Yet she couldn"t shake the feeling that someone was there. She squinted at the patio door. Was it open?
She was about to back out of the room when a familiar masculine scent filtered in. "Brand?"
A shadowy figure stepped through the patio door. "Rose?"
Before she could respond, Brand crossed the room and pulled her into his arms, devouring her mouth with a fierce possessive kiss that sent her hormones into overdrive. With her defenses already giddy, she needed no excuse to respond.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Rose answered in kind, her lips melding with his. Even sober she found Brand"s kisses intoxicating. In her present state her pa.s.sion flared high until all she could think about was touching him, wanting him.
The wildness of his kiss ignited an equal wildness within her. She ached for him. Dear Lord, she wanted ... something ... anything to ease this knot in her gut. Tugging his shirt up, she slid her hands over his back only to have him abruptly break away, his breathing ragged.
Resting his hands on her shoulders, Brand leaned his forehead against hers.
She wrapped her fingers around his arms and actually whimpered. "Don"t stop." She needed more of his dizzying kisses, more of Brand.
He shuddered and slowly lifted his head. Flames flared in his eyes. "Thank G.o.d you"re all right."
His words eventually penetrated her hazy consciousness. "Why wouldn"t I be?"
"The club, City Lights, there"s-"
"Oh, we didn"t go there." She and Sequoia hadn"t felt like socializing with others. They"d wanted to get drunk and commiserate about the men in their lives. "We stayed in the bar downstairs. Good thing, too." She nodded sagely. "Might not have made it home otherwise."
Brand"s gaze grew more penetrating and he lifted her chin. "What did you drink?"
"c.o.ke, of course." It was the only beverage that could make her light-headed. "I had four. And Tree polished off a bottle of wine."
A slight smile framed his lips. "You"re drunk."
"I"m not drunk," she protested. She pulled away from him, then brought her hand to her head as the room swayed in response. "Well, maybe a little."
"Is Sequoia in as bad a shape as you?"
Rose couldn"t stop her grin. She, at least, had retained enough sense to guide them to their room and pour her cousin into bed.
"I take it from that goofy smile that Sequoia is drunk, too," Brand said.
"Oh, she"s worse." But they"d had a good time listing Ewan"s and Brand"s faults, following each enumeration with a drink. Caught up now in the tingling glow of Brand"s kiss, Rose couldn"t remember a single fault she"d named.
She gave him what she hoped was her most beguiling smile. "Kiss me again. You do that so well."
"Do I?" He appeared pleased, but released a shuddering breath. "Sorry, Rose, I can"t while you"re like this."
"Like what?" She staggered to the middle of the room and stretched out her arms. "Unafraid to say what I think? Unafraid to admit you make me burn inside?" "Oh, G.o.d." Brand"s voice was deep and husky as he clenched his fists by his side. "Don"t make this harder than it already is."
"Hard, is it?" She eyed his groin, barely visible in the darkness, but she"d felt the solidness pressed against her during their kiss. There were mysteries there that she understood logically, but had never experienced. Now, suddenly, she wanted to. "Make love to me, Brand."
He made a choking sound and hurried toward the patio. "I need to go."
"No, you don"t." Rose stepped toward him, then frowned, realizing they were in her room, not his. "Wait a minute. Isn"t this my room? What are you doing here?" He paused on the balcony. "I was worried about you." His words sent an irrational warmth surging through her. "Why?" He motioned her onto the balcony, then turned her to face the pillar of dust in the distance. "A roof collapsed at City Lights. It buried people inside. I was afraid you and Sequoia were among them."
"Dear Lord." The sight of the dark cloud drifting skyward, the black plumes of dust visible against the night sky, brought a sobering clarity to her thoughts. People were dying there. "I need to do something."
Brand squeezed her shoulder. "I doubt there"s anything you can do at this point."
Though he made sense, she couldn"t ignore the tightening in her chest. "I can try."
"Not without endangering yourself, and I won"t allow that." The finality of his tone indicated his seriousness.
"Still..." To be helpless frustrated her. What was the good of having magic if she couldn"t save lives?
"I understand." Brand ma.s.saged her shoulders. "I think I finally do understand what it"s been like for you."
