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“On Earth.”
She wanted to laugh and once more wait for a punch line, but this time she knew Isaac was serious. “What happened when we went through the wall?”
“I’m not sure exactly. You flew backward, and I grabbed onto you. Then it was like we were in the sky, except that it was morning and everything was pitch black. It was windy and freezing cold. Then we fell and landed here in this room. I heard a loud noise and I think it was the ceiling closing us in.”
Kate looked up as if she expected to see the sky. But of course, all she saw was the ceiling, shadows cast across it by the low light emanating from the lanterns.
She scrambled over Isaac and stood on the floor beside the mattress. “Okay, we can flash together.”
“No.”
“What the hell, Isaac? What do you mean, ‘no’?”
Isaac finally got off the mattress and stood in front of her, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck again. She loved when he did that, but this wasn’t the time to swoon. Nor was it the time to give in. “We need to try to flash,” she said as she pulled out of his grasp.
“I know. But you go first.”
“Why? Because I’m the female? Like some damsel in distress who is weak and needs to go first?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she was repeating her actions from earlier that morning. Isaac wasn’t like Ethan, but she held all men at such a distance because of him and her old boyfriends and thought for so long she couldn’t trust any of them to treat her as an equal.
She expected Isaac would turn away like he had before because she’d insulted him, but he did the unexpected. Closing the distance between them, he once more wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and then lowered his forehead to hers. “Yes, because you’re female, but?—”
“What?” She tried to yank away, but Isaac didn’t let go.
“Let me finish, beautiful. Yes, because you’re female,” he repeated. “But not because you’re a damsel in distress. Because you’re the only female I’ve ever cared about. The thought of not being able to get back to you if I got out and you didn’t would kill me.”
He pulled back and looked down into her eyes, and this time she did swoon. Her knees went weak, but she also felt a panic coming on because of the emotion she saw in his eyes. Caring meant vulnerability, and she had resisted it for so long she wasn’t sure she was ready to let it in.
“That’s why we need to flash together,” she said again, but it sounded lame even to her after what he’d said.
“I can’t do that, Kate.” Isaac stepped back. “Please, you flash first, and if you make it out of here, I’ll follow you.”
As much as she wanted to argue again that she was strong, she sucked it up. Isaac had taken care of her this far; she couldn’t hurt him just because she wanted to make a point. Kate nodded, then pulled on her magic and tried to flash.
Nothing happened. “Maybe my magic doesn’t work in here like yours.”
“Try conjuring something.”
Holding out her hand, she conjured a box of condoms.
Isaac looked at the box and barked out a laugh. “Well, it’s safe to say your magic works.”
Kate tossed the box onto the bed. “But you’re not going to try to flash, are you?” she asked quietly.
“No. I can’t.”
Once more, the urge to argue roared up in her, but this time she ignored it. After everything he said, she couldn’t ask him to risk leaving her.
He went back to the bed and sat, leaning against the wall before holding out his hand to her. “Come over here.”
She grasped his hand and laughed as he hauled her over his body, where she landed on his other side.
“I think you need to kiss me since you manhandled me like that.”
“My pleasure, baby,” he whispered before his mouth descended to hers. The kiss was slow and soft, nothing like the one from minutes earlier. Isaac was telling her something with the kiss, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to listen yet.
She put her hand on his chest, gently pushing him away. “Lying on this mattress is fine, but I want to sit up as we figure out our next steps.” Taking his offered hand, she put her other hand on the wall to reposition herself.
“Oh shit!” She pulled her hand away from the wall as if it had burned her.
