TheHealers (10 page)

“Of course you would think that. However, I’m genuinely curious. You just told me that there are people in the world like me. You said we’re the same. I just wondered if you provide this kind of service for all the other women like me.” As soon as I finished, I immediately regretted my words. How could I even cheapen this connection I had right now? Just as quickly, my mind recoiled upon realizing I did not believe in this kind of attraction. There was no such thing. Everything was about choices. People made choices about being with one another. There was no magic string that drew them together. I did not believe in soul mates. So why did I feel like this man that held me was privy to the contents of my soul?

A hurt look crossed over his features and he brushed his fingers across my cheek as he spoke, “This is not what I was doing with her, but yes, she is one of us.”

My response was twofold. One, on a very deep subconscious level I was excited they weren’t doing
this
. Two, I belonged to a group. I was a part of
us
. Now, I just needed to learn about
us
.

Alexander stood up and guided me to my feet. He gently tugged at my fingers until I was standing before him. He brought my body against his in an embrace. As I pulled back I saw a painful look in his face.

“I’m going next door to your house to get your things so you can stay here tonight.”

I started to protest, but he cut me off.

“There is no way I’m going to let you stay in that house. You have no idea yet what’s going on.” The protectiveness in his stance dared me to argue.

I remembered my bag in the car, Leo’s car.

“Actually, I already have a bag packed in the car.”

Those caramel eyes paused on me.

“I had planned to stay at Leo’s tonight. Remember, you met him this morning.” As I remembered, my eyes found their way to Alexander’s lips. Oh, I could almost feel them on me again. Chills ran through me.

“Are you cold?”

His playful voice echoed in my ear. He was suddenly very close to me and his fingers grazed on my shoulders again. But this time his gaze was on my chest.

Nice. I had, in my hazy mind, recalled putting on one of those flimsy t-shirt bras that provided no coverage against anything perky, or pointy, as the case may be.

Then he spoke again, “You’re staying here tonight.” He leaned over and just barely touched lips to my neck.

Alexander grabbed the car keys and was out the door. I stood for a moment and took a deep breath. It still took my breath away every time he touched me. The Earth shattered when the touch involved lips. Sigh. Before I could make a decision about whether or not to go in the kitchen or sit in the living room, he came back through the house.

“Why don’t you get cleaned up while I fix some dinner? You can get out of those clothes now and relax.” I was in awe. He was gorgeous and could cook. Wait…did he just tell me to get out of my clothes?

My brain started to process all the events and new information I had gotten today. “I have a lot of questions. I don’t think I can relax.”

“Yes, you can. We can talk all you want at dinner.” He was not going to negotiate, and for some odd reason, I wasn’t going to argue anymore, for now.

He walked me down a long hallway to the back of the house. Alexander had his arm around my waist to prod me and the other hand held my bag. Only in Texas could two people walk down a hallway side by side. Even hallways were bigger in the South. The house did not appear lived in yet at all. There were very few personal items anywhere. Just necessary things. The door was open at the end of the hallway and I could see we were going to the master bedroom. My feet stopped.

“My bedroom has the bigger tub and I thought you would like to take a bath. Come on, I promise to leave you alone.” A small shadow of regret appeared across his face so swiftly that I might have missed it had I not been so attentive. It shifted into a playful smile. I followed him into the bathroom and was glad when I saw the tub. It was extravagant and called my name. I loved big whirlpool tubs and this one even had little jets to soothe as you soaked. The floor space in the bathroom was large enough to have a small party. Perfect. He opened a small little closet off to the side of the sink area to pull out a fluffy, white towel and put it on the counter.

My eyes found his again and softly mumbled, “Thank you.”

“I have something else for you, so don’t get undressed just yet, unless you want me to join you in the tub.” A tiny little crinkle formed on his cheeks and he disappeared.

While he was gone, I became fascinated with the towel. It was incredible just to touch. I wondered what that would feel like on my skin. It was so silky, but still a towel. I brought it up to my neck just to feel. Then little tingles ran all over the length of my body as I realized this was
his
towel. Alexander’s body had touched this towel. Before I could change my mind, I brought the towel with me into the walk in closet that was built off of the bathroom. I turned on the light and shut the door. The shirt came off and so did the pants. There I was in his closet in merely a bra and panties
—
that matched, of course. However incoherent I was when I got dressed this morning, I always took pleasure in matching my intimates. As my eyes peered down I realized that I’d picked a red bra and thong. The thong wasn’t really a surprise, since most of my sets were thongs. It really bothered me to have panty lines. And of course, it felt sensual to be covered or not covered, as the case may be, in fabric so provocative. I began to wrap the towel over my skin and realized it wasn’t enough. Next, I removed the intimates. My hands pulled the towel around my skin again. This was much better. The clothes were folded neatly on the counter and I was sitting on the edge of the tub when Alexander walked in again.

The tourmaline in his eyes went deeper the minute he looked at me. He almost dropped the glass of wine in his hand. He took all of me in and then he seemed to re focus and be able to speak.

“Did you decide you wanted me to join you?” There was a ghost of a smirk on his face, but for the most part, he looked serious.

“Yes…umm…no. I mean no.” I couldn’t even string together a decent response. This man made me lose all control.

“You are very lucky my hands are full right now.” His eyes reflected the hunger in mine. I noticed he also had a plate of fruit and cheese with the wine.

“I thought this might keep you until dinner. I didn’t want you to pass out in the tub.” He set the plate and glass down on the edge by me. Then ever so softly, ran his lips across the top of my head.

“Glykó mou.”

I had no idea what the words meant, but I felt a caress when he said them.