She turned slowly to face him. Brand was saying this? "How could you?"
"I wanted to fly there, to save you, and realized it wasn"t that easy. I felt useless, frustrated."
He had no idea. "You"ve been able to fly for several days, and now you know all about me?"
"I said I understand now." A hint of anger lingered in his voice. Was he upset that she wasn"t declaring this a marvelous insight?
Rose emitted a sound of disgust. "You understand one little piece of me, that"s all. But there"s so much more. No matter how many times I"ve told you, you still don"t get it."
Words burst forth after years of holding them in, coupled with resentment and irrational anger. "You can"t know, Brand, what is was like to receive this power as a child, to be able to suddenly do ... create anything I wanted. Talk about a kid in a candy store. I went crazy... did stupid things."
Brand grimaced. "I know."
The urge to hit him made her stalk back inside, but he followed her. "Do you?" she demanded. "Mom and Dad warned me that I had to keep it a secret or else there would be consequences. I had magic I had to hide. I had a secret I couldn"t share."
She drew in a shaky breath. "Do you know how terrified I was in the beginning when a simple sneeze could make something magical happen? How could I guard against that?" She"d stayed close to home for months, avoided her friends and activities until she"d finally learned to control her power.
"Apparently you managed," Brand said dryly.
"Yeah, I managed. What choice did I have?" She met his gaze, tilting her chin. "But I couldn"t escape the fact that I was suddenly different, someone to be avoided. After all, you were my best friend and you left me, detested me. He winced at that. "It was hard for me to accept, Rose." "For me, too." She sighed. "But the worst part was the apathy that came a few years later. Everything came too easily. How could I feel worthwhile when I never really accomplished anything? I could have whatever I wanted and it wasn"t enough."
"Rose-"
"Try to imagine being told never to get involved with anyone because I was fated to live forever... alone forever." Despair she usually managed to keep at bay claimed her now, her tears falling into a pile of opals on the carpet. "I can"t die, but for a while there I wanted to. What good was a future without family, without friends, without any sense of true worth?"
Brand extended his hand to touch her, but she moved away, giving him her back. "G.o.d, Rose, I didn"t know."
"You didn"t care." She"d needed his friendship, his approval, so badly and never received it. "If not for Sequoia, I don"t know what I would have done." But her cousin had convinced her that she did have a future worth exploring, goals to strive toward.
"I went to college," Rose continued. "I earned a degree in journalism using my mind, not magic. The way I felt on graduation day when I received that diploma was far more exciting than any amount of magic. I had accomplished something on my own."
She faced him again. "I wrote my first expose based on what I knew about magic, what I"d learned, what I saw and heard. I used no Fae magic in obtaining that story- not then, not ever." The dubious look on Brand"s face spiked her anger. Hadn"t she told him this already? Why couldn"t he believe her?
"That"s why I write these stories, why the promotion I"ll get after this expose is important to me. I"ll have earned it. My magic is a part of who I am. I can"t escape that and I don"t know that I want to. But it"s not all I am."
"I know that."
"I doubt it. All you see is the magic. Else you never would have deserted me."
Sparks danced in his eyes. "You"re never going to forgive me for that, are you?"
"Why should I? You"ve never forgiven me for being different." She yawned, suddenly exhausted. The c.o.ke was catching up with her. "I"m tired. Go away, Brand."
Thank goodness the bed was close. She fell facedown upon it and closed her eyes.
And sank deep into the oblivion of sleep.
Brand hesitated when he spotted Rose and Sequoia outside the hotel entrance the next morning. Though Rose showed no outward sign of the previous night"s partying, Sequoia looked like an illusion gone bad. Her normally tanned skin was pale, accentuating the dark circles beneath her eyes. She moved cautiously like someone testing a limb after removal of a cast.
He grinned. They had a show that night and he had the feeling it was going to be a very long day for his a.s.sistant. Yet Rose displayed no unease or ill health. Another benefit of her Fae blood, undoubtedly.
Frowning, Brand approached them. She"d given him a lot to think about last night, and he"d spent most of the night going over her words, hating the truth in them. But he still hadn"t reached any conclusion. Knowing more of what life was like for Rose didn"t magically make his yearning for it go away.
