A Tempest In The Night Part 20

With a groan, I rolled away from her, hugged myself, as shudders of unfulfilled desire racked my body. My first priority was to take care of her.

I was naked and the blinds were up. I breezed that off. Nudity meant nothing to me. I placed her in her bed, covered and tucked her in and then pulled the blinds down. Nudity might mean something totally different to her.

I stretched out beside her, feeling the guilt take over me. Then I felt her come to. I had to do it. To preserve my honor or what I had left of it.

"Daedalus? She groaned stretched like a cat after a satisfying nap. I wanted to get between her legs again. My c.o.c.k bobbed. I held the shaft firmly. It was sensitive to the touch and sap threatened to rise to the top.

"Go back to sleep, Illy. You need your rest."

"My body is buzzing. I don't think I'll sleep for ages."

Ilida sat up feeling the effects of having s.e.x with him. "Umph. My neck is soar." She felt wonderfully sated. She would feel full for days. It was the same feeling after having s.e.x with him the first time. Only this time he'll be the one leaving. "Maybe it's for the best."

"We agreed as much."

"You read my thoughts while we made-while we had s.e.x?"

"Some women would think that's an a.s.set."

"You make me forget you're a telepath." Ilida's neck throbbed and pulsed as she watched him get dressed. Instead of turning his back to her, he faced her. She never thought Daedalus was the shy type-far from it.

He displayed his olive-skinned, muscular-yet-lithe body. The part of him that entranced her boldly stood straight out, thick and pointed towards her. Wetness promptly flowed from between her legs: his arousal and hers.

She wanted him but she wanted him normal. He isn't normal. She wanted simple, uncomplicated maleness. He's overwhelmingly male complicated and...

"And dangerous? f.u.c.king a telepath must horrify you," he muttered.

He couldn't keep from listening in on her thoughts. "It unnerves me."

"Why?"

"I want someone... normal."

To be fair she had a tendency to listen in on his, but it wasn't deliberate. For some reason she still couldn't disengage from him. It wasn't for lack of trying. At the risk of sounding like a cell phone commercial she tried to block him, but to no avail.

"I admire your honesty, though I'm mystified as to why it didn't bother you the first time we had a toss."

His anger surprised her. She didn't think she fazed him. "I got carried away."

"You bet you did."

Was that pain she saw? Or was it wounded pride? "I want someone less knowledgeable about me."

"While you don't know yourself, Illy."

"I'll let that comment go."

"I can't let it go. I've done things with you I've never done with the other women I've slept with."

He b.u.t.toned his s.h.i.+rt closing off the view of his abs and pectorals. One b.u.t.ton, two b.u.t.tons... closed. He rolled down his sleeves covering his daunting arms. Why did he have to be so masculine? Why did she have to want him so much?

"How am I supposed to take what you said?" she asked.

"Take it any way you want to."

Chapter Thirteen

Be careful going back home," Ilida said. "

No one has ever wished me a safe trip home before."

"I don't believe that."

"It's true."

She didn't want to wish him a safe trip home. She wanted him to stay with her tonight. Before she could sensor herself, she blurted out. "Can I-?" Then she bit her tongue.

"Yes, Ilida?"

"Can I have a hug?"

He arched his brow as he pulled on his tailored pants. "A hug? While your sheets have fallen down to your waist exposing your beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s?"

Ilida didn't bother to look down at herself. She covered her chest and hugged the sheet to her.

Daedalus continued. "I don't need salt poured on the wound."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm attracted to you and it's dangerous for me," he confessed.

"It's dangerous for me, too," she said, feeling defeated and worn out. Fighting her emotions was too d.a.m.n hard with him standing in front of her.

"I don't need you traipsing around in my head anymore than you want me traipsing about in yours."

With that, she felt his mind close off to hers like a steel door slamming shut. He walked out of her bedroom. She quickly got out of bed and searched for her robe. Before she could run into the living room, the front door slammed shut.

Ilida stared at the door, her heart breaking into a million pieces. It was his absence. Suddenly he was around her touching, kissing her then in a puff of smoke, he was gone. One minute she and Daedalus were making the love the next he didn't want it or her. It wasn't one sided. He wanted her, too. It had been written all over his face when he left.

Daedalus held back. Of course, he had to. He'd lost his daughter and on top of that, he had to deal with Ilida's mental intrusion. He's probably so confused and she added to it by seducing him, and that was so unlike herself.

