Page 61 of Smuggler's Beauty

How was he going to do that?

Oh.

Oh.

Delicious, inappropriate possibilities flooded his mind. He shifted his focus to the view screen, very glad the camera could only capture him from the chest up.

Clearing his throat, he said, “You do realize if this hurts her in any way, I’m holding you responsible? And then the moms will be in line behind me?”

“Relax, sticky fingers. She’ll be fine. If everything goes according to plan, she’s not even going to have to use this particular skill.”

“That’s a big ‘if’, Vinnie.”

“Which is why we’re orchestrating contingencies.”

Aiden nodded and cut the communication off. He leaned back in his chair and tugged on his beard as he brainstormedways to help Evelyn relax. He had no problems coming up with ways to turn Evelyn on. He’d been cataloging her responses to his presence. When it had been grossly unethical to pursue her, he’d considered the knowledge money in the bank. Seduction techniques for a rainy day.

It was fucking pouring now.

He levitated some markers and let his thoughts drift back on his interactions with Evelyn, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Strike.

And like a ball hitting nine pins, everything fell into place.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Evelyn wipedher face with her hands. She’d finished organizing the media. Books and movies were in neat, orderly lines on the shelves. But the trembling was getting worse. Her heart was beating a staccato tap in her chest.

Sitting at the desk, she glared at the electronics she’d drained. She picked up the music player and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the energy that filled her body, thrumming along with the beating of her heart, and tried to push it back out. Nothing happened.

She wanted to cry. Having this much power with no release valve in sight couldn’t be good for a human body. The time she’d forced herself to spend in the gym had only taken the barest edge off of the zing in her veins.

Maybe this was one more thing she was destined to fail at.

A gentle knock on the open door startled her. She jumped, the music player hopping out of her palms for an instant. She grasped it firmly and opened her eyes.

Aiden stood in the doorway, idly telekinetically juggling three dry erase markers.

“Sorry about that. I have an idea,” he said. “About your situation.”

Evelyn felt her lips twitch. “You’re a master of understatement.”

“We all have our talents. Why don’t you take a nice long shower and meet me in the lobby when you’re done?”

She grimaced and tried to surreptitiously sniff at herself. “Am I that rank?”

His control of the markers faltered for a moment.

“I mean, if I could smell you from here that would be a problem, but I just thought it would be relaxing.”

Evelyn’s head tilted as she tried to follow his thought process. “You want to relax the power out of me?” She briefly wondered if she could lure him into the shower with her.

Supervised relaxation on that front might actually make my heart explode.

He grinned. “Something like that. I have a . . . two pronged approach in mind.” He walked toward her, grabbing the markers out of the air, then sat down in the empty chair next to her.

“Do you trust me, Evelyn?”