“Jonah?”
“Yeah?” He sounded distracted.
“Who’s Zachary?”
This time the silence stretched on endlessly.
Eve couldn’t bear it. It echoed through her ears, deafening her. She opened her eyes and looked at him, only to find him staring back, his expression confused, cautious.
“That’s the second time you’ve said the name,” he finally said.
“I merged with him. A child named Zachary.”
“What did he look like?”
Eve shrugged. “I don’t know. While I could see what he saw and hear what he heard, I couldn’t see him.” She hummed the song Edna had sung.
Jonah’s jaw dropped.
“His grandmother was singing to him.” The word struck a chord. Hadn’t Jonah spoken about his grandmother earlier, when he’d first given her the roses?
“His grandmother?” Jonah’s eyes widened.
“Edna.” The refined, beautifully dressed woman. “Brown eyes, brown hair. Although she was graying, rather grandly I might add.”
Jonah collapsed into a chair. “My grandmother.”
“Edna’s your grandmother?”
“Was.” His face fell. “She died a few years ago.”
She left him to his thoughts, let him assimilate what she’d told him. Though the visions were different every time, she was used to them. She’d been having them for eleven years, ever since the explosion. This was all brand new for him.
“Zachary? The kid you saw…or merged with?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s me.”
“You’re Zachary?”
“Zachary Pace. It’s my real name.”
“What about Jonah?”
“Stage name. And middle name.”
“Ah.”
And then they were both silent for a while.
Jonah came to sit beside her on the couch, perching on the edge of the cushions. She scooched up to make space for him.
“Tell me more. Tell me all of it.”
She told him, describing everything she’d seen and heard.
Jonah stared. “That lullaby my grandmother sang was her special song for me. She and I were the only ones who knew it. Until now, no one else has ever heard it.”
“It seemed to make you happy.”
He smiled. “It did. It gave me a sense of my future.”
“So, have you met her yet?”
“Met who?”
“Your future. The redhead from your imagination.” Her heart squeezed painfully as she asked.
He blinked. “Y-you saw that too?”
“I was you, Jonah. I was Zachary. Whatever you felt or thought that night, I felt and thought.” She’d experienced his sheer contentment at the idea of meeting the redhead. Contentment, happiness, excitement and anticipation.
Which was odd, really, because although she’d experienced all of Jonah’s feelings, they weren’t hers. Her personal emotions were quite different. She was put out, fiercely disappointed and…jealous.
“Jesus, this is weird.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Bizarre.”
To say the least.
What was weird for Eve, however, was that she’d told Jonah about her vision. There were times she didn’t mention having them at all. She’d yank her hand away and brush over it, explaining away her dizziness with arbitrary excuses like she must have stood up too fast, or that she hadn’t eaten all day.
But with Jonah she hadn’t thought twice. She’d told him.
“Look, I know how wacky this all sounds. If it helps at all, I did try to avoid it happening.”
“You did?”
“Earlier, when you offered to shake my hand, I kinda sensed something would happen, so I refused you. Twice.” She knew it must have come across as rude, but hey, better rude than invasive, right?
“You knocked my arm away.”
“I did.” Still aware of the jealousy niggling at her belly, she pressed him for an answer. “So, have you?”
“Have I what?
“Met her yet?” Another painful squeeze of the heart.
“You don’t pull punches, do you?”
“You kissed me earlier. Kissed me like you meant it.” Or maybe she’d been the one kissing him like she meant it. Just remembering the touch of his lips against hers—the glide of his tongue, the taste of his breath—brought a fresh wave of goose bumps racing over her spine and made her belly dip and jump. “If the woman of your fantasies is in your life, I want no part of your kisses.”
Not true!
Eve wasn’t exactly sure which part of her had yelled that. Her heart? Her mind? Her soul? Her…pussy?
“I did mean it.” His gaze met hers, and his lips softened in a sensual smile, making her heart slam into her ribs. “Didn’t mean to do it in front of all those people though, but I couldn’t help myself. You made eating that chocolate look like a sexual feast.” He closed his eyes for a second and licked his lower lip as though remembering the kiss and how the chocolate had tasted on her tongue.
The action caught her deep in her belly and brought back the breathless wonder she’d experienced when he kissed her.
“Th-then we’re even, because you make breathing look like an erotic festival.” She took a deep breath, steadying her pounding heart. “But, mate, that’s beside the point. You’ve once again avoided answering my question.”
“Maybe that’s because you don’t ask the easiest of questions.”
“See? Another non-answer.”
He eyed her thoughtfully.
Eve sighed and pushed up into a sitting position. The dizziness had subsided, and she felt stupid lying on the couch.
Jonah shifted to give her space. Even so, she had to shuffle awkwardly to get her legs around him and put her feet on the floor. She accidentally rubbed her calves against his side in the process.
Shockwaves pulsed through her at the contact. Sharp pulses of energy that set her blood on fire and awakened every nerve ending in her body.
But it was time to ground herself firmly in Eve-world again. Time to remind herself she had no place in Jonah Speed’s hotel room. Or life, for that matter. There was no point getting all worked up because Jonah had kissed her once. And given her flowers.
She was just Eve Andrews, the scarred girl from down the road. Even if Jonah’s interest in her had been genuine before now, she’d have destroyed it all with her freak show.
Just like she’d destroyed any possible relationship with her little talent. Men tended to run a mile when they discovered her “gift”. If her scars didn’t chase them off beforehand. And generally, the visions weren’t necessary. Men took one look at her face…and fled.
She stood up. “Look, Jonah, I’m sorry. I’m prying into issues I have no business prying into. Shoving my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Zachary.”
“Pardon?”
“Please, call me Zachary. You’ve seen inside my head, it hardly seems right that you keep calling me Jonah.”
“I’m sorry about that too…Zachary.” It was a nice name. Suited him. She fidgeted nervously and took a step back. “About finding out your name when you obviously never intended for me to know. I’m sorry you got caught up in one of my visions. It’s not only unfair to you, it’s an extreme invasion of your privacy.”
“It’s not your fault.” He turned his palm upward and looked at it. “You tried to avoid my hand, but I never gave you a choice.”
“Still, you never gave me permission to enter your head. It’s not cool.” She took another step back, this time turning around to look for the door. It was time to leave.
For the first time she noticed they weren’t just in a small hotel room like hers. They were in a suite. A luxurious suite in the Crown Towers with a huge lounge and dining room, a door leading off to what she assumed was a bedroom, an entryway where a set of drums stood, and a wall of windows, which must offer sweeping views of Melbourne in the daytime. Even now, the city lights twinkled behind the glass.