What he was going through was almost scary.
Is what he felt for me due to the connection?
“Jason genuinely cares about you.”
I flinched and looked up at Ajax, who was standing next to me with a plate of tacos. “Did I say that out loud?”
He shook his head. “No.”
My brows furrowed. “Are you sure you can’t read minds?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then how could you have possibly known what I was thinking?”
“I felt it,” he tapped his head. “Empath.”
“Yeah, but empaths only feel emotions, right? Like when I’m angry or sad?”
“Practice. You felt worried, then unsure as you stared at Jason. From what I overheard, I connected the dots.”
“I don’t get you.” I scrunched my nose up at him. “You either emote like a caveman or spew out impossible knowledge.”
He shrugged. “I’m complicated.”
“I’m sorry, I just realized that was rather bitchy of me to say.” I whispered, my shoulders slumping. He didn’t deserve me saying that.
“But you weren’t wrong.” He grinned and put the plate down in front of me.
“It was still rude, so I’m sorry.”
Ajax sat down in the chair next to me and gave me a pat on the head. “You’re quick to rudeness when you feel cornered. At least you’re kind enough to apologize.”
Tongue-tied, I shoved a taco in my mouth, the heat rising in my cheeks when Ajax smirked and began to eat his own taco.
After a few bites, I changed the subject. “So, it seems that everyone has their own plan for me for today. What’s yours?”
“Paint or wood?”
Was that a question?
“Umm…wood?”
“Good choice.” He shoved the last bite of food into his mouth and then held out a hand for me.
I took it and followed him as he guided me out of the cabin and over to his workshop. Inside, he brought me over to a workbench with a hunk of wood. There was a chainsaw propped up against the bench.
“Pick a piece of wood, and I’ll teach you to carve it.”
“Sweet! Can I use the chainsaw?” I asked excitedly as I poked the giant tool.
“No. Not today.”
“Aw, why not?”
Ajax reached over and picked up the chainsaw, heaving it over his shoulder. “Too big for you.”
“Well, at least you’re not saying it’s because I’m a girl and it’s too dangerous.”
“It is too dangerous, you’re so tiny. I’ll find a smaller chainsaw next time.”
I smiled wide, excited by the idea of hacking a wood with a power chainsaw. “I’ll hold you to that.”
I studied the piles of lumber he had and chose a pretty large hunk. With ease, Ajax picked it up out of the pile and propped it on top of his work bench.
“Okay, now what?” I asked.
“What do you want?”
“Like, what do I want to carve the wood into?”
“Yes.”
I turned to the piece of wood and studied it, my fingers on my chin. I wondered if I should just pick something or do that thing that artists do where they see into the wood and sculpt what they see. Squinting at it, I tried to peer deep into the bark, waiting for the wood to tell me what it wanted to be. When that didn’t fucking work I shrugged and said the first thing that popped into my head.
“How about a sleeping dragon?”
Ajax looked at the wood and nodded. “Yeah, that could work.”
Reaching over, he tossed me protective goggles. From there, Ajax took the chainsaw and revved it to life. It was amazing watching him slice through the wood like extremely messy butter. Wood chips flew everywhere and I understood the purpose of the goggles.
Ajax cut the wood into a sort of dome shape before switching off the chainsaw.
I lifted the sawdust-covered goggles. “That was so cool! You’re definitely showing me how to do that.”
“With a smaller chainsaw, you could even carve small details.”
“Then you definitely need one.” I walked up and pat the wood dome. “What now?”
Ajax put down the chainsaw and walked over to the workbench and rifled through the tools, pulling out a marker. He drew a sketch of the dragon onto the wood then pulled out some more tools.
“Now we carve.”
Taking my hands, Ajax showed me how to use the chisels to carve chunks out of the wood. After a while when I felt confident, Ajax left me to carve on my own while he worked next to me.
Looking up from the wood, I glanced over to Ajax, who was working on an easel. “Whatcha painting?”
“You.” He answered without looking away from the canvas.
“Oh, are you doing one of those still life paintings?”
“Yes. It’s unfortunate you’re not naked like the usual models.”
“Wait, so that’s not just a movie thing?” I asked, my voice squeaking as I rushed over to look at the painting. “The models are actually naked?”
On the canvas was a rough sketch of me bent over the workbench, fully clothed, thankfully. I was surprised. For a rough sketch, it looked quite good.
“Sometimes.” Ajax looked up from his painting meeting my eyes. His stare was intense and heated me from the inside.
I gulped, my mouth suddenly dry. “How many people have you painted naked?”
“A few.”
“Thats pretty neat.” I bit my lip and moved back over to my dragon and continued chipping at the wood. I felt Ajax get up from his chair and approach me, his warmth radiating against my back.
“You’re jealous.” He said, his voice a low rumble.
“Not really.” I chipped away at a piece of the dragons tail, focused.
He poked my cheek. “You’re a horrible liar.”
“Am not. You just cheat with your freaky mind reading thing.”
“Empath. I’m an empath,” he grumbled.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure. I’m not buying that that's your only ability.”
There was no way a regular empath could be so accurate with predicting thoughts like he was.
“Well, I can also alter emotions.”
I paused as I actually remembered something. “You mentioned, before, that you could take away my sadness.”
“I can take. But I can also give.”
I felt his fingers run up the back of my neck and from there It felt like lightning had struck me and suddenly I felt extremely aroused. Surprised, I dropped the chisel and braced myself against the workbench. My breath was coming out in short gasps.
“Cheat.”
“Resourceful.” He said as he replaced his fingers with his mouth, kissing the back of my neck leisurely.
I took in a deep breath to try and calm my racing heart. “Is this the point that I’m supposed to warn you not to touch a woman like that? What ever happened to being scared of you?”
“You still should be.”
“Yeah, sure,” I let out a nervous chuckle, “you big teddy bear.”
Ajax growled and spun me around, his multicolored eyes glowing. They really weren’t hiding themselves now.
I thought he was going to kiss me but instead he lifted my hand, his fingers tangled in mine and kissed my palm. His mouth moved down to my wrist where he nipped right at my pulse. It was like he was trailing fire along with his mouth. I was helpless, my body quivering as he spiked me with pleasure.
I moaned when he moved his mouth to the crook of my neck. “Ajax.”
My free hand came up to clasp his shoulder.
“Atalanta,” he rasped.
When he lifted away from my neck and stared into my eyes I knew he would kiss me then.