Chapter 11
Gregory nodded at Sascha and kissed her cheek. “You told me last night you could read minds.”
“And you believe me?”
“Certainly.”
Her gaze dropped to her fingers as they moved between the pleats of her broom skirt. She couldn’t understand that he really believed her. Was he just saying so? And what about her involvement with Damon? Would he believe that she had lost her abilities over him?
“It’s okay that I know, isn’t it, Sascha?”
“Yes.” She waffled about telling him the whole truth of the situation.
“Then what’s wrong?”
She sighed. “I lost my powers for five years because I…I, well, I thought Damon was my soulmate. But he wasn’t.”
“You had sexual relations with him?”
Only once…and that was one time too many. “Once, yes. That’s how I lost my abilities.”
Gregory took her busy hand and held onto it. “So, you think if you have relations with me, you’ll lose them again?”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded her head emphatically.
“I don’t believe in there being one soulmate per person.”
“There isn’t. There are several…at least that’s what we believe, but the chances of meeting just one are difficult enough.”
He shook his head. “I guess I’m trying to say I don’t believe in the concept of a soulmate, period.”
“Oh.” Why did it disappoint her to think he felt that way? It shouldn’t have mattered anyway. He wasn’t the one meant for her after all.
He glanced at his watch. “Listen, I hate to do this to you, but the police need you to inventory your things and tell them what is missing.”
“All right.”
He helped her from the couch. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Oh yes. I haven’t lost my powers.” He couldn’t know what that meant to her. Pure joy. The peak of ecstasy. In an instant, she was whole again.
He walked her outside to his sports car. “Why do you think I wouldn’t be your soulmate, Sascha?”
“You don’t believe in them for one.”
“True. Why else?” He opened the passenger door for her.
“I have to find someone I’m not physically attracted to. It certainly didn’t work before.”
“You mean with Damon.”
“Yes.”
“And now with me?”
She hesitated to tell him the truth, even though she knew all along she couldn’t lie about it. He knew very well she had the hots for him.
She nodded. “I’m going to try online dating next.”
Gregory took the news well, which relieved her somewhat. She thought he wouldn’t want her to do something like that, but he didn’t seem to mind. At least she didn’t sense it, and he didn’t object verbally at all.
When he climbed into the driver’s seat, he said, “Online dating.”
“Yes.”
“So last night’s comment to Stephanie was really about what you wanted to do for yourself?”
“Yes. In my line of business, it’s difficult to meet eligible bachelors.”
“You know three I can think of offhand. Camden, Damon, and me.”
Gregory ran his hands over the leather steering wheel. He really couldn’t figure her out. He’d been so sure she was after him. Was it just a ploy to get his interest further? “So why did you dance with him? Camden, I mean. At the Worthingtons’ party?”
She stared out the window.
“Sascha?”
She shook her head.
“You wanted to make me jealous.” He reached over and squeezed her leg. “You did a great job.”
When she didn’t say anything, he sighed deeply. “Okay, so what is a soulmate anyway?”
“You don’t believe in them, Gregory. So what difference does it make if I told you?”
“You’re right.” He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel. For now, he wouldn’t get drawn further into this subject. “Okay, I have to tell you, your place is in pretty bad shape.”
“I thought he just went in and left.”
“He tore it up this morning; I figure he was angry that you didn’t return to your house last night. I’m damn glad that you didn’t.”
“Oh. It doesn’t matter.” She wiped away a tear. “All that’s important is I still have my powers.”
He glanced over at her. She was on the brink of shedding lots of tears. Was it the return of her abilities after all that time that made her so emotional, or something else?
Hell, he was being an idiot. The maniac nearly killed her a couple of nights before. Now he’d torn up her place. Gregory gripped the steering wheel. To top it all off, she was scared she’d lost her powers. Considering the circumstances, she was taking everything really well.
Then he wondered why she had thought she’d lost her abilities. Damn, she slept naked in bed with him. She’d thought…
“Sascha,” he said, using caution as he drove off the property, “we didn’t do anything last night, if that’s what concerned you so. You must have gotten hot.”
“Yes.”
Her voice remained unsteady, and he assumed the notion that she had thought she had lost her abilities still bothered her. The idea that she had to marry some guy who was her soulmate was a total crock of bull, though.
Then he wondered about Katrina. “Does Katrina have your abilities?”
“Some.”
“Then Prescott is her soulmate.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucy?”
“She has them, yes.”
“And Damon is her soulmate.”
Sascha tucked a curl behind her ear.
