The Origin (9 page)

“I can explain,” he said quickly but found he could not continue. Having never had a real adult relationship before, he was wholly unprepared for the petrifying death stare that she turned on him, and it froze his tongue to the roof of his mouth. What was this immobilizing power she was wielding over him?

“So. Go ahead,” she said impassively.

He led her away from the curb and into the partial shelter of a store doorway, away from the cold wind. But as he stared at her face, the thoughts in his head jumbled and found he couldn’t even string together a two-word sentence. He found himself wishing that she was also capable of reading minds. It would have made his life so much easier.

“You look like hell, Daniel,” she said, her voice as biting as the wind.

He ran a palm down his bristly jaw. “I feel like I’ve been through hell.” His head was still pounding and he had hurt himself from moving too quickly back in the diner. He didn’t know if he even had it in him to explain.

Olivia crossed her arms across her chest. “Well, are you going to start talking or are we just going to freeze out here?” He noticed that, though she wore a stern façade, her lips were beginning to tremble and she was hunching into her long, wool coat.

Feeling a healthy dose of regret, Daniel took one step forward and gathered her into him. She was stiff, not yielding to his embrace, but he rested his chin on her head and sighed with contentment regardless.

“I can’t tell you where I’ve been the past few days. Just know that I would have called you if I had been able,” he said into her hair. “I was, uh, tied up.”

“You’ll tell me one day,” she said with utter confidence. Gently, she pushed away from his chest and looked up at him. “Just tell me this: did your disappearance have anything to do with that woman at the diner?”

He was glad to finally have an answer. “No. She was just a stranger who wanted to talk.”

“About what?” Her eyes narrowed.

“About her dreams.” Which, technically, wasn’t a lie. In order to explain Coral’s abilities, he would first have to delve into his own, something he was definitely not prepared to do right that moment.

“So you don’t know her? Some random woman just came up to you at a diner and started talking about her dreams?” Judging from the skeptical rise of one eyebrow, he guessed that she wasn’t buying what he was selling.

“Yeah, she’s not quite right in the head.” Again, technically true.

With a small sniff, Olivia reached into her black purse and withdrew an envelope. “Anyway, here’s the ticket. I was just coming to drop it off.”

He blinked in surprise. “How do you know where I live?”

“I have my ways. You’re not the only one with secrets, Daniel Johnson.” She walked off then paused, looking back over her shoulder. “We’ll talk later. After the performance,” she added.

“Uh, sure,” he said, filled with dread at the thought of having to explain why he’d been missing for the past four days, and why he was then caught sitting across the table from a woman who claimed to see the future. And though he understood that he didn’t owe Olivia a thing – least of all, a debriefing on why he was such a freak – in his gut, he knew that he was bound to spill the beans sooner or later. He didn’t need a psychic to know that telling Olivia the truth about his secret nature was an inevitability.

Daniel was a useless bag of glop for the rest of the day, only leaving the warmth of his bed to use the bathroom. He should have been searching for the drug lord and his minions, but what he should have been doing and what he actually felt like doing were two vastly different things. Vengeance would just have to wait another day.

That night, however, he had recharged enough to make his way to the Lincoln Center, the home of the New York City Ballet, with one ticket to Swan Lake in hand. Once inside, he found his seat easily enough and was glad to discover that it was near the back of the auditorium, close to a door should he need to make an abrupt exit. He had awakened in that river without his balaclava, which meant that his identity had been compromised. Without knowing the extent of the drug lord’s reach, Daniel was taking a real risk by coming out to the ballet as he could be spotted and tailed. Which meant that he could not risk being seen with Olivia, at least, not until after he’d engineered an end to his problems.

As he was thinking of ways to identify the men who had tried to take his life, the curtain onstage rose and thus began the very first ballet he had ever attended. He found it highly amusing that he, Daniel Johnson, was at a ballet on his own volition, and without a date at that. Olivia King, dancer and quiet seducer extraordinaire, definitely had his balls in a firm grip.

The moment Olivia took her first steps into the light, she felt her muscle memory take over and she lost herself completely to the music. Her body had been conditioned to move in such a way that she no longer needed to think of her next move, leaving her mind free to focus on infusing emotion into the role of Odette. And though her friend Michael was dancing as Prince Siegfried, she imagined it was actually Daniel who saw her turn from a swan into a beautiful princess at dusk, the man whose love could free her from the evil sorcerer’s spell.

For Olivia, nowhere else could make her as comfortable as a brightly lit stage as she danced in front of the world. She could feel the bright lights on her skin, as warm and nourishing as sunshine, and the music coursing through her veins. When she danced, she was light and delicate as a snowflake, a unique beauty to behold, a sweet-tempered force of nature.

“This is the nicest gift anyone has ever given me,” Natasha whispered to John
Mathers
as they sat in the audience for the opening performance of Swan Lake. “I’ve never even been to the ballet before. I’ve always passed by this building and wondered what it’s like. And now, here I am!”

“Uh-huh.” John nodded absently, unable to take his eyes off the woman dancing onstage. She was all fluid limbs, grace manifest. “I never knew ballet could be so… I mean, how can the human body move like that?” he said more to himself. He held his breath as the woman onstage performed a series of leaps with the elegance of a silk ribbon blowing in the breeze.

He heard a soft rustling of pages and a moment later, Natasha said, “Says here she’s been dancing all her life. Olivia King has been with New York City Ballet for seven years. Wow, that is dedication.”

John nodded, only vaguely hearing his girlfriend’s murmurings, as she had the annoying tendency to talk during times like these. Then a small detail caught his attention. “What did you say her name was?” he said, glancing down at the program in her hands.

