Not want. That wasn't the word James used.
Need.
He needed to touch her.
You were right all along.
James' admission altered everything Hailey once believed to be true about him. He wasn't made of stone, a cold and distant Psy. He simply didn't know how to deal, how to handle emotional input and keep control over his powers. And that was why he had pushed her away, why he had lied to her.
Even now she saw that same control in James' rigid body, his muscles bunched and shoulders stiff, his expression giving nothing away. But his eyes… they weren't ice anymore.
No.
They were blue like the hottest part of a flame, showing his desire and longing for the contact.
Hailey remembered the remark James was referring to, the words she'd spoken to her student.
"Choose what makes you happy."
Well, she would take her own advice now. Splaying her hands on his chest, she leaned towards him. His eyes closed, dark blond lashes lowering on his golden skin for an instant while the tendons of his neck stood out starkly as he processed the contact.
When he opened his eyes, he tightened the hold on her chin and stroked over her lower lip once more. The soft, chaste caress made every cell in her body simmer. She reached up and brushed the tips of her fingers over his cheek, feeling a slight stubble on his jaw. The raw sensation made her toes curl and things in her lower body clench.
"Yes?" he asked, and she knew he was requesting permission even though she'd given him a wild card.
Moving her other hand to the place where his shoulder connected to his neck–the muscles and tendons rock hard under her fingers–Hailey pulled him towards her. He bent forward while she rose on tiptoe, their noses almost touching and their breaths intermingling. Oak moss and sandalwood around her, his scent intoxicating, her breast swelled at his vicinity. Softly stroking her thumb over the skin behind his ear, she felt him shiver.
She smiled. "Yes."
James wrapped his free arm around her waist as he carefully slanted his mouth over hers. The connection made Hailey shudder, and she crushed herself against his toned, hard body. Sparks shot through her system at the warmth of his lips, her nipples small beads, her legs about to give in. She braced her hands on his shoulders to keep herself from swaying as she continued giving him long, soft kisses.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when James shifted his hand from her chin to her nape. Hailey closed her mouth softly over his lower lip, sucking, tasting and drinking in every inch of him.
He let her taste, let her discover as his hand tightened on her back and his erection pressed into her stomach. When she grazed her teeth over his lip, James jerked.
Thunder roared overhead.
Hailey made a small complaining noise the instant he pulled back, his breathing heavy, as was hers. The heat on James' cheekbones and the smoldering look in his eyes made her abdomen tighten.
Beautiful man.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. "Once more." It was a breathless taunt with the words he so often used at training.
His teeth sank in her lower lip in riposte, causing a small gasp to escape her throat. Then he sucked on the delicate, swollen flesh of her lip and tasted her as much as she'd savored him. He thrust his hand in her hair and fisted the dark mass, the hunger inside him unmistakable.
Hailey's heart stuttered at the dominant, possessive hold. She wanted more, after yearning for him and fantasizing about him for weeks. Slightly opening her mouth, she licked out at his tongue.
Lightning flashed through the sky as his hand tightened a fraction more in her hair, the hold deliciously rough while James mimicked her movement and stroked his tongue against hers, kissing her deeply.
The feeling was astonishing.
Hailey melted into him, pleasure jolting through her body at the intimate contact with this gorgeous, dangerous man. She cupped his face to angle his head the way she liked it and he let her take the lead. Laving her tongue against his, she tunneled her fingers through the blond waves of his hair.
James' hand slid from her back down to her butt, molding the plump cheek through the fabric of her jeans. Hailey moaned, the sound echoing her deep need for him, and she pushed herself into the hardness of him even more.
Cracks of thunder and whipping winds roared over the small clearing.
A startled gasp emerged from her throat when James wrenched himself out of her embrace. Within the blink of an eye he stood several yards away, keeping her upright with a touch of his Tk. Hailey ran her fingertips over her kiss-swollen lips when James' psychic touch faded, her heart slamming inside her chest, her breath jagged, the air around her buzzing with sexual tension.
James looked tumbled, his cheeks slightly flushed, eyes solid black, hair deliciously messy and his pants… her eyes dipped, the sight causing her mind to hitch for a moment.
Well now…
Smiling slowly, she met the onyx of his gaze, which carried an inexplicable heat. "That was unexpected," her voice husky from want.
James clenched his fists, his jaw granite as he focused his Tk. The storm turned into a small breeze. "I apologize."
