Free Into a Dangerous Mind by Tina Gerow

  I sound pretty shallow, don’t I?”

    “No.   You sound like a woman who had a really bad second date.”

    Amusement danced in her hazel eyes.   “I remember thinking that in the cab ride on the way home, right before I started entertaining thoughts of a brain tumor.”

    Zach caught himself reaching for her hand and stopped.   It wouldn’t do him any good to keep touching her this way.
    I’m getting too attached for my own good.   But that didn’t stop him from wanting to erase the frown from her face and ease her regrets.
    “Just because your date turned out to be a serial killer doesn’t mean you should give up on dating altogether.”   He smoothed the wayward curl away from her face again, his fingers brushing her skin and burning through him.
    “It just means you have to pick better guys next time.”   Envisioning Cassidy in the arms of another man made his stomach hurt.
    I’m spiraling out of control with her.   It won’t be long before I won’t be able to walk away from her at all.   Distance was what he needed now — and fast.
    Cassidy reached out a mental caress and he blocked her.   “Cassidy, please—don’t.   I don’t think I can do this … ”
    Cassidy’s gaze swam with hurt.   “What’s going on in there, Zach?”   She pointed to his head.   “You won’t let me in, but your emotions are swinging back and forth like a pendulum.”
    He was a grade-A heel, but the instinct for self-preservation was too well ingrained for him to back away now.   “It’s not you, it’s me–”
    She cut him off.   “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that line in my lifetime?   If you dare let the words ‘let’s just be friends’ slip through your lips, so help me you’ll walk out of here limping.”
    Guilt rushed over Zach in a giant wave.   Hadn’t he seen that very insecurity inside her mind and now he’d used it on her?   He never used his powers to hurt someone.   What’s happening to me?   He took a deep breath and readied himself to beg for forgiveness.   “I’m sorry, it’s just…”   He reached out to try and touch her mind and met with steel-hard shields sizzling with unmistakable anger.   While he was impressed with her aptitude, the timing didn’t help his cause.
    “Don’t bother explaining.   I told you, I’m a big girl.   I don’t need the pity date.   It’s obvious from your thoughts you can’t make up your mind what you want.   And damn it—I deserve better.   If you didn’t want to start this, you could’ve said so at the beginning and saved us both the trouble.”   Cassidy grabbed her purse and stalked away from him before he could stop her.
    “Damn.”   Muttering, he grabbed his cell phone.   Clicking on the radio button, he spoke into the phone.   “She’s on her way out, Anderson .   Can you take her home?”
    “She looks plenty pissed, Hatcher.   But I’ll take her.”   Anderson ’s voice crackled in reply followed by the phone’s chirp signaling the message was over.   “Okay, we’ve got her.”
    Zach was glad he had two agents shadowing them.   He didn’t want her endangering herself because he’d hurt her.   Why am I such a coward?   There’s a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman who is interested in me and I’m shoving her away.   How much of an idiot can I be?
    Zach sighed and reached out tentatively to touch Cassidy’s mind.   He got the mental equivalent of a slap and pulled back immediately.   “Guess I should give her some cool down time before I grovel for forgiveness.”
    Zach heard a chuckle and looked up.   The waiter stood in front of him, hands on hips, a large smile creasing his beefy face.   “I’d give her a lot of cool down time judging from the fire in her eyes.   I’ve never seen her quite that angry.”   He chuckled again and began to clear the table.
    “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

     
    *****

     
    Cassidy floated in and out of the strange dream.