Page 24 of Cole's Command

“I’ll be fine,” he promised her, tapping the roof of her car. “I’ll see you at your office.”

“Yes, see you then.”

Easing the vehicle into gear, Eden pulled away, conscious of the weight of his stare. Waiting until there were a few feet between them, she peered into the rearview mirror to see him one last time, watching him grow smaller in the reflection. Illuminated by the disappearing lights of her car, Cole looked almost ethereal himself, as though he was only another manifestation of her exhausted mind.

“Maybe he is,” she whispered, directing her gaze back to the road ahead.

She could fool herself into thinking he was an illusion if it helped, but the truth was much cruder. Cole was every inch as tangible as her, and she’d just presented him with the least professional performance she could ever recall. Whatever happened, she would have to give him the best session of her career to make amends for the way she’d been drooling over him.

“Fuck,” she muttered as she put more space between them.

A part of her wanted to give up on the idea of the drive, turn around and go home, but knowing she would have to pass Cole again ensured she kept her foot on the gas. She’d take the long route home as planned and make sure that by the time she got back to her apartment all thoughts of her sexual attraction to Cole Vaughn were as buried as her father’s body.

Chapter Nine

Cole

––––––––

COLE STOOD ON THE ROADSIDE for a long time. Long after the searing vision of Eden’s tail lights had vanished from the horizon, and long after he should have made up his mind how to proceed. Was he walking home, or was he going to fly? It wasn’t that difficult a choice, but as he waited in the darkness, it wasn’t even that question that plagued him.

Instead, his mind was filled with Eden. What the hell had just happened? Naturally, he’d been thrilled, if not surprised, to see her on his saunter home, but it was the nature of their exchange that had really disconcerted him. It had started as normally as any other, but once he’d moved closer to the car, Cole had started to hear Eden’s thoughts coming through in his head—the same way he had always heard his father and brother’s.

His brow rose at the memory. He’d never been able to penetrate another person’s train of thoughts before, and up until tonight he would have thought it impossible, but that was precisely what had taken place.

It was as he loomed over her door that he’d first become aware of his incredible ability. He’d watched her responses carefully after his ‘serial killer’ quip, concerned that his sense of humor might not have translated well to the solitary woman in the car, but as he’d stared at her face, Cole had noticed something he wasn’t expecting; he heard precisely how she’d received the joke.

What? Her voice resounded in his head, his brows knitting as he tried to fathom what he was processing. I don’t know him, her words went on. He could be a killer. He could have any sort of nefarious intent on his mind.

She didn’t really believe that, did she? Sure, Eden didn’t know him, but she couldn’t think he would actually harm her.

“Wait for the appointment.” She stared him down, but Cole could see through the mettle in her tone, having heard her panicky timbre. Oddly, the thought amused him. She was trying to be courageous, and he respected that, but he could imagine all too well just how delightful she’d be on the back foot. He longed to nudge her toward her limit and see how those beautiful eyes widened as he pushed. But that could never happen. Not while she was his therapist. “That way we get your confession on the record.”

“Good thinking.” He laughed, unable to suppress his glee at the fantasy, despite the fact it could never come to fruition.

Who is this guy?