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The mention of his brother’s name sobered Finn, and he nodded quickly, his eyes losing some of the fire Dolores’s stoking had inspired.
“That is such a shame!” Alex said, his hand tightening playfully on her knee. Alma looked at him, blushing slightly at the intent gaze he turned on her. “It must be an important meeting for you to disrupt such a good time,” his voice softened. “If it’s not important, you could reschedule.” There was something in Alex’s manner, the compelling look in his eyes that made Alma briefly dizzy. She was on the point of agreeing with him—after all, Dylan could wait a little longer—when some native instinct stopped her short. She felt a slight shudder work through her body, and she gave him a regret-filled smile.
“I’m afraid it’s very important,” she replied, letting her voice take on a rueful tone. “Legal things, you understand. I’m on the lawyer’s time—he won’t reschedule.” She gave Finn another undetectable kick to the shins beneath the table to prevent his protest. “As it is, I suspect we’ve kept him waiting already.” She gave Alex a charming smile. She felt something stirring inside of her—not lust, but a cunning, a kind of inarticulate knowledge of her own power. “I’m sure you can understand.” The words left her lips without conscious thought, and she felt something inside of her pushing outward, a persuasiveness she had never known she had. Alex looked briefly confused, but then nodded slowly.
“I understand. It’s a shame, but I’ll have to hope we can see both of you again soon.”
Alma felt odd and gave herself a little shake. The waiter brought the bill, and Alex would hear nothing of either her or Finn contributing to the total. He insisted on paying for the entire bill and tip. Alma gave in, smiling to herself despite the strange feelings. She felt herself smiling as Alex handed her a scrap of receipt with his phone number on the back. She let him walk her to the car, feeling a little outside of herself. Something was different in that moment she had persuaded Alex, some ability she had never used before. She saw Dolores chatting with Finn as she accompanied him to the car, and Alma stopped at the passenger side, at a loss for what to do.
Alex leaned in and gave her a hungry kiss. Alma’s confusion and introspection dissolved, her lust spiked as he rested his hands on her waist, holding her tightly but respectfully. She let out a soft moan as Alex deepened the kiss, nipping at her bottom lip playfully. In that moment she would have gladly remained there indefinitely, overwhelmed by the sweetness of Alex’s tongue and the way his body vibrated against hers, taut with energy and desire. She lost ability to even care what happened next or that Dylan was still waiting for the all-clear, as Alex pressed her against the door of the car. He moaned softly against her lips, his grip on her waist tightening. Alma melted against him, swept up in his attractiveness and the steady pulse of lust in her veins. Her mind consumed with need, her body kindled with desire, she felt her hands trembling and her heart pounding. She would have let him do anything to her without complaint, but Alex remained moderately respectful, more mindful of the public venue than Alma. She was on the verge of moving further to increase the tension between them when she was interrupted by a chirp from her phone.
The sound divided the thick fog consuming Alma, and she broke away from the kiss, gasping and panting for breath. She hadn’t experienced anything so intense since kissing Finn. Alma pushed the thought down, shaking her head and reaching for her phone. “That’s Dylan,” she called to Finn, who was kissing Dolores with similar fervor Alma had experienced a moment before. “We need to get going, Andy.” She used the nickname to break through the almost palpable haze of desire surrounding the other two; she knew Finn hated it. He broke away from Dolores, confused for a moment before realization set in.
“Right! Yes. I’m so sorry, Dolly,” he murmured to the other woman, giving her a brief kiss before breaking away. “We’ll get together again soon.”
The two cousins seemed disappointed, but Alex gave Alma a last, lingering glance full of promise and desire before she got into the passenger seat.
“Are you okay to drive?” Alma asked Finn tartly as she fastened her seat belt.
Finn rolled his eyes. “You had more to drink than I did.” He started the car and sent Dylan a text advising that they were clear. Alma stared out the window and tried to conquer her tense desire, telling herself that since she had Alex’s phone number, she could see him again whenever she wanted. She added his number to her contacts, thinking of inviting him to her birthday.
As they drove back to the apartment, Alma’s intense lustful sensations and almost brutal power ebbed, and she turned her thoughts to the less than normal events of the lunch. She remembered Alex’s persuasive comment suggesting she reschedule and how she had almost submitted and given in to his will before something deep inside of her rebelled. She had turned the same tactic—whatever it was—back on him. Reviewing the events of the meeting without the rose-colored glasses of intense attraction, Alma knew something was going on with Dolores and Alex.
“Did anything about that lunch seem odd to you?” she asked Finn, shifting in her seat.
Finn glanced at her skeptically, shrugging. “Not really,” he said quickly.
Alma raised an eyebrow, wondering how much charm Dolores had been radiating at the fire elemental while Alma had been distracted by Alex’s overtures.
Finn started to say something, then hesitated. “There was something a little strange about it, now that you mention it.” He made a turn, his brow furrowing. “It was like they didn’t want us to leave their presence.”
Alma nodded slowly. “They were determined to keep us talking to them, to keep our attention on each of them.” Alma licked her lips. She was more than willing at the time to give Alex all of her attention, the part of her mind reeling with lust and power had taken over. “Whenever we tried to talk to each other, one or the other of them would interrupt and reel us back in.”
Finn nodded. “What do you think?” he asked her, for once deferring to her opinion.
Alma shrugged. “It could be nothing. It could be that….” She bit her bottom lip in thought. “They’re air elementals. We’re all very good at intelligence gathering. They could be spies.”
Finn snorted. “Well, whoever hired them made a mistake, then. You are a better counterintelligence agent than they are spies. Thanks for kicking me—I think my legs will be black and blue for a week, though.”
Alma grinned. “You were about to give us away! You’re like…a highly less-effective James Bond. Jeez.”
“Hey! I could be every bit as effective as James Bond. I could seduce Dolores and discover what’s going on.” Finn scowled. Alma rolled her eyes, laughing again. “You were calling her Dolly. She had you wrapped around her little finger, Andy.”
Finn’s scowl deepened. “She did not! She’s just…a very charming and attractive woman. Now that I know, I can totally keep out of her clutches.”
Alma shook her head in disbelief. She had to admit, despite her suspicions about Alex, she barely restrained herself from sending him a text message and continuing their flirtation. She would talk to Dylan first, but she had almost concluded that, spy or not, she wanted Alex at her birthday party. He was too flattering, too deliciously attractive, and too attentive for her to forego his presence, even if it was not the best idea to invite a potential spy to witness a moment that could be vulnerable for her.
fifteen
Alma could tell Dylan was disturbed by the possible reason for Alex’s and Dolores’s interest in her and Finn. “We kept to the story,” she told him quietly, sipping at a beer in the late afternoon light of the balcony. “But I think they were trying to shake it up, trying to get us to admit the truth.”
He nodded slowly, accepting her theory. “The key would be to discover who they’re working for, then,” he said matter-of-factly, taking a sip of his own beer.
Alma shrugged. “You and Finn are the investigators. I’m just a lowly translator.”
Dylan rolled his eyes. “We’d put you on the payroll if we could. Between your language skills and the presence of mind you showed at lunch earlier….”
She had told him about the strange moments that had passed, where she had felt Alex’s will pressing against hers, and had returned the courtesy. Dylan pointed out that air elementals had their own kind of intuition and their own psychic strengths. While water elementals in full possession of their abilities could “read” other people to an uncanny degree, air elementals tended towards projecting their thoughts and wishes onto others. It was a magic Alma’s grandmother hadn’t introduced her to, but which made sense. She had always been proud of her persuasion skills, and persuasiveness was definitely an air-aligned trait, but she had never felt something as direct as what she had experienced with Alex.