“
Ssh
!” their neighbor hissed.

Natasha mouthed an apology then turned back to her boyfriend. “Olivia King. Why, do you know her?”

John stared at the program. “No,” he said, hoping wildly that the face that peered up at him in black and white was not that of Richard King’s much-lauded only daughter. Still, he needed to make sure. He needed to meet this Olivia King.

The hall exploded with applause and whistles as the company of Swan Lake took their final, ecstatic bows. The opening performance had been flawless.

“You were so good!” Olivia exclaimed to the muscular man who played Prince Siegfried. She embraced her dance partner and an elated laugh bubbled from her chest.

Michael lifted her and spun around once. “So were you! Are you coming to celebrate at Mia’s?”

She nodded as they headed to the dressing rooms, feeling as if walking on air. “I just have to find my date first.”

After she had removed all traces of her heavy stage makeup and changed out of her costume into the slightly more comfortable jeans and a loose cashmere sweater, Olivia ventured out of the dressing room in search of Daniel. Halfway down the hall, she was intercepted by an impossibly tall Swede with short blond hair, piercing blue eyes and an impeccable grey suit.

“Can I get an autograph?” he said with a flirtatious smile.

“Alex!” Without a second thought, Olivia threw her arms around his neck.

He kissed her cheek and chuckled. “Good to see you, Mei,” he said in his flawless English.

She pulled away and smiled up at Alexander Dahlgren, his classically handsome face bringing back memories of her early twenties. “You’re still calling me that?” she said with a wide smile.

“That is your name, isn’t it?” He winked and hugged her again, lifting her off the ground. “You were wonderful up there, Mei. You get better with each performance. I swear, sometimes your jumps defy gravity.”

“Thank you.” If she was happy before, she was absolutely giddy now at the sight of her old friend. She regarded his lightly tanned face closely, noting that he no longer sported his signature golden goatee. Nevertheless, clean-shaven Alex was just as breathtaking as a print and runway model, which, incidentally, had been his profession before he’d returned home to Sweden. “So how long are you in town for? Business or pleasure?” she said, wagging her eyebrows suggestively. Over two years had passed since she’d seen him last, and still she couldn’t help but revert back to their suggestive banter. Old habits, it seemed, died hard.

“I’m back for good.” Alex’s blue eyes roved over her face as if he were a starving man facing a feast. “At least, for a little while.”

Olivia smiled to herself. It was just like Alex to be so non-committal, especially to things that mattered.

One side of his lips curled up. “And when it comes to you, Mei,
pleasure
. Each and every time.”

She tried to conceal her flush with a chuckle. “Does that line work for you in Sweden?”

“Only when I don’t say your name,” he said with a grin. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a small box. “Anyway, I got this for you. To celebrate your opening night.”

“Thank you.” She flicked a surprised glance his way before accepting the little package. Inside was a velvet bag that held a cut crystal grizzly bear. “Orion’s Major,” she said, grinning wistfully.

“You remembered.”

She could feel his eyes on her face, warmer than the spotlights on stage, making her flush from its heat. “How could I forget? It was from that pool party at Nikki’s rooftop,” she said softly, turning the bear in her fingers and watching the light glint off its facets. “Back when my life was a blender full of alcohol, men and fabulous parties.”

She and Alex had been in the pool during one of those fabulous occasions, atop a ritzy apartment building in Tribeca, drinking straight out of the Cristal bottle and flirting like hell. Alex had been trying to impress her with his knowledge of the constellations, pointing them out one by one in the ebony sky, and she’d been disagreeing with him simply to get a rise. An exasperated Alex was almost as fun as a flirty one.

“No, that’s Orion’s Belt, you goofball!” she’d said at one point. She wasn’t so much impressed with his knowledge as she was drunkenly smitten.

He had shaken his head vehemently. “That’s
Ursa
Major,” he’d said and reached up to connect the stars with his long fingers. “See? It makes a bear.”

She had shrugged, mumbling something about not being a
nerd major
, and had taken another swig of the champagne. She had been pleasantly surprised to feel his arms wrapping around her waist, thinking it was about damn time as she felt his bare chest against her back. She had leaned her head against his shoulder as they’d looked up at the stars and had relished the simple pleasure of skin against skin.

“When I’m gone, every time I look up at that
Orion’s Major
, I’ll think of you,” he had whispered in her ear, and in the next moment, she had felt his teeth nibbling on her earlobe, making her entire body tingle with pleasure.

They had spent the rest of the evening pressed against each other, kissing as if they were nearing the end of the world. He’d sought more from her after that night but she’d refused, not wanting to begin a relationship with a definite expiration date. A month and a half later, he had stepped aboard a plane and had flown back to his homeland across the world.

Olivia sighed ruefully as she came back to the present, to the bear in her hand and to the man who stood before her. Lacking words, she wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed. “There’s a big bear hug for you. I’m so happy to see you.”

He laughed, deep and sexy. “What are you doing tonight? Are you free for a celebratory drink?” he said, his disarming smile on full display. With his slanted eyes and high cheekbones, he was quite possibly the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. They sure knew how to grow them in Sweden.

“I can’t,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty that she’d almost all but forgotten about Daniel. “I have to meet up with someone.”

He nodded casually, though his disappointment was evident in his expressive eyes. “That’s a pity. I was hoping we could catch up. But anyway, my number’s still the same. Give me a call soon, okay?”

She hugged him again before he walked away, looking over his shoulder once more to throw her a playful wink. As she turned to go, a hand caught her by the elbow. “Okay, Alex, maybe we can – ”