“What?” It came out with a little laugh, but he immediately shook his head. “What are you talking about? No way you caused that.”
“I might have. I—”
“No, hold on.” He stood in one smooth motion and stepped back, drawing her up with him as he once again checked their surroundings. “Let’s go inside and get some coffee. You look like you’re freezing.”
Coffee didn’t warm a chill that wasn’t physical, but Riley pressed the button on the handle to lock the car and went inside, this time going first and holding the door for Sam behind her, because she was tired of following.
“Seat yourselves, kids,” the waitress called from behind a crowded counter. “Be right with you.”
Riley chose a corner booth away from most of the diners in the half-full place, and sighed deeply as soon as she sat. Sam positioned himself so he could see the door behind her, but his attention was clearly on her.
“I was watching the beam,” she told him right away. Getting it over with might not help, but it wouldn’t hurt, either. “Thinking about touching…no,” she corrected, remembering how it felt to use the metal in the forklift, “tapping that much metal. What I could do then. I actually thought about—” Shame cut off the words. Sam watched her with understanding eyes, and the nausea climbed up toward her throat.
She forced the words out fast. “I imagined saving someone trapped by equipment. And seconds later, the beam slid, knocked over the forklift, and gave me someone to save.” She covered her face to hide both from the memory and Sam’s expression, and maybe to keep her breakfast in.
“Sorry to make you wait,” said a cheerful voice over Riley’s head. “Coffee?” A beat, then, “Hon? You okay?”
Riley dropped her hands and nodded. “Yes, thanks. And coffee’s good.” She waited until the woman had poured and walked away without pressing them to order food.
As soon as the waitress was out of earshot, Sam grabbed Riley’s hands and leaned over the table. “You didn’t do it, Riley. I swear it.”
“How do you know?” Tears welled, and she tried to tug her hands away, but he’d engulfed them fully in his. She didn’t want him to let go, but didn’t deserve how good they felt.
“Were you touching any metal?” he demanded.
She blinked at him. “No. I don’t—no. Not directly.”
“Have you ever done telekinesis—moved objects from a distance—when you weren’t touching metal?”
Hope began to coat the nausea. She thought about things she’d done, testing the abilities once she understood what was happening, and slowly shook her head. Then stopped. “Wait. My boss’s chair. The one that dumped him on his ass. The metal in the shaft snapped, and I wasn’t touching it.”
“Were you touching other metal?”
God, she didn’t know. That was before she understood anything. She squeezed her eyes closed and thought about the conference room. Her own chair had been plush and padded, covered, so no, not even her legs were touching metal parts. She’d stopped using her nice metal pen once she melted it, of course, and the table was solid wood—no, wait. They’d gotten a new table for the executive conference room and moved the gigantic chrome and glass one into theirs. That was before she’d figured out what was going on, so she hadn’t realized her arms were braced against the metal frame.
“There you go,” Sam said when she told him. “Plus, I was watching when it happened.” His voice was a low rumble, meant to be soothing, but it dug under her skin. “They hadn’t secured the sling properly. It wasn’t centered. So when they pulled it sideways, the weight shifted, and—”
“You’re sure?” When he nodded, all the tension flowed out of her, leaving her as weak and trembly as she’d been when she first saw it all happen. “Thank you. I couldn’t live with myself if I knew I’d done it.”
Sam scowled at her but didn’t say anything. He leaned back, and Riley grimaced at how dirty her hands were. She slid to the end of the booth. “I’ll be right back.”
Sam checked his watch and glanced outside, then looked around the diner. He had a direct line of sight to the restroom doors but shifted as if to follow when she stood.
Riley pressed her hand to his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m just washing up. I’ll be quick, I promise.”
Sam nodded, flipping open a menu and settling deeper into the cushioned seat, but she could tell he was still on alert. “I’ll come after you this time.”
Riley snorted. As if he hadn’t come after her every other time, including at the library. If she’d been a few seconds slower, he’d probably have charged into the ladies’ room.
She wasn’t sure which of her responses to that was worse: the pleasure that he found her worth coming after, or the fear that eventually he would stop.
Chapter Five
Full potential is rarely realized without combined resources, shared experience, and the right outlook. Achieve your destiny. Expand your dreams. Become one of us.
Walking into the Society building after a year and a half didn’t jolt Sam as much as he expected. The building’s owners had done some work in the lobby, getting rid of chipped linoleum and painting the walls a faded tan color. A new directory had been mounted next to the elevator nook. Society for Goddess Education and Defense was in bold, blue lettering, larger than the other businesses in the list. They were the only company on the eighth floor now.
They rode the elevator silently. Sam resisted the urge to put his hand on Riley’s back again. He kept finding excuses to touch her, but there wasn’t anything he could do about the tension she must’ve been feeling. It would dissipate once she met these people and realized she could fit in here. He was sure of it.
The elevator dinged, and in the split second before the doors slid open, he wished she would put a hand on his back. His heart beat so fast his pulse seemed to vibrate in his neck. His apprehension was in direct opposition to the bland entryway inside the glass door—neutral carpet and visitor chairs, pastel watercolors on the walls, an unremarkable sign under a clock behind the reception desk.
A woman he didn’t know sat at the front desk. She looked up when they walked in, her smile matching the décor.
“Can I help you?”
“Sam and Riley to see Alana and…Marley. They’re expecting us.”
The smile hardened. “You don’t have an appointment.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “I don’t need one.” He’d given a lot to the Society with nothing in return. Helping take down the leech, build an educational program, and protect goddesses rated him better than you don’t have an appointment.
Someone stepped out of an office down the hall and headed toward the break room.
“Alana!” Sam called.
She looked up with a grin and hurried toward them. “Sam!”
He held out his arms and accepted her hug, then stepped back to draw Riley closer to them. “Alana, this is Riley Kordek. Did Marley—”
“Yes, she told me all about you.” Alana held out a hand to Riley, who shook it with only a slight hesitation. “Come on. I’ll take you down to her office. You’re lucky. Things are quiet around here right now.”
They followed her down the hall. Alana swung through an open office door and moved to the side so Riley and Sam could squeeze in behind her.
“Marley, good. I was afraid you were on the phone.”
Marley looked up, and Riley gasped, a small sound that Sam silently agreed with. Even after working with her for a year, seeing her like this startled him every time.