A Secret Fate (20 page)

“Nothing. Just, this time, I’ll know I’m the only one you’ll be thinking of.”

“You were the only one before.”

“Maybe, but I didn’t know it then.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the long flight of stairs, still unable to teleport, she guessed, elated at the fact that she still had a way of keeping him hard as stone. He’d need to work on that little problem and figure out a way to channel his energy so his lustful thoughts didn’t get in the way. She’d help him with that. It was imperative that he get control, especially since someone had stolen the crystal. There was no doubt in her mind that they could be in danger now. What if they needed a quick get-away in the middle of a heated moment?

Chapter 16

Cael wrung warm soapy water out of the sea sponge and let it dribble down Addison’s breasts before dipping it back into the water for more. They sat in the huge jetted bathtub, surrounded by a light coral-colored stone ledge. Steps spanning the length of one side of the tub matching the coral stone provided easy access to the equally beautifully tiled floor in a room the size of the bedroom he slept in at Bart’s. The house appeared deceptively small from the outside. The place, located on the cliff side overlooking the ocean, must be worth over two million dollars. The delicate woodworking along the high ceiling gave the bedroom the illusion of being twice the size it was. Of course, it really was quite large; the king size bed in the middle of the room didn’t even come close to dwarfing the space the way they did in most bedrooms.

The position of the bed provided a spectacular view out the window as they’d snuggled together under the puffy, blue, cozy covers earlier after the best sexual experience of his life. This was most definitely a well-loved home and one he would have purchased himself if given the chance. At least they had similar tastes.

“As Ristéard’s daughter, I’m sure you have more abilities,” Cael said, dripping more soap over her breasts, making little soapy points at the tips.

As the sponge left his fingers and floated over his head, dripping soapsuds down his forehead, he laughed. “Ah, I see. Well, not really since now I have soap in my eyes, but you already showed me that one.”

“Oh, sorry.” Addison turned and straddled her legs over his. “But I didn’t show you this yet.” She touched her fingers to his eyelids and the sting went away almost immediately. She giggled and he caught her mouth with his in a long kiss.

When he finished kissing her, he asked, “Do you have
all
your father’s abilities?”

“Yes, I think so. I was afraid of them at first, but with the help of … a very special friend I’ve gotten kind of used to them.” Cael had the feeling that the special friend she didn’t mention was Aiden, someone he had no desire to talk about and sensed that she didn’t either.

“I had a feeling you did, particularly when I found you at the archway crying and I overheard you talking to your father. When I was a teenager, I walked in on your dad talking to your mom one day. He said he could communicate with two people who’d passed away.”

“Yes. My mother and my brother. I know.”

“I suppose you do. He was your father.”

“Well, I didn’t know while he was alive, but someone told me. My father wasn’t exactly forthcoming about our heritage. In fact, I didn’t know anything about his abilities or my own until just this past year.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. He loved me, I know that. He wanted to protect me. He was there for me when I needed him and with …” she paused as though she was about to say something she shouldn’t then continued with something he hadn’t expected. “… your mother’s help, I’ve learned so much.”

“My mother? I know I shouldn’t be surprised. It does explain a lot.” 

“A lot? About what?”

“Well, why you were at Breena’s birthday party for one thing and why she looks up to you so much. Breena lost her mother and you’re close to the same age as she would be had she lived. So it just makes sense why Breena and you are friends.” She tilted her head with a puzzled expression on her face. He shrugged. “It was something I questioned, that’s all.”

“Wait a minute. I’m only twenty-six and Breena is ten. I don’t think I would have had a child at sixteen.”

“I said, ‘close.’ Do you always take everything so literally?”

“No. I don’t think so. Oh no!”

“What? Is something wrong?”

“No.” She laughed, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. “I just realized that I’m going to be twenty-seven soon, that’s all.”

“Oh.” He grinned at the frown upon her face. Why were women always fretting about getting older? Then he remembered his own age. Had he been upset when he turned thirty? He sure as hell had been recently when he suddenly found out he wasn’t twenty-five like he’d thought. Of course, that would be a shock to anyone, he supposed.

His mood now sullen, he cupped her breast, wanting to forget about age and lost memories. Addison turned her back to him, snuggled up against his chest and they sat in the tub surrounded by mango-scented bubbles Cael stopped moving the sponge around and became quiet with nothing but the faint sound of bubbles popping around them. The silence made him wonder what she was thinking, because his clairvoyant senses were not helping at all.

He needed a distraction and realized, Addison must have been thinking the exact same thing, as she turned to face him and positioned herself on top of him. She sat down and he sank deep within her core, giving and taking what each of them needed and craved.

***

Squeaky-clean and fingertips somewhat wrinkled, Cael bent over and dried off his legs with a towel as Addison wrapped herself up in another. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she looked pensive and the topic of her father and why she’d been crying resurfaced in his mind. “When I found you talking to your father tonight, it didn’t sound as if he was responding.”

“He wasn’t. I don’t know why, but without the crystal I seem to have lost the ability to communicate with him.”

Cael wrapped the towel around his waist and sat on the bed beside her. “Were you ever able to communicate with him before you had the crystal?”

“Well, no. I’ve had the crystal since I was twenty-one. He gave it to me for my birthday that year.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.” He hated the memory loss problem he’d been dealt, especially when it came to Ristéard. He felt like a fool. “Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, I wish I could remember the last five years. I probably already knew that he gave it to you.”

“I don’t see why you would. I don’t think he told anyone, except maybe your mother and she was …”

“What?”

“Um … sworn to secrecy. A promise she made to my mother and father. It’s a long story.”

“Tell me.” He’d heard part of the story from his mother the other night, but he wanted to hear her side.

