of the bed. She watched him take a small foil packet out of his trousers. He sheathed himself and then he reached for her again.

“My turn,” she said.

He allowed her to push him onto his back. When she came down astride him he groaned. His fingers dug into her thighs. She moved slowly, letting herself adjust to the width and breadth of him; setting the pace until she could no longer control herself or him.

His release pounded through both of them, triggering a second climax for her. Energy flooded the room, charging the atmosphere. She sensed that something unique was happening but she was too dazzled to comprehend it.

It was only later, when she cuddled against Gideon’s warm, damp frame, that her intuition came up with an explanation. At the height of their physical connection their auras had flared but they had not clashed; instead they had harmonized in some inexplicable way. The brief moment of exhilarating awareness had been breathtaking.

There was no way to know if he had experienced the same sensation, or, if he had, whether it mattered to him. But she knew she would never forget it.

This was what her intuition had been trying to warn her about earlier, she realized. It explained the shivers and the anxiety. Sex with Gideon had been dangerous not because she might damage his energy field, but because it changed everything. For her.

It was just sex , she thought. Don’t let your imagination run wild .

But it wasn’t just sex.

Well, shit. Now what?

Gideon was right. She had developed a bad habit of catastrophizing.