Running Hot (The Arcane Society #5)(26)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“There is no such thing as a simple yes or no when it comes to sex,” he said.

That was good, he thought, pleased. Smart answer, Malone. Brilliant, in fact.

She tilted her head to look at him, eyes veiled by the dark glasses.

“That’s not an answer,” she said.

He exhaled slowly and went for deeply offended. “You’re asking me if I can use my talent to seduce any woman I want.”

“No.” She stopped and turned toward him, clearly shocked. “I know you wouldn’t do anything that unethical.”

He stopped, too. “Yeah? How do you know that?”

“I’m an aura profiler, remember?”

He frowned. “You profiled me?”

“Of course,” she said coolly. “Do you think I’d go to bed with a man I haven’t analyzed? Especially given my issues?”

“I guess I haven’t thought about it quite that way.” He paused. “I, uh, passed the profile test?”

“Oh, yes.” She gave him a smile that was brighter than the light of the tropical morning. “You definitely passed.”

“And here I’ve been wondering if the reason you were attracted to me was because you could touch me without getting fried.”

“What?” It was her turn to be outraged. “How dare you think I would fall into bed with a man simply because I could touch him.”

“You did say you haven’t been able to get close to a man for over a year.”

“My phobia issues had nothing to do with what happened last night or this morning,” she snapped. “At least, not in the way you mean. I am insulted.”

“Take it easy.”

“I will not take it easy. I am more than insulted. You just made me mad. Really, really mad.”

“I know. I can see it,” he said, admiring the heat leaping around her.

“Let’s get something clear,” she said evenly. “I would never go to bed with a man just because I could touch him.”

The fires of her feminine outrage were resonating nicely with the hot, exciting wavelengths of desire. She was furious but she wanted him. He suddenly felt much more cheerful again.

“You can’t blame a man for leaping to the obvious conclusion,” he said.

“Yes, I can.”

“Ever heard the phrase ‘You’re cute when you get mad’?”

For a few seconds he thought she was going to explode. But she made a face instead.

“Fine,” she said. “Be that way. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

She turned on her heel and took off very quickly, heading toward the entrance to the restaurant. He retaliated by playing the injured card, making a show of limping after her. By the time he reached the podium, the hostess was waiting with menus in her hand and pity in her eyes.

Grace glared. He smiled, satisfied with his petty revenge.

“That sort of behavior is called passive-aggressive,” she said when they were seated.

“I know.” He picked up the menu. “But it feels good. Look, I’ll try to answer your question but don’t blame me if things aren’t clear. It’s a very murky subject.”

She raised her brows. “I’m listening.”

“Manipulating sex energy is very complicated,” he began, assuming what he hoped was an air of scholarly authority.

“More complicated than tweaking other elements of an aura?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asked.

“How the hell should I know? Blame it on biology.” So much for sounding scholarly.

“You’re not getting off that easily.”

“For starters, I can’t work with what doesn’t exist,” he said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“If a woman isn’t already attracted to me, there’s no energy. I can’t create it out of thin air.”

“But what about her natural desire for sex? Couldn’t you just—” She made a little motion with one hand. “Enhance it a little? Put her in the mood?”

If only it were that simple.

“Maybe,” he said. “If she wasn’t concentrating on something else, like, say, painting or cooking or teaching a class in physics or listening to music.”

“Why would that be a problem?”

“Because sexual energy is a raw fuel that can be channeled into a lot of different engines or, in this case, passions. I might be able to heighten a woman’s sense of physical excitement under the right circumstances, but sadly, there’s no guarantee she would focus that excitement in my direction. She might decide that the guy she saw going down to the beach with a surfboard earlier in the afternoon looked a lot more interesting.”

Grace pursed her lips, thoughtful now. “But if she was interested in you in a casual way, could you intensify that interest?”

“Theoretically, maybe. But even if it were possible to get her into bed by fiddling around with her aura, what would be the point? The next morning she’d wonder what the hell she saw in me. That would not be good for the ego.”

“There are men who wouldn’t care at all about what the woman thought the next morning.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not one of them.”

“No,” she said, very serious, “you’re not.”

He frowned, unsure how to take that. “Even if there was no ego issue, there’s one other big reason why manipulating a woman’s aura in bed wouldn’t work well, at least not for long.”

“What’s that?”

“Viewing someone’s aura requires only a small amount of energy and effort. But take it from me, manipulating a person’s energy field requires enormous concentration and the maximum amount of power. The evening would be ruined for me because I’d have to work constantly every minute just to keep her interested on the psychic level. There wouldn’t be much left over to concentrate on the, uh, physical aspects of the situation.”

She tapped the menu lightly against the edge of the table. “I hadn’t thought about the heavy energy drain.”

“There’s no ducking the laws of physics.” He picked up his own menu. “Energy is energy. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you use a lot of power, it takes time to recover.”

The waiter showed up with coffee, took their orders and left. Luther saw Grace glance at a nearby table. An oddly wistful look crossed her face before she turned back and picked up her coffee cup.