I don't seduce. G.o.d, she questioned if she knew how. Her maternal instinct was stuck on go mode. Her neck ached again.

What was she going to do with her desire now? "You're going to take a d.a.m.n bath, and you're going to forget about him," she said to the four walls of her bedroom. She marched to the bathroom, turned on the water in the tub.

Her bath was relaxing, tranquil but it didn't keep thoughts of Daedalus away. She kept herself from reaching out to him with her thoughts. She could so easily, but she had to give him s.p.a.ce. He needed it.

In her bed, she tossed and turned for hours, and then finally drifted off to sleep...

The curly hairs on his forearm tickled her neck. His imposing body pressed her against the fibers. His hands held her hips against him.

And the way he moved inside her...his hard chest flattened her b.r.e.a.s.t.s then moved against her nipples with each thrust. She was weightless only feeling his arms around her and his lips kissing her neck. There was sharp pain mingled with the sweetness between her legs. Salty thickness mingled with his kisses. The delicious tightening at the center of her body caused her back to arch. As she came, he swallowed her screams. He came too spilling his seed, bathing her organs. She was hot all over burning up. Her skin slick with sweat...

"Good Lord!" Ilida jumped fully awake feeling him inside her still. She was breathless.

The shrill ringing of her phone made her jump. She reached over and answered it. "H-h.e.l.lo?"

"I'm going to score, Ilida."

She sat up, blinking her eyes. "Mike?"

"I need your help."

She groped for the light on her bedside table, felt the grooved, tubular shaped switch, and pressed it in. She squinted her eyes form the sudden illumination in the room. "Did you leave Tilly?"

"No, but man I need drugs."

"I'll... be right there."

Wetness coated her panties. She ran to her adjoining bathroom, pulled off her nightgown and turned on the shower .

My feet felt weighted by anvils as I walked down the stairs of Ilida's apartment building. I kept my eyes focused ahead of me. My heart beat at a furious rhythm. By the G.o.ds, I could still feel the taste of her in my mouth.

Daedalus?

I know. I'm on my way.

We'll meet you there.

I jogged down the terra-cotta cement stairs and opened the gate. One last time I looked up at her window like a fool. The light was on. It was so d.a.m.n easy for me to connect with her thoughts, but I stopped myself. Duty called.

Chapter Fourteen

Ready Mike?"

"No."

"What would you rather do instead? We could cook? Paint?"

Ilida's limbs moved like rubber and shook with unsteadiness. It was 4:00 a.m. and Mike, her patient at the Tilly Alcohol and Substance Abuse Inpatient Rehab Center, needed intervention. He'd called her up two and half hours ago crying and desperately wanting to take drugs.

She'd been in the middle of a great dream about Daedalus after they'd made love. He would say they had s.e.x. She couldn't see it as s.e.x. It was so much more, but doomed. After their second time making love, they both realized that it was fraught with too much emotional ammunition.

Yes, she was a hypocrite. She was a telepath and so was he. She wanted some semblance of normalcy and he wasn't the one to give it. She made him vulnerable. Vulnerability was good but not for him so they'd gone their separate ways. And what was worse, since she was Mike's counselor and Daedalus was his guardian, well, they'd see each other again.

She was well suited for this job, and parents and patients loved the results.

Ilida picked Mike up along with Paul, the security guard, and they drove to the Suffolk County Recreation Center. Tilly's employees and patients had unlimited access and she took advantage of it.

Paul stood by in case Mike had a violent outburst. He'd had many before she began treating him. He'd been kicked out of other rehabilitation centers and was labeled violent. Mike was at the end of his rope and Ilida had run out of options. He was teenager with no place else to go. She felt for him; yearning for a mother that would never come back.

"I'm not in the mood to swim."

He fidgeted and seemed fixated on her neck. Maybe he needed a place to focus on. "What are you in the mood to do, Mike?"

"Snort."

"What drugs did you take?"

"Dust and some other stuff."

He took heroin, but the other stuff made her worry. Mixing drugs was lethal. "Do you know what the other drugs you took are?"

He hunched his shoulders nonchalantly. "I don't know, some red stuff."

That gave her nothing to go on.

"Why did you call me, Mike?"

He shrugged "To stop drugging."