Where I swam through his gaze.
Had it been seconds?
Minutes?
I had no idea.
“I have this feeling about you, Sydney. This hunch that won’t go away.”
“Yeah?”
He moved a little closer, our faces now aligned, to the point where I could even see his eyelashes. “You’re really not the kind of girl who cuts off people in line. Something tells me you’re a healer, not a fighter.”
I nodded and said, “You’re right.” I exhaled. “I don’t know how you know that.”
He shifted just a few inches, the movement causing his coat to part, showing more of the button-down he wore beneath. With the collar open, I could see there was a hint of muscle and a light dusting of hair. “I’m reading you, Sydney.”
“If that’s true, then what else do you know about me?”
“Do you really want to know?”
My heart was on the verge of exploding.
My lungs couldn’t take in any more air.
There was shaking happening from somewhere inside me, but I couldn’t place it, and I couldn’t stop it.
“Yes.”
“Your breath hitches every time my eyes land on you. The longer I stare, the harder you breathe.” His voice lowered again as he continued, “Your skin is heating. There are goose bumps slowly rising over your arms.”
I could feel them.
The sweatiness too.
He was right.
About everything.
His mouth moved even closer. “There’s a tingle inside your body. You’ve been trying to repeal it, dismiss it. But you can’t.”
The tingle had been replaced with fire.
One that was so strong that it owned me.
And I was completely, utterly lost.
“Do you have the same ability, Sydney?” He waited. “Are you able to read me?”
I shook my head, unable to form any words.
This time, when he reached forward, his hand landed on me. It held my cheek as his thumb pulled at my lip—I hadn’t even realized I had been chewing on it—and he freed it from my teeth.
“What I’m thinking about is your mouth.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip and then the top. “What it would taste like. What it would feel like.” His gaze was there, on the spot he was speaking about, making those same lips part. “And I don’t know how much longer I can wait to find out.”