Addison stared at him as if she were concentrating very intensely. In fact, it almost seemed as if she had the ability to block her thoughts from him. Or was it simply a coincidence and he’d lost his gift to sense her feelings along with his ability to teleport because of his sexual cravings for her?

She filled him in on some interesting details, most of the information was the same as what his mother had told him, but Addison added to the story of how she’d been frightened when she discovered her abilities and how upset and furious she’d been when she discovered that everyone, including his mother, kept everything a secret because of a promise made to her mother. When she told him about how her aunt helped raise her, the angry expression on her face changed to admiration as her brown eyes opened with brilliance almost immediately, and the gold specks in them sparkled; a definite show of love and respect for Maia. He liked that. But for some reason, he had the sense that there was something very significant that she was leaving out.

“When exactly did you find out about your powers?” he asked. He knew, because from what she was telling him, it seemed fairly recently.

“I didn’t find out I had powers until …” Addie paused mid-sentence, almost revealing where and when she first met him, when she’d nearly run him over with her truck. “… a few months ago. I mean, everyone kept all these secrets about who I really was. No one ever used their abilities around me, so I was never exposed to any. That’s why they didn’t show up until …” God, she almost did it again and was grateful when he interrupted her.

“I’m surprised you’re not bitter about it.”

“Oh, I’m beyond that. I was resentful at first that my father hadn’t trusted me enough to realize that I would be able to handle myself.”

“Knowing Ristéard, I completely understand why he did it. He loved you and wanted to protect you. I loved the man like he was my own father.”

Cael grew quiet. She had the feeling he was thinking about his own father and the way he’d abandoned Cael when he was a child. Knowing Cael the way she thought she did, her heart broke for him sometimes. He would never admit it, but deep down, she was sure he would have loved to have grown up with the man who was his real father.

Cael walked to the window and stared at the ocean. Addie stepped beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist. They watched the waves crash against the walls of the cliffs and she sighed. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but right here.”

“I can certainly understand why,” he said, draping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him.

***

“Would you like to see what I’ve just recently been able to do with my fire ability?”

Cael struggled to tear himself away from the window and the majestic view, but he noticed the chill left at his side where Addison’s warm body stood just a few seconds ago. Turning at the sound of her voice, he blinked as a silky cream-colored nightgown slid over the front of Addison, slowly covering her beautiful breasts and abdomen. “Of course,” he said, smiling. “I’m always interested in new abilities.”

“I don’t think my father ever did this and it startled me at first. It happened by accident while I was depressed, upset, and needed to calm down. Please don’t try to touch me, or judge me.”

He cocked his head and stared at her. “Why would I judge you?”

“Just watch and again, please don’t touch me.”

“Okay.” He let the towel fall to his side and watched as she held out her arms, palms up. Sparks ignited in her right palm the way they used to in Ristéard’s, and quickly changed into flames. As Cael observed, the flames slowly started to move. She was right, he’d never seen Ristéard do anything other than form a ball of fire and throw it at a target. The flames traveled up her arm and across her chest to her other arm, and then down to her hand. She stood in front of him, burning from fingertip to fingertip.

“Addison?” Cael uttered, almost afraid that if he said anything it would distract her and be detrimental. Slowly the flames traveled back across her chest and down her other arm until they reached her palm where they started, hovering in a small ball. She closed her hand and it disappeared without so much as a single scorch mark or a trace.

He realized he was staring at her, mouth open, unable to speak because all he could think about was his dream.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, shaking her hands as though they tingled before she reached out to him. He took a step back, not because he was afraid of her, but because he realized she was his dream.

“You’re the one!” he announced, getting the gape under control.

“The one?” she asked, an understandably puzzled look on her face.

“You’re her.”

“Who?”

“The woman from my dreams,” he said, pointing to the tattoo on his arm as if she should know everything.

“You have dreams about me?”

“I’ve had this recurring dream of a woman in flames, but not burning. I could never see her face in my dreams. It haunted me. She haunted me. I got this tattoo because of that dream. Well, that and I’d had a few too many that night in Bora Bora, but yeah, you’re her.”

Addie stepped toward him. “I don’t know why you would have that dream. This ability is fairly new, not something anyone has ever witnessed. You are the first to see it.”

“Well, maybe my dream was giving me a glimpse of my future or something, because, baby, you are definitely the girl from my dream.”

She smiled and traced her finger gently around the woman on his arm. “Well, that’s a good thing, right?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah.”

He skimmed his fingers lightly down the sides of her arms. They were so smooth. He pulled her against him and she wrapped those silky arms around his neck. “Addison, you are so remarkable.”

She smiled and lowered her eyes almost as though what he just said made her a little embarrassed. “Maybe, but I need you.”

“Baby, you got me.”

“I am so glad.”

“All this heat in here has me wanting some ice cream. What about you?”

She laughed. “Yeah, ice cream sounds great.”

“But first ...” He kissed her, gently, tenderly. “I want you to know I will help you find the crystal. In fact, it will be my great honor to assist you in this endeavor, my lady,” he crooned against her ear in his sexiest low voice as the soft tune of “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” rang throughout the house, stopping as quickly as it had started. “The doorbell?”

She smiled and nodded. “A present after … I destroyed Eidolon.”

“Right, Eidolon.” He glanced at the clock. “It’s two in the morning.”

“I think I know who it is.”

“I think we both know who it is.”

They stood like statues, neither one making a move to go to the door. “Are you going to answer it?” Cael asked.

As the tune rang out again, Addison said, “I’d better or he’ll just keep ringing.”

“Is he stalking you?”

“No, of course not. He’s just … concerned about me.”

“Why?”

She sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m all ears, baby.”

Ignoring him, she snatched a heavy robe from the back of the door and shrugged into it. He stood in the doorway, blocking her. “Please, Cael, just wait here for a minute, okay?”