want to leave her. He wanted to stroke his fingers along her pale cheek, to erase forever the marks that Sullivan had put on her body and replace those memories with pleasure.
He had veered dangerously off-track.
Moving quietly, he gathered a clean outfit from the dresser, turned off the bedside lamp and closed the door as he exited. Once outside, he showered, shaved, and fixed a strong cup of coffee. Taking it into the other room along with another sandwich, he sat at the desk and ate as he considered this current debacle.
Molly never should have been able to see the contents of this room, but she had recovered Power much faster than he’d anticipated. From the questions she had asked, he realized he had revealed far more in their previous conversations than he had ever meant to. How the hell had she known to ask if he was Russian?
As soon as he thought it, the answer came to him. He had cast spells in front of her. Of course she had paid close attention to everything he had said whether she understood it or not. He had been her only real source of information about something that was very important to her.
He could spellcast in English, but sometimes he fell back on casting spells as he had learned them in his native language. That had been a sloppy mistake. She might not know how to speak Russian, but she sure as hell knew how to make an educated guess.
His coven email had blown up while he’d slept. He skimmed through the various reactions to the news of the compromised safe house. Questions, speculation, arguments. Richard was pissed, and so was Henry. They wanted to know what had happened. Anson had jumped in later to give an update on Saturday night’s deaths.
“Unless you’re going to haul me in and charge me with something, I’ve decided I need to leave Atlanta,” Molly said from behind him, her voice rusty. “I’d been thinking about it anyway, and what happened to Austin and Nina just solidified it. And whatever you’re involved in that necessitates all these precautions… that’s way beyond my coping skills.”
He put his computer in sleep mode and sat back. “You’re right. I was going to suggest it when you got up.”
“You’re so full of bullshit.” She coughed out a laugh. “What happened to ‘Let’s rule the Eastern Seaboard together’?”
Because she had more raw Power than the rest of his coven put together. Instead of telling her that, he raised his eyebrows and spun around to face her. “Once you get ahold of something, you don’t let go, do you?”
“Not usually, which is one of the reasons why I stayed in a dead-end marriage for so long.” She grimaced. “It’s one of my worst personality traits.”
“Or one of your finest.” A small silence fell. Then he shrugged and said, “Anyway, offering to teach you was a bad impulse, and I’ve since thought better of it. You’re in danger here, and I don’t have time to babysit a new witch.” Or any time to indulge the dangerous distraction… obsession she had become. “As soon as you’re on your feet, you need to relocate.”
Licking her lips, she moved into the room and leaned against his desk. His clothes looked ridiculous on her. The T-shirt gaped at her slender neck and arms, and the sweatpants hung low on her hips. Even his thick white socks were somehow adorably oversized on her narrow feet. And the nipples of her small, firm breasts were visible against the old, thin material of the shirt.
He had to throttle down a surge of anger. Even beat up and badly dressed, she was gorgeous, and she was becoming more compelling by the minute. Sullivan had been a remarkably ugly, stupid man.
“Somebody killed Nina,” she said in a low voice. She glanced in his coffee mug, then picked it up to take a deep swallow. “And if I didn’t kill Austin, somebody else did. They’re going to want me dead too. I don’t know how to live in hiding. How do I leave without getting caught?”
Wearing his clothes. Drinking his coffee. Leaning back against his desk while they talked.
For a blistering moment, he imagined it happening in another life where they were both safe and free from secrets and they chose to share such domestic, intimate moments with each other.
Either before sex or after. His whole body tightened. Now who was being stupid?
Rubbing his face, he fought to get his unruly body