Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

give our little community a chance?”
    “She should be the one showing you the books,” Judith said.
    “I wouldn’t mind hearing what she’s offering.” Stefan entered into the game. “Do either of these two come with the gallery? I could use a wife and children and so far, I’ve failed miserably in that department.”
    “I might be able to arrange it,” Inez agreed. Her voice turned mock innocent. “Judith, would you care for a glass of wine or two?”
    Judith laughed. “You’re incorrigible, Inez. On that note, I’m going home.”
    She caught Stefan’s arm and tugged. He saw the movement, knew she was going to reach for him and could have avoided her touch as he normally would do, but he let her fingers settle over his wrist. It felt a little as if she’d trapped his heart in her hand.
    “I’ll be taking him to safety as well, so get moving onto your next stop and quit trying to sell Frank’s gallery using foul means,” Judith teased.
    Stefan’s mouth went dry at her touch. He took her fingers and tucked them into the crook of his arm, pretending he was Thomas, when it was Stefan drawing her close beneath his shoulder, indulging his terrible need to be with this woman. The fire between them refused to go out, no matter how hard either of them pretended it wasn’t burning hot and bright.
    Worse, there was a chance that if it was simple physical attraction, they could have a fiery affair and be done with it, but somehow, the attraction went deeper, bone deep. Even that wasn’t a good enough explanation for what seemed to be happening. As he walked with her, he realized it was that her spirit moved against his—maybe even absorbed his. However it had happened, this woman was forever written on his body, claiming him.
    She turned her head and her gaze collided with his. A vise squeezed his heart hard at that look of longing he saw in her eyes. He wasn’t alone feeling the strength and intensity of the pull.
    “It’s because we both have gifts,” Judith whispered. “I’ve heard that can happen. The gifts complement each other or something.”
    She was courageous, he had to hand her that. There was no pretense. Judith might not show herself to the world, but she was honest with him when it mattered and he admired that. She could have remained silent.
    He did the worst possible thing. He tied up his other hand by sliding it over the top of hers. He couldn’t resist feeling her soft skin, couldn’t resist the connection. For the first time in his life he wanted someone of his own to hold on to. Someone to see him. Someone to make him real and not the insubstantial shadow he knew he was. Not someone—Judith.
    “You make it hard to breathe,” she admitted, turning her head away from him to look at the ocean crashing along the cliffs.
    “I thought you were doing that to me,” Stefan said and moved his body more protectively in place to keep Ivanov from seeing her face too clearly if the scope was trained on her. That, too, was strictly the truth, not Thomas, but Stefan, his lungs burning for air.
    Touching her was a miracle. Her skin seemed to melt into his. Ivanov would read nothing more into his gestures than a cementing of his cover, but Stefan didn’t want the exterminator to get a good visual of her face. For the first time in his life, he felt genuinely protective of a woman.
    “Has this ever happened to you before?” Stefan asked. Everything inside him stilled, waited for the answer. He knew Jean-Claude. He’d spent a couple of months locked up with that man and knew his obsession with Judith. He didn’t want her to have responded to the man with the driving intensity he felt between them.
    She shook her head. “Never. I don’t have relationships. Once. But not like this. I was very young and . . . stupid. This is too fast, too encompassing and I don’t trust it. You shouldn’t either. We’re going to be adults about this.” Her eyes met his again. “Right?”
    If Ivanov hadn’t been watching them, he would have taken matters into his own hands and Thomas Vincent and his cover could be damned. She would have been up against the side of the nearest building, away from prying eyes, his mouth taking hers, his body hard and hot and unashamed with true desire. The real damn thing. Was that adult enough for her?
    She inhaled sharply at the flare of heat in his eyes. He knew she could see that smoldering fire he couldn’t hide from her.
    “Right?” she whispered again.
    He