“Why?”
Could he really be that clueless? She risked a glance at him. Yeah. He was watching her all right, with darker blue eyes, the midnight color that told her he wasn’t happy with what she was telling him. He was totally focused on her, making her feel as if she was the only woman in his world. Not just there in the cave, but in the entire world.
She let her breath out slowly. “Andre, you get to me. Inside, I mean. That means when we walk away from each another it’s going to hurt like hell. For me at least. I don’t think it’s a good idea to chance it.”
“Why would we walk away if we both want the same thing?”
She waved her hand at the cave. “Do you have any idea how bizarre this truly is? We’re in a cave in the mountains. I’m on a visa. You live here. We’ve known each another for a few hours.”
He nodded his head slowly. Thoughtfully. She let out her breath again, reminding herself to breathe once in a while. At least he was listening.
“I have been in your mind. It is not a few hours for me, Teagan. When I healed you, I connected us together. You can touch my mind, see inside of me any time that you wish. Once you do that, it will not be a few hours for you either. You will see me, the person that I am, just as I see you.”
She hadn’t expected his answer. He’d been in her head a couple of times reading her thoughts, so maybe he did know more about her than she was comfortable with anyone knowing—especially a gorgeous man who looked kind of godlike.
“I can’t read your thoughts, Andre. I’m a healer, but I’m not psychic. I don’t have that kind of gift—or curse, depending upon how you see it.”
“You can, Teagan. You feel the connection between us. It is too strong for you not to.”
She shrugged and shifted a little. The water swirled around behind her, lapping at her back. She slid a little on the rock until the water covered her to her neck. The heat felt good, easing the tension out of her shoulders and neck. The backpack was heavy after miles of hiking and a bit of a strain on her small frame. She packed as light as possible, but when packing for a month in the mountains, and maybe a day or two in a town to wind down, the weight began to add up.
“I’ve never read anyone’s mind in my life. If I could, Andre, do you think I would have put myself in Armend’s hands? Clearly he’s a psychopath. He’s a killer. A serial rapist and a killer. If he was telling the truth about his friends, he isn’t alone in that kind of behavior. If I could read minds, I would have known when we were at the university. I tutored him. I was with him five days a week, sometimes a few hours a day. He never once acted anything but friendly toward me. He never crossed a single line with me. In fact, not one of the women he dated looked a thing like me.”
Andre studied Teagan’s face closely. She was upset now. He couldn’t blame her. She knew Jashari had killed several women, and he didn’t want her taking on that responsibility, but she was. He could see it on her face.
“You can read my thoughts because we are connected, Teagan. At this time, you will not be able to read others.”
Her gaze jumped to his face. He could get used to the way she looked at him. He hoped she would always look at him like that—until the end of their days and well into their next life together.
“How? How do I do that?”
“Be still. Let your mind be still. You have not wanted to look into my mind. You fear what we can become together, not me. You fear what you will feel for me, not me. You already know I would never harm you nor would I leave you brokenhearted. It is impossible.”
“What does csitri mean?” Teagan asked again, wanting to hear his explanation a second time. She loved the way the word sounded in his language.
“Little one.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “But more. Little slip of a girl, little slip of a thing. Little one. It is a term of affection. Simply that. An exact translation is difficult.”
She made a little round O with her lips for just a brief moment. He’d seen her do it a couple of other times and once he looked at her mouth, it was difficult to pull his gaze away. She was finally relaxing, the hot water easing the tension from her. He couldn’t allow her to sleep, not until dawn, not until she was so tired that when he pushed sleep on her, she wouldn’t realize the difference.
“Quite a bit earlier you used the word susu; what does that mean?”
He was silent for a moment, turning over in his mind what he would say to her. He couldn’t lie. She was his lifemate, and lifemates didn’t lie to each another. He shrugged, tried to be casual when the meaning was anything but. “It means, ‘I am home.’”
Teagan frowned, trying to comprehend what for now was impossible for her to understand and it would only frighten her if he tried to explain.
She bit her lip, something she clearly did when she was nervous. “What else did you say in your language? Sivamet? Was that it? Something like that. It sounded beautiful.”
“That one is a little more complicated,” he admitted. “There is no precise translation I can give you. More like, of my heart. To my heart. In your language a man might say, ‘my love.’ But again, it is more. A little different.” Her eyes went dark. A deep chocolate that seemed to melt into a liquid. So dark the color was almost black, but not quite. “What else?”
He shook his head. “I am only making things worse between us, and that is not my intention, Teagan. I want you to feel comfortable. I have not been in the company of humans . . . people . . . for a long while and I have forgotten more skills than I remember.”