“No!” She gasped. “I was telling the truth.”
Without thought I reached toward her. Noting the thick glove on my hand, I used my teeth to pull it off, then reached toward her again to brush my fingers across her cheek.
“You’re fingers are warm,” she said with a sigh.
I got a little bolder and cupped my palm around her jaw. Her eyes closed, but she didn’t jerk away so I left my hand against her skin.
Moments later, through the dark, she whispered, “Sometimes you’re like two different people.”
I stilled. “What do you mean?”
She was quiet a moment and I felt her shake her head beneath my hand. “Never mind.”
“Tell me,” I said, ignoring the way my heart beat faster.
“I can’t explain it. Sometimes I just feel two different people when I’m around you.”
“And yet the two people you feel in me can’t compete with the one you lost.”
Her eyes opened and she looked at me. If she was shocked, she didn’t show it. “You feel like you’re competing for me?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted, turning my body so I was also on my side, facing her. In more ways than she knew. I was competing against my old body, the guy she viewed as a hero. I was competing against this new body as it tried to carry out my job… and then there was the other side of me… the side that didn’t want to hurt her at all.
That was the side I tried to hide from most of all. I couldn’t understand that part of me. I mean, really, what did I care if this one girl lived or died?
I pulled my hand away from her cheek and the frigid air immediately blew away the warmth that was left behind on my palm.
“I never meant to make you feel that way,” she said, still looking at me. “I never really meant to get close to you at all. I just…” Her voice fell away.
“Just what?” I urged.
“I just couldn’t figure you out. You’re the one person in my life that I’ve never been able to figure out.”
“You got everybody else’s number, huh?” I said, trying to lighten the conversation and ignore the way my stomach flopped.
“Their addresses too,” she quipped.
“And how do you manage that?” I asked, wondering if this had to do with whatever ability Charming wanted.
She paused and then said, “It’s not that hard, if you really pay attention.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” I pressed. “What’s your secret?”
“My secret?” she asked, and I felt her retreat ever so slightly.
“Yeah.” I flashed a grin, trying to pull her back in. “You’re secret to reading people.” Before she responded, I quickly added, “Or you can just tell me any of your other secrets.”
She laughed lightly. “Who says I have secrets?”
“Everyone has secrets.”
“Do you?”
“Maybe. Most likely.”
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she sang lightly.
“I like to sleep naked,” I lied.
