Wherever She Goes (Psychic Seasons, ReGina Welling [novels to improve english TXT] 📗

“We need to talk.”

Shoulders squared, Kat gazed up at him defiantly, “About what? We had a moment, it was nice, and now it’s over. Nothing to talk about.”

His short bark of a laugh startled her. “That’s a lie.”

A raised eyebrow and a smirk met her glare at being called a liar, “My famous cop instincts, remember?”

“Fine, we had a moment, it was more than nice, and then you acted like a jerk, and now it’s over. You made me feel stupid. Rejected. Undesirable. I’m still mad at you. What do your precious instincts say to that?”

Truth. Especially the part about him acting like a jerk.

“I never intended…oh, never mind.”

Without saying what he had intended, he reached out, pulled her against him, and slowly lowered his lips until only a breath separated them from hers. Unable to resist, she moved that fraction of an inch and felt the contact all the way down to her toes.

She might not have much basis for comparison but the man stirred up her hormones with nothing more than a gentle touch of his lips.

_,.-'~'-.,_

Emotion washed over him. She tasted like a warm summer day, the kind you had as a kid when there were no responsibilities and the day—no, your entire life—stretched out ahead of you, rife with possibility and everything seemed cleaner, clearer.

In that moment, he knew she was his future.

_,.-'~'-.,_

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She knew that even as his kiss washed through her like liquid fire igniting her to respond. Stupid hormones, what did they know?

How did someone who had never fallen know when they were in love? Because that’s what this felt like.

Kat pressed closer, let him take the kiss deeper and dived after him. For the second time in her adult life, she wanted to know what it meant to take that final step, to drop the barriers that had kept her from knowing what it meant to love.

When he pulled back just the tiniest bit, she whispered, “More,” and dragged him back under until he broke the kiss and let his eyes search into hers. Matching her gaze to his, she saw desire there, tenderness, and things she didn’t quite understand but wanted to.

“Kat, we need to stop now while I still can.” He’d probably have to turn in his man card but he didn’t want to be her first foray into the world of physical love unless it was to take their relationship to the next level and since he had no idea what level they were on now, it was best to put a stop to it while he still could.

“I’m not asking you to stop. Or don’t you want me?”

He dragged her closer proving how very much he did want her and quirked an eyebrow at her to see if she’d gotten his point.

“Oh. I see. Then what?” This relationship stuff was harder than it looked and she was picking her way through it without much guidance.

“When we sleep together, I want it to mean something more than just satisfying your curiosity.”

Kat pulled away from him to bang her palm on her forehead a few times before stalking outside in to the cold air of a springtime night.

Zack followed and while she ranted, installed her in his car, started it to get the heater working.

“Do you have any idea how incredibly frustrating this is? I went from passing notes with ‘Do you like me? Check yes or no’ to being a full-grown adult with nothing in between. I’ve never had my heart broken, never had a boyfriend. Now I’m supposed to become part of the dating world and I have no experience. I don’t know how to act, what to say, what to do.”

“Not to put down my gender, but what stupid men have you been around if none of them could see how incredibly special you are?”

That took the rant right out of her.

The window glass felt wonderfully cool on her cheek as she rested her face there for a moment before telling him, “It was me. I decided my situation was too complicated to inflict on anyone else so I avoided getting into a relationship. Blind is enough to take on, blind and psychic was more of a burden than I ever wanted to be.”

Sympathy flooded through him then burned away like tissue in a flame, with a flare that left nothing but ash in the wind.

“Chicken.”

“Excuse me?” Glaciers were warmer than her tone.

“I have to call it like I see it and I’m not saying you were wrong to be afraid but you made the choice to close yourself off so you don’t get to play the sympathy card.”

Simple truth. Undeniable.

“But…” All the fight went out of her. “You’re right.”

“You’re wrong about another thing, too. You did get your heart broken, just not by someone else.” He paused to let his words sink in.

“My own worst enemy, so I am.”

Zack chuckled, “Yoda wisdom, there’s hope for you yet.”

Kat smiled.

“Yes.” He nodded as if she had asked a question.

“Yes what?” Had she missed something?

“The answer is yes, if you passed me a note with the check boxes on it. I’d check yes.”

Kat smiled harder as he added, “And, I’d send you back a note asking you to go steady. Check yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, now that that’s all settled, you need to know I’m not the kind of guy who puts out. At least until prom, but I might let you get to second base.”

“Silly man. Take me inside and dance with me, then.”

On the way past the table, she tossed Amethyst a twenty. Even breaking her winning streak couldn’t pull the smile from her face.

Chapter 19

It was one of those movie moments where the hero—or heroines in this case—walk toward the battle in slow motion with the wind blowing through their hair. Except that wind apparently had no effect on angels or ghosts.

Following the plan, once Julius announced