and she took a seat across from him. “Sounds serious.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.”
“What is it?”
“When we get back, I’m going to ask for you to be reassigned as someone else’s partner.”
She wore dark sunglasses so he couldn’t see her reaction to this announcement. “You don’t want to be my partner?”
“I don’t think we’re a good fit.”
“But it’s only been a week. And we haven’t even worked together much. How do you know we’re not a good fit?”
“I just know.”
“But—but I thought you were going to help to teach me control over my abilities. You promised you would.”
He tried not to feel guilty about this. “Please, don’t take this personally, Carrie. It has nothing to do with you.”
Her distractingly full lips thinned slightly. “No, you’re right. It has to do with you, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve been with PARA long enough to know whether or not a partnership like this is going to work out or not. I don’t need months to make that determination.”
“Right.”
“I’ll make sure you’re placed with someone who can help you just as well as I could have.”
“Fine.”
Patrick found that when a woman looked perfectly calm but started using one-word answers, it meant she was mad as hell.
“What about the Erzulie amulet?” she asked.
Good. A change of subject was very welcome. He willed himself to relax and crossed his legs, trying to ignore his erection. Even though the view was lovely, he really wished Carrie had chosen more appropriate business wear. She made it nearly impossible for him to concentrate.
“We’ll assess it, like Will wants us to. But I honestly think he’s wrong about an angry Caribbean love goddess being responsible for his troubles. There are dozens of other possible reasons why this resort isn’t popular right now and why his newly married guests might be prone to argue with each other.”
“If you say so.”
“We’ll get the boat and retrieve the amulet tomorrow morning. If you want to do your own thing until then, I won’t stop you.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Does this mean you’re not going to help me practice right now?”
He wished he could make her understand. Apart from telling her everything, he couldn’t think of a way to do that. “We can still practice, of course. We have time.”
“Then let’s do it.”
The heat between them had noticeably dropped a few degrees. She wasn’t happy. He didn’t blame her. If he wasn’t convinced he was doing the right thing, he might give in to the guilty feeling stalking him. He wasn’t abandoning her—this was for the best. For both of them.
He realized he’d been a fool to think this could work out. Everyone knew he preferred to keep to himself. So now all of a sudden he was going to take on a newbie partner who needed one-on-one training? A newbie partner who was able to stir desire in him with a mere look in his direction? A woman he’d wanted to make love to for two years?
He’d been seriously kidding himself.
“You’ve done the reading I gave you,” he said after a moment.
“All three thousand pages of it.”
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration.” He had a glass of ice water sitting on the table in front of him. “The most important thing to keep in mind is not to be afraid of your powers.”
“I’m not afraid.”
She was lying. He didn’t have to be empathic to see that. Carrie was someone who felt the need to appear in control at all times. “That’s good to hear. Why don’t you focus on this glass and try to push it a couple of inches toward my hand. If you work this particular exercise every day, then you’ll get stronger and stronger and soon it’ll become second nature to you. It might not seem as if you’re progressing, but small steps add up over time.”
She eyed the glass. “That sounds great, but I can’t do it.”
“You’re not even trying.”
Her jaw tensed. “I am trying.”
“Then you’re not concentrating properly. With time, practice and patience, you’ll be able to thread a needle just by thinking about it.” He looked down at the glass, his hand resting only a few inches to the left of it. “Now concentrate and push it.”
Her forehead creased. “I’m trying.”
“Try harder.”
The next moment, the glass shattered and ice-cold water soaked his lap.
He jumped back and looked at her sharply. “That was a bit too much.”
She had her hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean to do that. Seriously.”
The water was very cold. However, it did help to douse his arousal—a little. Kind of like an involuntary cold shower. He realized that Carrie was laughing. That’s why she was covering her mouth.
He tried not to smile, but it was a struggle. “You meant to break the glass. It just shows me you have more control than you think you do.”
“I know you seem to believe that practice makes perfect, but I just don’t feel it. This is something that has a mind of its own and wants to do its own thing.”
“So it was the telekinesis that dumped a cold glass of water on me for pushing you outside of your comfort zone. Not you.”
She jutted her chin out. “Exactly.”
He’d been called a strict teacher before. Once upon a time, he’d considered teaching high school biology—he loved science and wanted to share his enthusiasm with his students. That was before he’d discovered the depth of his empathic ability and been recruited into PARA right out of college. Since then, he’d worked with many psychics in all categories—clairvoyants, empaths, TKs. Not all took to his teaching methods perfectly. Especially those who were resistant to learning in the first place.
Some students, like Carrie, were less cooperative than others.
“If you think of it as a separate entity, there’s no way you’ll ever be able to control it.” He grabbed a napkin and blotted his lap. “You already have that control inside of you—I know you do. You just don’t believe it.”
“I can do lots of things when I put my mind to it. This is not one of them.”
“Then you’re defeated before you even begin.”
“Which
