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And the only reason she’d failed was because of Hannah.
Sweet Goddess.
Moving about the kitchen eased him. He needed to be doing. Hannah now sat on the stool at the island, her hands clasped together on the marble. She no longer shook, but she had grown very quiet.
“You know what’s funny?” she said at last.
He brought two cups down from the shelf and planted them next to the cooktop, adding a tea bag to each. “What’s that?”
“That once Paul told me you needed help, I didn’t think twice. I could feel your desperation. How is that possible?”
He shook his head, checking to see if the water was boiling yet. Not quite. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I’m guessing it’s connected to my being a blood rose. Maybe even because I’ve donated.”
He met her gaze and thought her expression might be accusing. Instead, she just looked confused.
And beautiful.
He didn’t say anything, but waited beside the tea kettle, checking until finally the water started to boil. He poured the hot water slowly over both tea bags.
Bringing the cups with him, he rounded the island and sat on the stool next to Hannah. The flush on her skin had dimmed, leaving her with a really healthy glow. “So, how the hell do I thank you for this, since you just saved my life and Nathan’s?”
She’d already started lifting the bag up and down when she turned to him, a half-smile on her lips. “There’s no need for thanks. I’m just so grateful that Paul got me here in time.”
He’d almost bought it. That’s the tape that kept running through his head.
She carefully draped the tea bag over the side of the cup and stared at her hands. “And I really can’t believe that I did what I did? I had fire coming out of my hands and my arms. At least my palms are no longer tingling.”
“By the way, how long had your hands been bothering you like that? I can recall you mentioning it a couple of times over the past few weeks.”
She chuckled softly. “Can’t you guess how long?”
“Since the closet?”
“Yeah. Since then.”
“Well, I suppose it makes sense.”
She took a sip of her tea. “I should have known something was going on, but I ignored it. I guess I just didn’t want to see that there was anything more to my interest in you than just this.” Her gaze encompassed his body.
He smiled. Once again she’d offered him an ego-boosting moment.
He searched her beautiful violet eyes. He tried to think back to the moment he’d become entranced by them, and realized it might have been well before the supply-closet incident. “Hannah, I’m just now remembering something that happened about a year ago, and which I think first set me down this path with you. Do you recall the time that a couple of human males were harassing an elven woman about her body, asking her terrible questions?”
“Oh, I remember that, and it was well over a year ago. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry.”
“You threw them out. Well, you didn’t, but Hector did, on your orders.” Hector was her well-muscled bouncer who performed his duties extremely well.
Hannah scowled. “Both those idiots were drunk, but they had no right to ask about her pointed ears and her sexuality. It was completely degrading.”
“Yes, it was. But you stood up for my people and that’s when things started to shift for me. I saw you as more than the little girl I’d known. I finally saw that you’d become a woman.”
He held her gaze and all his cooling-down desire for her, suddenly heated up once more.
“Jude,” she whispered. Her cheeks turned a rosy color once more, but this time not because of her fiery power but because he sat next to her.
He drew in a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to
