Elemental Assassin 04 - Tangled Threads

into your hands. So I just concentrated and focused on finding any silverstone in the area. They led me right to you.”
    Of course. Owen had what he considered to be a small elemental talent for metal, which was an offshoot of Stone, although I knew that his magic was anything but weak. The bottom line was that Owen could sense, control, and manipulate metal just the way that I could Ice and Stone. Still, it must have taken every bit of magic he had to specifically sense the silverstone in such a bigarea, especially with all the cans and other metal debris that littered the riverbanks.
    “That’s why you look so tired, isn’t it?” I murmured. “You used up all your magic to find me last night.”
    Owen shrugged as though it was nothing. But it wasn’t nothing to me. Besides Finn and the Deveraux sisters, I couldn’t even remember the last time someone had cared enough to come looking for me when I was in trouble. I was so used to being on my own for so long, always being the tough, strong, capable one, that I’d forgotten how nice it felt to have someone else look out for me.
    To have someone else care about me.
    And just like that, the fragile strings of my feelings for Owen joined together, all the tangled threads wrapping around and weaving their way through my heart. Scary and painful in some ways, but necessary in others too.
    Ignoring the needles still tingling in my legs, I managed to walk around the bed. Owen put his mug down and opened his arms. I stepped into his embrace. For a moment, I just laid my head against his chest, breathing in his rich, earthy aroma. Then, when I felt steady enough, I stood up and pressed my lips to Owen’s.
    Maybe it was my frame of mind or the fact that I’d almost frozen to death last night, but I felt so much in our kiss. Owen’s lips against mine, his body flush with my own, his tongue slowly stroking against mine. The familiar passion sparked to life deep inside me. The feel of Owen, the smell, the taste of him, heated me in a way that all the wool socks in the world just couldn’t.
    But it wasn’t just my body he’d affected. As much as I’d tried to fight it, warmth had blossomed in my heart forhim too, unfurling one small, fragile petal at a time. And the emotion had only been strengthened by what he’d done for me last night. For coming to my rescue when I needed him the most, for helping me when I couldn’t help myself, for saving me when I couldn’t save myself.
    Some time later the kiss ended. We stood there in the middle of the bedroom, our arms wrapped around each other, breathless. For the first time, I didn’t try to ignore what I was feeling or pretend that things were only physical between us. They were much more than that now.
    “Well, now,” Owen murmured against my lips. “That makes it all worthwhile.”
    I drew back and arched an eyebrow. “Really? I wouldn’t have figured you for a man who could be so easily bought off with a mere kiss. Even if there was a good deal of tongue action involved.”
    A wicked grin spread across Owen’s face, softening the scar on his chin and making his violet eyes sparkle with a sly light. “Well, if you have something else in mind, I’m open to suggestions.”
    I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “There is a bed in this room.”
    “Yes, I had noticed that,” Owen said. “I also happened to notice that you have on about a closet’s worth of clothes.”
    “You don’t like the marshmallow look?” I quipped. “Or perhaps you’re just not up to the challenge of getting through all my many layers of woolen chastity?”
    Owen’s eyes narrowed, and his lips quirked up into a sly, sexy smirk. “Oh, baby. You have no idea what I’d do to get through those layers and down to the good stuff.”
    I pressed a soft kiss to the side of his mouth then put my lips up against his ear. “Then why don’t you show me?”
    Owen’s hands slid down my back before coming around to the front of my body. Our eyes met and held as he undid the top button on the topmost flannel shirt I was wearing—
    Someone let out a not-so-discreet cough. I looked over Owen’s shoulder to see Finnegan Lane standing in the doorway, a cup of chicory coffee in his hand and a knowing grin on his handsome face.
    “Well, it looks like someone’s feeling better,” Finn drawled.

20
     
    I sighed and looked back at Owen. “Rain check?”
    He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “I’ll hold you to