Page 173 of Tease Me (Dark Odyssey 1)

Whether he’s here or not I’m going to find him today.

Today.It has to be today even if I have to ride that taxi all over Chicago, or to the ends of the earth and back.

I’m going to find him today.

I ring the bell and wait for a few minutes, then ring it again when there’s no answer.

I’m about to give up when I notice the side entrance to his garden is open.

Deciding to make my way in through there I go in and see him off in the distance sitting on a bench.

Gazing on at him I remember the last words he spoke to me when I was still taken by the coma. He spoke of the future. A future I would have loved.

It’s the vision and beauty of what he spoke of that kept me going all these weeks. It kept me hoping.

It kept the belief that we could still be.

Where he’s sitting is exactly the place for a pond.

He sees me as I approach and rises to his feet, those eyes of his fixed on me in sheer surprise.

I walk right up to him and stop a breath away.

We stare at each other and I remember with perfect clarity how I felt when I first saw him and the first time he made me feel for him. The first time I realized I loved him.

I’m not sure what I should say first. I know what I want to talk about, but I don’t know what to say first.

Nick reaches out to touch my side.

His fingers lightly run over the area I was shot and pain flashes in his eyes as he focuses there.

The wealth of guilt in his eyes makes me reach out to him. I place my hand over his and savor the feel of his skin beneath my fingertips.

“Mia…” he says my name on the edge of a breath and his eyes climb up to meet mine.

“I missed you,” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “You shouldn’t. Angel Doll, you shouldn’t.”

I’m not ready to delve into all the reasons he thinks I shouldn’t miss him, so I home in on the familiar sensation to forget reality. It’s the effect of him. In all the time I’ve known him, one touch was enough to lure me away into the beautiful but wild relationship I have with this man.

Beautiful and wild is the best way to describe it.

It’s just like him.

He promised to catch me when I fall. The thing about that was I was always holding on to him. He’s in control but I’m in charge.

I decide when I let go, and it’s not yet.

Not yet. Not until he tells me he doesn’t want me, and means it.

I wave my hand over the patch of grass and look back to Nick with a smile.

“Lilies would look good here. So would the pond.” I nod and gaze at him with the hope that sent me here. I hope that talking about this will help and show him I want that future with him too. “I’ve always wanted coy carp. They look pretty in the sunlight.”

He sighs as realization fills his eyes. “You heard me.”

“I did, and I love lilies, anything from you would be my favorite thing though. The rest of that vision sounded beautiful. What happened to it, Nick? Why did you stay away?”

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