“We need to teach Holly to read and control minds,” Justin announced grimly as he stepped outside.
Dante slicked his damp hair back from his face and turned to peer at him. “Sounds good,” he said, then slammed an open palm in the water bringing Tomasso’s swimming to an abrupt halt. When his twin swam to the edge of the pool and surfaced to peer around, Dante announced, “Justin wants to start teaching Holly to read and control minds.”
“About time,” the giant growled, running a hand down his face to brush away the water.
“Right. Now, how the hell do we do that?” Justin asked. He’d never actually been a part of training a new turn in reading minds, and didn’t really see how it would be done. It was hard to explain the concept of searching out a person’s thoughts to someone who had never done it. It wasn’t like hunting Easter eggs or anything as concrete as that.
Noting the glance the twins were exchanging, Justin frowned and raised his eyebrows. He then waited patiently as the two men pulled themselves out of the pool and retrieved their towels.
Running the towel over his large chest and then up his arms, Dante said, “We do what we did with Jackie.”
“Which was?” Justin asked curiously when the other man paused to concentrate on drying his hair, throwing the towel over his head and rubbing it roughly with both hands over every part of his head.
Justin had to bite back a smile when Dante pulled the towel off of his head. The man looked like one of the Bouviers after his mother had bathed and towel-dried them. His long hair now stood up every which way.
Running his fingers through the knotted mess, Dante pointed out, “Even young immortals can hear the thoughts of other immortals because they project their thoughts. Right?”
“Right,” Justin agreed.
Dante shrugged. “So, we start by projecting our thoughts to her as loud as we can. When she begins picking that up easily, we project them with a little less power, then less and less until we are merely leaving our minds open and she is searching out our thoughts. Then we take her to mortals to try.”
Justin stared at the man for a moment and then said slowly, “That’s brilliant.”
“Why do you think Lucian wanted us to help you?” Dante asked with amusement. “We might be pretty boys, but we’re not stupid.”
“No, you’re not,” Justin agreed on a chuckle.
“We’ll start first thing tomorrow,” Dante announced.
“Why not now?” Justin asked, fighting disappointment.
“Because you’ve had her out all evening,” Dante said patiently.
“She’ll be tired,” Tomasso added. “She needs to be fresh.”
“We also need no distractions and no interruptions,” Dante added. “So you aren’t invited.”
Justin stiffened at this news. “But I’m the one who is supposed to be training her. Lucian said I was responsible for—”
“You can take her out to the mall when we get to the point where she can read with some competency and needs to practice reading and controlling mortals,” Dante said with a shrug. “But until then, leave her to us.”
Justin scowled, reluctant to leave her to these two men. Actually, it wasn’t so much that he was reluctant to leave her with them. He trusted Dante and Tomasso. He just didn’t want to be away from her. She was his life mate, which meant he was naturally drawn to her and wanted to spend time with her. Shifting unhappily, he asked, “How long do you think it will take to get her to the point where she needs to practice reading mortals?”
Dante and Tomasso exchanged another look, and then both shrugged.
“Couple days,” Tomasso said when they turned back to Justin.
“Maybe as many as three,” Dante added. “But no more than that.”
“Three days!” Justin complained with dismay. Three days of staying away from Holly? That was like asking him not to eat for three days, he thought, and then recalled that it wouldn’t really be three days until he saw her again. He would still have their shared dreams while they were sleeping. That thought made him smile. He supposed he could survive three days of avoiding her in person as long as he had the dreams to look forward to. In their dreams was where he could hold and kiss and lick her wet, eager body and—
Justin’s thoughts ended on a squawk as Dante gave him a shove in passing that sent him flying into the pool. He surfaced quickly, spitting out water and cursing, but even so, heard Tomasso laugh and say, “Nice one, brother.”
“He needed to cool off,” was Dante’s response as the two men went inside.
Justin swam to the edge of the pool and leaned his face against the cold tiles with a sigh. He had needed to cool off. His thoughts had brought on an erection. But then thoughts of Holly often did that. The woman was like a drug in his blood. At first it had just been the idea that she was his life mate that brought on his interest in her, but after that kiss in the kitchen to bring on her fangs, and especially after the shared dreams . . .
Damn, she was addictive and he just couldn’t get enough. Aside from that, the more he got to know her, the more he actually liked her.
After dispensing what advice they could, his parents and he had joined Holly at the table in the kitchen to visit. Justin had mostly watched and listened as his parents had drawn Holly out, and he’d liked what he saw and heard. She was smart and sweet, with a good sense of humor, and she’d been kind and respectful to his parents. He even admired her determination to stick to her marital vows. He didn’t like it, but it showed she had honor.
On top of that, while she’d screamed like a crazy person when Octavius had come charging out of the house, later she’d asked to go out to the kennels to see the dogs his mother obviously loved so much. Justin was pretty sure she hadn’t done it because she had any great desire to see them, herself. He knew she’d caught him looking out toward the kennels several times during the visit. He’d wanted to see Octavius again before he left. She’d sensed that and braved her fears so that he could see the dog he’d nursed as a puppy. She’d even slipped one hand through the gate to allow the dogs to smell and lick her fingers. She’d trembled as she’d done it, but she’d done it. It gave Justin hope that someday she might actually get over her fear of the beasts.
Yeah, he had it bad for Holly. She was quickly becoming the focus of his life, the only thing he could see clearly. He just worried she would never allow herself to feel the same for him. That she would stick doggedly to her marriage vows and sacrifice all that they could be together.
Sighing, Justin pulled himself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool to dry.
Fourteen
Holly set her toothbrush on the side of the sink and quickly rinsed her mouth, then stepped out into the bedroom, only to pause and eye the bed warily. If this was the Garden of Eden, that bed was her snake. Well, okay, not the bed, but the dreams she might have in it. They were temptation incarnate . . . and as she’d feared, they had made her look at Justin differently today. Recalling the feel of Dream Justin’s hands and lips on her body and the excitement and passion she’d felt with him, she’d found herself staring at his hands and mouth that day, and wondering if they could give the same pleasure to her waking body. She’d also found herself paying undue attention to his physique in his tight clothes. Dream Justin had nothing on the real Justin’s body.
Where James was wiry with the slightest paunch, Justin was built like a man who lifted weights. Not with big brawny muscles like Dante and Tomasso, but with muscle and definition.
Holly grimaced guiltily at comparing her husband to Justin in her head. It wasn’t fair. Aside from that, she’d never seen Justin even near a weight. She suspected his perfect form was thanks to the nanos. James didn’t have that advantage.