“If you prefer to put it like that.”
“That makes me bad?”
“I don’t know. The change has only just started. At this point in time, not even you can know how you will turn.”
“You think I’m capable of evil?” The insult burned in her chest even as doubt flourished right next to it.
“No one knows what they’re capable of until they’re subjected to certain circumstances.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he picked up a document from the table and handed it to her.
She took it reluctantly. “What’s this?”
“The psychological evaluation we did on Joss when I decided to make him a part of my team.”
She frowned. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Read it.”
She skimmed over the text.
In conclusion, the test results point to a highly sensitive man who is by the same token perceptive, intuitive, and particularly emotional. He successfully manages to keep his volatile emotions under control to the point of appearing calm and reserved. Nevertheless, he is characterized by a certain dualism, between sociability, and altruism.
She looked up. “I already know all of this.”
“Read on,” he urged.
He is eccentric … a curious mix of independence and dependence … rejects accepted truths. Inclined to be introverted, he is shy and vulnerable, we are guessing due to childhood trauma.
“What point are you trying to make?” she asked.
“That passion could lead someone with Joss’s disposition, without prior warning, onto a road of fanaticism.” He waited for the meaning of his words to sink in. “I want you to know who you’re dealing with.” His voice softened. “Who you’re falling in love with. If you start loving him, you can’t stop. You can’t reverse your decision once you get to know him, and I mean really know him. It’ll destroy him.”
“Are you telling me to love him or leave him?”
“I’m asking you to love him enough to eliminate yourself, or to let us do it, if you turn dark.”
Clelia opened her mouth, but Joss entered the lounge, his hair flying in the wind that blew through the door. For a minute, the earth stopped moving as she locked eyes with him.
“Clelia, may I please have a moment with Joss?” Cain asked.
It was phrased as a question, but it was an order.
She walked to the door. As she passed Joss, he lifted his fingers and let them brush over her hand. It was a whisper of a touch, an almost undetectable movement of his hand unnoticeable to the unwatchful eye, but in Clelia’s world, it was powerful enough to change the direction of currents. Electricity flowed between them, setting fireworks off in her stomach. A fluttering echo of her earlier orgasm tightened her lower body.
Nothing in Joss’s demeanor betrayed his feelings. He only lowered his head and lifted his iron-hard eyes to hers. Their gazes wrestled. The memory of the weight of his body as it had pressed against hers was so fresh in her mind she could still feel it. The flare of his eyes told her he knew where her mind was dwelling, but instead of acknowledging her feelings, he turned away and left her cold.
Hot, cold. Pull, push. The fight was exhausting.
She closed the door behind her and pressed her back against it, trying to digest the information Cain had shared. Maya was right. The attraction between Joss and herself was undeniable. She could never place Joss in a position of choosing between her and his mission.
As the truth dawned on her, she shuddered in the midday heat. The boat had slowed down. When it came to a halt and the noise of the engines died, Cain’s voice drifted through the open window of the lounge.
“I believe you, Joss, and what you say about her blood, but I sense something profound. When it surfaces, it will be powerful. You have to tell me now if you can remain objective enough to complete your mission. Can you eliminate her if you have to?”
“I’ll do what’s right,” Joss said.
She backed away from the door just as Maya appeared.
“I have to take you to your cabin. The boat has stopped.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a voice said behind them.
Clelia turned. Joss stood in the door of the lounge.
“I’ll take her,” he said, sounding cold and hot and everything confusing in between.
“Cain won’t like it,” Maya said, “but who am I to challenge what you’ve marked as yours?”
“I haven’t marked anything,” Joss gritted out.
Maya snorted. “Like hell. But if it makes you happy, just go on believing that.” She turned on her heel and left.
“Come,” Joss said with a tilt of his head.
Taking Clelia’s arm, he led her below deck, almost shoving her into the cabin before slamming the door behind them.
“Do you like Bono?” he asked. “He’s hard to resist. Pilot. Good looks. Women like those sorts of things. Is he what you’re looking for?”
Taken aback, she blinked.
“I saw the way he looked at you,” he continued, “and I saw the way you smiled at him.”
“How did I smile at him?”
“Like you shouldn’t,” he bit out. “A man might get the wrong idea. Men are stupid that way.”
“We didn’t look at each other in any way.”
He grabbed her to him and cupped her ass. “I didn’t like it, how he looked at you.”
“How did he look at me? Like a man who’d kill me?”
He released her so abruptly she almost stumbled.
“Or is that your job?”
He stared at her with narrowed eyes, looking like he wanted to say more, but then he left and slammed the door.
She stared at the flimsy wood, shaking with a mixture of fear, anger, and confusion. Joss found himself in a hell of a predicament. She wasn’t insensitive to his situation. From his point of view, having sex muddled everything. Like Cain had said, he wanted to do right by her, but he also wanted to do what was right for the team.
The more she thought about it, the more she knew there was only one solution.
She had to save herself.
She had to escape.
Chapter 16
The cabin was hot
