strangle them for thinking the violent, lurid, hateful or pointless thoughts they do.” Then another smile pasted itself across his face. “And by the way, you probably wouldn’t want to know what the night watchman at your station thinks of you.”
I nearly asked him what that meant, but shook my head. He was right. I didn’t want to know. “How long have you been able to, you know...”
“You can say it, Chief. No one is listening.”
“Fine,” I said. “How long have you been a mind reader?”
“My whole life, although it really seemed to kick into gear when I hit puberty.”
“And your brother...?”
He glanced at me and no doubt read the crap out of my mind. “Yes, he’s a mind reader, too.”
“Jesus...”
“Yep, I suspect he was a mind reader, too.”
I blinked, not following him, but then I got the joke…
“Ha ha, you’re so funny,” I answered, rolling my eyes. But then I found myself slapping his arm, which I hadn’t intended to do. It just, you know, sort of happened. Hmm, maybe I was a little too eager where the consuming of wine was concerned. I glanced at my glass and noticed it was already empty. Alex followed my gaze and immediately called the bartender over, ordering me another.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I asked, back to sounding irritated again. And that was just as well because irritated was what I needed to be where this guy was concerned—irritated kept the necessary distance between us.
He cocked his head to the side while a smirk played with the ends of his lips. “What if I were?”
I frowned. “If you think you’re going to escape, I’d find you. Just so you know. I’m known for never…”
“Escaping is the last thing on my mind,” he interrupted, his eyes smoldering. I gulped down the remainder of my words, suddenly pleased for the reprieve offered by the cranky barkeeper as she appeared before us, dropped off my second glass of wine and walked away.
We were quiet for a little while longer. My own mind was racing, and, to Alex’s credit, he appeared to be allowing me to work through my thoughts. Well, at least, he wasn’t telling me what I was thinking. He simply drank idly from his mug, looking forward, revealing his perfect profile.
“So your brother is a shape-shifter.”
“He’s a werewolf,” Alex corrected without looking at me.
“Yeah, a werewolf.”
Alex took in a breath of air, then lifted his mug and stared into it, before saying, “Yes, he is. A man who can shift into a wolf.”
I felt my stomach drop as I inhaled deeply and then exhaled just as deeply. This was not an easy subject to wrap my mind around. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
“For me, not so much,” he answered as he continued to eye the contents of his mug. When he brought his pained gaze to mine, I fought to hold it. I suddenly felt nervous, anxious for some completely bizarre reason. “For you, yes, I can imagine how crazy it sounds.”
“Good,” I answered with a feigned smile as I tried to lighten the mood. “Just as long as you understand that I’m having one hell of a time with this.” Alex took that moment to reach over and pinch the back of my hand, and hard, too. “Ouch! Why did you do... oh, never mind.” Yes, I’d just been thinking that I needed to pinch myself, to wake up from this dream, this nightmare. And judging by the hot pain radiating from my hand, I was definitely awake.
“Hey, you thought it,” he said with a shrug as I glared at him.
“I could have you...”
“Arrested for assaulting a police officer?” he finished for me, his eyes so penetrating, it almost felt like he could see right through me. “I suppose you could arrest me… again.”
“Fine, point taken,” I ceded. “Just keep your hands off me and we’ll be okay.”
He frowned as if he didn’t appreciate the words, like all he wanted to do was keep his hands on me.
“You’re right,” he said immediately, that smile back in its rightful position.
But there was no way in hell I was going to ask him what I was right about—whether I was right about him wanting to have his hands on me or whether I was right that he should keep his hands off me. I hated to admit it, but I was hoping for the former…
Neither of us said anything, but as we were sitting there, staring at one another,