I surprised myself and consumed every bit of the food Alexander had brought for me to snack on. My body was beyond hungry, I realized. The glass of wine was suddenly my life support.

I walked back into the kitchen with my comfy drawstring pajama bottoms and matching top. It was a long sleeve top, because the temperature dropped at night in the winter. My hair was still slightly damp from the bath and sticking to my neck. I was hungry and did not want to waste time with a blow dryer, even though I had seen the blow dryer in the bathroom. My body only had one request
—
more food.

I came to a full stop in the kitchen as my hands tightly gripped the empty plate and wine glass. There he stood over the stove top. I could have sworn I had entered silently, but something in his body shifted to my presence and then his eyes were on me.

“Hi.” Shyly averting his gaze, I looked down, but could feel his stare. I tried to convince myself that I wanted him to look away, but I didn’t. I decided to speak again to break the stare. “The snacks were great. I think they just teased the hunger.”

“Good. I can’t have you pass out on me again. You might wake up in my bed next time.”

He thought he was so funny. “What’s for dinner?” We needed a subject change fast or I might just crawl into his bed willingly.

“I made some beef kebabs. It’s an old recipe of my Mom’s. I thought you might need some high calorie comfort food.” There he cooked, with a million dollar smile on his face. Oh yeah, this would be difficult. But, I refused to become putty in this man’s hands.

“It smells delicious. Did your mom cook a lot?” I sat down at one of the place settings already on the kitchen table.

“Yes. She had three boys and we constantly cleaned the kitchen out so she had to cook all day long to keep up with us.” A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he set down my plate. Then in the center of the table he laid out a plate of pita bread. “It’s for dipping in the sauce on the kebabs. Try it.” He grabbed a small piece and smothered it on my plate and then placed it ever so softly in my mouth. Pure heaven. It was so creamy, but not too heavy.

“I think I just had an orgasm.” Our eyes locked for a small little instant. It was enough to realize that there was a lot of non food related hunger going on in the room. I would have to watch my words. His fingers reached up to trace my lips. It was such a delicate touch, but it left a scorch. I turned my head down and continued to eat.

The food was amazing. I inhaled it so fast that I almost forgot about the questions I needed to ask. Almost.

“I want you to tell me about the others.” I gently set my fork down and grabbed my already filled wine glass.

“You’re part of an Order. An Order that was formed long ago. In fact, our people have become so spread out that we now work hard to track them and bring them in with us to fine tune their magic.” Alexander grabbed another piece of pita bread to try and feed me, but I quickly let him know I was too full. He fed himself instead.

“Is it your job to find people?” I had figured out by now that he found me.

“Not really.” He mumbled between mouthfuls. “You were already found when I came for you.”

“What are you then?” I was confused. What was his purpose?

“I am a therapeftís, like you.”

We were the same. I just reminded myself that I didn’t believe in sparks flying and all that fairy tale stuff.

“What does that word mean? Thera-” My eyes looked to him for an explanation. Even so, I started to feel myself close off a little. I was drawn to him because of the magic in our blood.

“Therapeftís is Greek. It translates to healer in English.” His voice was soft. I saw frustration in his eyes. He knew I was trying to close myself off from him.

Warm hands found their way around my face, “You are a Healer, Layna. You belong to us.” The words were simple, but I felt him pull me to him. I wanted to belong to him. Before I found myself stuck in his web, I drew back.

“Is that why I feel this?” There was anger in my voice. I wanted it to be real, but it wasn’t. “That’s what I’m feeling when you touch me.” I pushed my empty plate away and grabbed the wine glass again. I was pretty sure it had been refilled.

“We feel each other’s presence. It’s almost like a sixth sense. There are other beings we can sense too, but they alert our awareness to their difference. You will learn to differentiate.” Hope filled his gaze. It captivated my heart. “The other feelings…” He started and then reached over to touch my arm, “They are intensified because of what we are, but they are no less real.”

So many questions started to torpedo their way through my mind. Where did we come from? How did they find me? Could I really have this man?

“What does being a Healer mean?” I looked up to notice that Alexander had started to clean. I jumped up immediately to help. He walked to the refrigerator to put some things away and I took the opportunity to rush to the sink and start washing and loading the dishwasher.

His voice was suddenly in my ear from behind. “What are you doing? You need to sit and rest.” His arms seemed as though they were about to touch my waist, but then he relaxed them down at his sides.

“You rescued me from the driveway, brought me in your house and cooked for me. The least I can do is wash dishes. By the way, dinner was wonderful.” I was not able to make eye contact while I talked. I knew it would just melt my insides. Remembering passing out reminded me of something.

“Why was I unconscious? Did that have something to do with healing?” I’d put on gloves while washing the dishes, so I just kept blowing the pesky hair strands that were falling in my face. Alexander gently pushed the hair out of my face before he answered.

“Healing doesn’t usually weaken us to that state. It’s possible, but there are other things that can, though.” The controlled anger in his eyes showed me what a powerful man this was. He was someone I wanted on my side.

I put the last dish in the dishwasher and laid the gloves down on the sink. The faraway sound of reggae music started to travel down the hallway. “That’s my phone.” I ran back through Alexander’s bedroom to the bathroom where my bag was.

“Hello.”

“I started to worry when I didn’t hear back from you after the hospital.” It was the cool, calm voice of Leo.

“I’m sorry, I kind of passed out.” This was going to get in uncomfortable territory real fast.

“What! At the hospital? Are you sick?” Worry filled words echoed through my ear.

“No. I actually felt bad at the hospital. It was probably because I hadn’t eaten all day. I passed out in my driveway after I drove here from the hospital.” I paused for a moment. Should I just finish the story or wait for him to ask? “My neighbor found me passed out and brought me in.”