It’s probably overstepping if I mash my face against his neck and take a good sniff, right? And if that’s the case, licking is definitely off the table.
Sigh.
“I can smell your soap,” I say, inhaling it from a respectable distance. “Like pine trees and mint. Also, the leather of your journal. It’s authentic. You’ve got good taste.”
A soft chuckle. “Keep going. What else can you perceive?”
“Your voice, obviously, and the sound of your breath. You’re shifting your weight a bit—I can hear your feet shuffling in the dead leaves. Oh! Now I hear the pencil. You’re taking notes.”
“You’re doingsowell, Miss Bonnivarde.”
A little flare goes off inside me at the praise. The pencil stops. He shifts closer, warming the air between us. His scent envelopes me like a hug. I barely resist the urge to fling myself at him.
“Keep going. What can youfeel?”
“Your… your warmth. It’s getting cold out here, but I can sense your body heat radiating in front of me.” I let out a soft laugh. “Come closer, actually. I’m freezing.”
Smooth, girl. Very smooth.
“We’ll head back soon. Just a few more moments.” He shifts a hair’s breadth closer, his voice low and soothing. “I’d like us to go a bit deeper.”
So would I, Dr. Sexy. So would I…
“Ignoring your most rudimentary senses,” he continues, “I want you to reach out with your mind, with your intuition. Imagine tiny energetic cords stretching between us, connecting our bodies.” His seductive murmur is pure torture, drawing me in deeper with every word. “Feelfor my energetic presence, Miss Bonnivarde.”
Dismissing the throb of desire that pulses between my thighs—why, yes, Iwillbe adding this hot-for-teacher seductive soundtrack to the on-demand orgasm-manifesting buzz bank later—I take a deep breath and try to follow his instruction.
Nothing.
Try again.
Nada.
He must sense my frustration, or see it on my scrunched-up face, because he shifts a bit closer, his warm breath stirring the hair at the top of my hairline, and says softly, “Just relax. You can do this. Clear your mind again, release the tension in your shoulders, and just… come to me.”
Oh, god. Not helping, Dr. Sexy. Not at all.
But, because I’m nothing if not an absolute praise whore, I re-focus my energies on completing this assignment with flying colors. Deep breaths, a full-body un-clench, reaching out with my intuition, and…
It washes over me then, soft and gentle, but solid. A warmth, a sense of protection. Images flicker behind my eyes, too fastto perceive beyond the barest flashes—a room overflowing with books. A laugh shared with a couple of random guys. Friends? Other demons? I can’t hold on to them long enough to guess. The smell of liquor. A flirtatious smile on a blurred face. Female, that one. For sure. The image spins, and a new one blurs into view. Bookshelves. A library, a soft green lamp, a stack of notebooks filled with scribbles and diagrams. Then it shifts again, morphing into a dark room. A study, a home. Alone in the dim space, the scent of leather and old books, a profound sense of relief…
I swallow hard. A single word echoes in my mind, as if spoken by the breeze a long time ago and held like a breath for all these centuries, waiting for me to arrive so it could deliver the message.
Safe.
His scribbling stops, and in the silence that falls between us, I realize I said the word out loud.
When I finally open my eyes, he’s closer than I even realized, peering down at me with his strange and quiet intensity. I know I should feel embarrassed, should turn away or giggle or make a snarky comment to break this tension, but I don’t. I let it simmer and work into my skin, heating me all the way through.
It’s a spell, and we’ve both fallen under it.
“Remarkable,” he whispers, reaching for me, fingertips nearly brushing my jawline again, an ache of desire blooming in those warm brown eyes, and in that moment, I know only one thing for sure.
Dr. Sutherland is going to kiss me.
ten
LIZZY