The words were stiff, but what he'd just shown her had been quite the opposite. Desire, lust and hunger, all pouring out in a single moment of passion. Hailey's heart swelled for him as she watched him viciously seize control. She never could have guessed the intensity, the depth of his longing mirrored hers.
"Don't." Feeling a blush cover her cheeks, she beamed at him. "It was amazing."
James' entire body trembled as he violently slammed his Tk back. His control in shreds, he apologized to Hailey for his behavior. But then she smiled at him, that true, pure light-filled smile, jade and gold sparks dancing in her eyes. Something inside his deepest core snapped.
Ignoring the spear stabbing in his mind due to the dissonance–his body and psyche not yet used to the physical contact, therefore generating a violent response–he gave the greed inside him free rein as he stalked towards her, wrapping his arm around her waist and hauling her in for another kiss. He was desperate to savor her, to let her smile and light flow into him and eliminate the darkness within his soul. All the horrors he had witnessed, every excruciating moment of pain, it all seemed to disappear when Hailey kissed him, as if the life of her bathed him in the sun, evaporating every flaw and shadow.
James thrust his hand in her hair again, tipping her head back as he fondled her luscious lower curves, pleasure rippling through his body. He had been deprived of pleasure, of her, his whole life and now that he had gotten a taste? He wasn't willing to give it up, regardless of the dissonance. He felt the greed take a hold of him as he wanted to touch, explore, take everything she was willing to offer him.
The biting sensation from Hailey's nails digging in the skin of his nape and scraping his scalp had him sending another burst of Tk into the sky. This time he held on to her and she seemed not to mind. Liquid fire in his arms, she smelled of peonies and cedar, her scent lingering in his every breath.
When Hailey moaned, the sound traveling directly to his lower body, James realized he was holding her extremely tight. Releasing his grip on her, he rested his forehead against hers and apologized again, his heart nearly exploding at the sensory overload.
"I'm fine," she said breathlessly, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "More than fine." Her eyes turned dark when she leaned back a little and studied his face, softly tracing his cheek with the tips of her fingers. "Are you all right as well?"
"Yes." The fading stabs in his cerebral cortex were a small price to pay for getting to hold her like this.
Possessive, he thought, yes.
Even though he could still feel the effects of the dissonance inside his mind, he didn't want to release her. He now understood that, even though the dissonance controls were mostly taken away, it would take time before he'd be able to process the intense stimuli he was experiencing, creating less of a reaction.
"Very eloquent," she teased as she placed a soft, feather-light kiss on his chin that made him want to ask for more. She tilted her head up again to meet his eyes. "So," a smile, striking, ever-changing eyes observing him, "what happens now?"
James thought of all the hidden depths of that question. Since he'd never associated with anyone on this level, he was at a loss. All he knew was he wanted to keep her. And, proven by his outbursts of Tk at this small intimacy, that was exactly what he couldn't do.
She's yours now, the greed whispered, but he fought the urge to lay claim on her until he was very certain it was her wish as well. Knowing Hailey, she'd only fight him for assuming she was his solely based on a kiss.
Perhaps she only extended this favor since you requested it, the rational, calculating part of his mind argued.
No. Hailey did often act on impulse, but the pull between them had been existent since the very beginning. He found it hard to believe she'd consent to physical intimacy, just to shut him down.
"James?" Hailey's husky voice was nearly a whisper, but she had his immediate attention. She stoked her fingers past his temple and cupped his jaw. "It's difficult, I can tell. Maybe we should start slow?" A teasing smile on those luscious lips. "Actually slow?"
James felt his chest tighten at the small taunt. "What do you suggest?"
A crease appeared between her eyebrows, then her eyes lit up. "Well, you've kissed me now. Multiple times. Maybe we should be backward about it and go on a date."
A date.
Again, James was at a loss. He knew of the concept of dating but had never understood the point. That was before he knew Hailey.
Hailey seemed to notice his hesitation and stroked his cheek, soothing him. "Let me surprise you," she grinned.
"I'm unsure whether I would appreciate your idea of a surprise." The reward for his dry response was a bright laugh.
"I'll make sure you'll like it," Hailey coaxed before pulling him down for another kiss.
James found himself entirely out of his depth... but seeing Hailey smile at him with light in her eyes made him willing to try everything she'd ask of him. Willing to step out of the box and into a life where all was new.