“Sascha?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s not necessary that you do, Gregory.”
But he wanted to. Why would Damon marry Lucy if he wasn’t what the family assumed was her soulmate? And Damon wasn’t too happy about it either. What was going on? “Lucy doesn’t want to marry Damon either, does she?”
Sascha looked out the window.
Gregory took a deep breath. “I wish I could read your mind like you can read mine.”
“No, she doesn’t want to marry him.”
He shook his head. “Then I don’t understand. Why would two people who don’t love each other get married?”
“It’s all my fault.”
That didn’t make any sense. “Because?”
She ran her fingers over her skirt.
“Sascha?”
“I’ve already told you.”
He wasn’t getting anywhere. She’d had sexual relations with Damon just once. And for that, she’d lost her powers. Now Damon was marrying her cousin, neither of whom cared for the other, because of Sascha’s involvement with Damon? It didn’t make any sense.
“He has to,” Sascha finally said.
“Why, Sascha? Why?”
“If he doesn’t, my Aunt Meg will put a curse on him.”
He smiled.
“It’s true.”
“And he believes it?”
“Of course.”
Taking a deep breath, Gregory exhaled in exasperation. The gypsy family was superstitious too, and had everyone brainwashed. Though he couldn’t understand how Damon could be so unenlightened. But it was time to switch to another topic. “Listen about this maniac—”
“I’ll take care of him.”
He tensed his grip on the steering wheel. “I want you to stay with me. I have lots of security systems and—”
“I’ll be fine.”
“No. You won’t. I have plenty of room at my place. You can stay in one of my guest rooms and…” She sniffled, making him pause. “Rose is staying with our parents for the time being, so she’ll be safe.”
He waited for Sascha to say something, but she remained quiet. “My mother invited us over for lunch, but if seeing your apartment upsets you too much—”
“Certainly, you should go.”
“She expects us both. But if you choose not to go, I’ll tell my mother we’ll do it some other time.”
“Maybe I should return to my aunt and uncle’s home.”
“That would be too dangerous. He may go after them next.”
She nodded. “You’re right, of course.”
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into her apartment complex. His stomach tightened with concern as he thought about the mess she would soon see.
She patted his hand. “They’re only things. They can be replaced in time.”
The concept that she could read his thoughts still hadn’t quite sunk in. He really had to watch what he was thinking about. On the other hand, getting her reaction amused him sometimes.
When they walked into the apartment, Sascha headed straight for her bedroom. Was she going to pack some things? Or what? He wished he had a little of her abilities. Just enough so he would know what was going on in that red head of hers.
Instead of going to her bedroom’s closet, she moved a chair beneath an air conditioner vent. Before she could climb on the chair, he did and asked her what she planned to do.
“Open the vent and pull out the small safe.”
He opened the grill and pulled out a safe.
“Good, it’s still here.” She opened it and let out a relieved breath.
“The three thousand dollars?”
“Yes. And the thousand from the Worthingtons’ party. Prescott was supposed to get the money, but I have two safes, the wall one and this one. I forgot to tell him about this one.”
“You don’t secure it in a bank and earn some money on it?”
“I do, but I just got paid, right?”
“True.”
A police officer cleared his throat as he poked his head into the bedroom. “Miss Lassiter?”
“Yes?”
“If you could give us an idea if anything’s missing…”
She nodded. “All right.” She walked over to the closet and yanked a couple of suitcases out of the bottom. She handed them to Gregory. “Here, fill them up. Pack whatever you think I’ll need while I stay with you.” Then she hurried out of the bedroom, the police officer trailing behind her.
Her broom skirt swished with her step as Gregory opened the suitcases on top of her bed. If she could read his mind, would she know what a puzzle she was to him?
He crossed the floor of her bedroom and opened one of her drawers in a tall chest. She asked for his help after all. He had every intention of finding out what else she wore at night, while she was tucked under her sheets.
Poking through the clothes, all he found were sweaters.
He furrowed his brow, then grabbed one and dropped it into the suitcase.
In the next drawer, he found part of her treasury.
Gem-colored lace bras in emerald, ruby, sapphire, and amethyst. He took them all and shoved them into her suitcase.
The next drawer yielded panties, lace-trimmed bikinis in every color of the rainbow.
He grabbed every vibrant one and dumped them into the bag. “Nighties, nighties, where are the—”
“Bottom drawer.” Sascha hurried into the room and headed for her closet. “I should have known you wouldn’t have gotten my clothes.”
He chuckled. “These are your clothes.”
“I meant the stuff in my closet.”