"Good morning," he said with a bright grin that only broadened when Sequoia shuddered.
"You deserve to be shot," she muttered.
"For wishing you good morning?"
"For yelling it at me."
Brand glanced at Rose, keeping his smile in place. "I didn"t think I was yelling."
To his relief, she returned his smile. "In her world you are."
Sequoia groaned. "This is so unfair. I know I had a really good time last night, but I don"t remember much of it at all."
"Might not want to finish the bottle next time," Brand said.
The look she gave him could make a man walk through walls without the benefit of illusion. "I am never going to drink again."
Rose laughed and hugged her cousin. "How many times have I heard that through the years?"
"I mean it this time."
Rose guided Sequoia toward the intricate gardens beside the hotel. "Just wish yourself better." She darted a look at Brand when he fell into step beside them. "We were going off to do some small wishes and drain the buildup." He nodded. If Rose insisted on maintaining her part of the deal, keeping her magic from leaking was a good thing. "Won"t that kind of wish hurt you?" Sequoia asked Rose. "Healing a headache isn"t anywhere close to curing cancer," Rose said. "Go ahead." "I wish I didn"t have a hangover and felt normal." Sequoia missed a step and they paused as she brought her hand to her forehead. "It"s gone. Just like that."
"Good." Rose patted her cousin"s shoulder. "Now maybe you won"t be so grouchy."
Sequoia narrowed her gaze. "How come you don"t have a hangover? From what little I remember you were feeling no pain, either."
Brand grinned. He wondered when she"d come to this realization.
"I wasn"t." Rose"s gaze darted to Brand, then away. Obviously she did remember something of what she"d said last night. "But I have a faster processing metabolism."
"Unfair," Sequoia muttered.
"Talk about unfair." Rose resumed her stroll. "Who can eat an entire box of chocolates and not gain an ounce? Not me."
"That"s different."
Brand shook his head. "I have to agree with Rose. I"ve seen you put enough food away to feed the entire crew, and you"re still a little bit of nothing."
"Fine." Sequoia stomped a short distance ahead.
Rose sighed. "Make wishes, Tree."
"Make wishes," Sequoia repeated. "I never thought that kind of request would become a nuisance."
Brand caught sight of the flicker of pain that crossed Rose"s face, a pain that echoed in his chest. "Sequoia," he murmured with a note of warning.
"You don"t have to make wishes," Rose added.
Sequoia turned, her eyes wide and threw her arms around Rose. "I"m sorry, Rose. I didn"t mean that the way it sounded. I"m just not very creative when it comes to that type of thing."
"Not creative?" Brand raised his eyebrows, wondering if the wine had mutated Sequoia. "This from a woman who asks for a peanut b.u.t.ter, banana, and marshmallow-cream sandwich?"
"Hey, they"re good." Sequoia wrinkled her nose at him, then gazed into Rose"s face. "You okay?"
"I"m fine, but if you wish for one of those I won"t be."
"Well." Sequoia lifted her nose to the sky. "I wish for a Daryl McCall CD." When the item appeared in her hand, she glanced at it. "I have this one."
"Then be more specific."
"I wish for the Daryl McCall Revelations CD." When it appeared, she smiled at Rose. "Thank you."
"Anything else?" Rose asked.
They resumed walking along the wide cobblestone path lined with trees. Though mid-morning, not many others were around them. A good thing, too.
"I don"t know."
"What about your nails?" Brand asked. Maybe then he wouldn"t have to listen to Sequoia complain before every show about how ragged her fingernails were.
Her face brightened. "Good idea. I wish my fingernails were always this length and unchippable and filed and buffed." She extended her hand to examine her nails. "Awesome."
A mother and her son approached, and Brand stepped onto the gra.s.s to allow them room on the path. "There"s no such thing as dragons, Jeremy," the mother said.
"That stinks," he muttered. "That one in the movie was so cool."
"They"re fictional like elves or fairies."
As Rose giggled, Brand shot her a grin. Fiction wasn"t always all it was cracked up to be.