I don’t know how my heart didn’t leap out of my chest. But I was definitely close. All my fighting spirit vanished completely, leaving only the urge to escape somewhere far away. If only there were somewhere to run…

  It was hard to read Calypso’s mood right now.

  From his predatory expression I could only tell that he wasn’t going to let me out of this office easily. So there was no point even trying to bolt and avoid an unpleasant conversation. Pointless.

  He was silent, his burning gaze fixed on me. Waiting for some reaction from me. He could probably stay silent like that for a very long time, patiently waiting, driving me to a nervous breakdown with his oppressive silence.

  And I… didn’t know what to say or do. Didn’t understand what to expect from Calypso.

  I swallowed nervously, took a deep breath, and said in the calmest voice I could manage:

  “So… How long have you known? Or did you never forget and you’ve just been stringing me along this whole time?”

  “You’re the one who’s been stringing me along this whole time, my dear Owl,” Calypso sang in a honeyed voice, his heavy gaze not leaving me.

  I remembered today, during the day, when I kissed you and you touched me with your hands. My memories came back to me that same second, from the sudden mental attack. You didn’t erase any of my memories: I’m a mind mage, they can’t actually be erased. You probably didn’t know that a year ago, di-i-id you, Owl? You just blocked them for a while, and today they all surfaced again in my memory at once.”

  Da-a-amn.

  No wonder he’d been so strange today… Not that he’d shown he remembered anything — quite the opposite, Calypso deserved an award for his brilliant acting.

  But I couldn’t help noticing a certain shift. Not in his behavior so much as… his gaze, yes, exactly. Calypso’s gaze had changed today after our brief but very intense kiss. After that kiss he’d started looking at me differently… Not with the usual condescension, but somehow… like he wanted me, maybe. Or maybe that’s just what I wanted to see in his look, who knows.

  “And why are you taking off your gloves?” I asked tensely, watching the white gloves that Calypso tossed onto the piano.

  “They’ll get in the way of our… conversation,” Calypso said with a cunning smile.

  He rose from the chair, slowly advancing on me like a stalking predator.

  I gasped and moved sideways — backing away in the opposite direction.

  “Why did you do it, Lori?” Calypso said in a rustling voice.

  “Do… What exactly?” I nervously licked my lips and took another smooth step to the side.

  “Everything. Why the hell did you mess with my memories? How dare you get inside my head and decide for me which memories to keep and which not to?”

  Calypso’s eyes narrowed, and dangerous little flames danced in them. His voice grew even lower, more tense.

  “You know how insanely frustrating it is when you remember what happened to you but not who it was with?” Calypso said.

  “When you try with all your might to remember but only hit a white fog in your mind’s eye and a splitting headache? When you beat your head against the wall in futile searching and feel like an idiot who got played… well, almost played,” he smiled wider.

  And from that dangerous smile, from his aura pulsing brightly with emotion, shivers ran down my spine.

  “You know what it’s like to wake up tied up in a hotel room, torn between euphoria in your body and rage in your head?”

  Well… what was I supposed to say to that? It wasn’t like I was wracked with guilt, no. Right now I was just afraid of Calypso’s anger, which could come down on my sinful head in who knows what way.

  “You were right under my nose this whole time… And I had no idea… You’re good, Lori. To have hidden from me for so long.”

  I still didn’t know what to say and kept silent, breathing rapidly and continuing to back away.

  When I backed into the wall, Calypso made a sudden, lightning-fast move and was suddenly almost pressed against me, his hands braced against the wall on either side of me. The adrenaline in my blood was now off the charts in the ‘extremely dangerous’ zone. I swear the air between us had become so thick and heavy you could cut it with a knife.

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  “Not talking? Nothing you want to say to me? Maybe try to explain the logic of your behavior, hmm?”

  What could I even say to him? ‘It’s not my fault your gaze makes panties drop’ — was that it? Actually, that would be a maximally honest excuse. Even now, despite the adrenaline pumping through me, I wasn’t only feeling nervous excitement.

  I mean, I could say a lot of things, but my thoughts were scrambled and my heart was pounding somewhere in my throat. And Calypso’s aura right now was such that I couldn’t even bring myself to snap back.

  “Why did you run away at all?” Calypso asked in a low voice, exhaling almost against my lips.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I wanted to, okay?” I exclaimed emotionally, finally getting control of my voice.

  “I just wanted to, I have the right!”

  “Wanted it so bad you ran away the moment you realized your anonymity was about to be blown?” Calypso raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  “I just got scared!”

  “Of what?”

  “Of you!”

  “I don’t bite. Well, I do bite, but as I recall, you really liked that, and you kept asking for more,” Calypso whispered hotly.

  “How am I supposed to know what to expect from you?” I threw up my hands.

  “You have a reputation as a very harsh person who doesn’t tolerate other people’s mistakes, who’d incinerate anyone who invades his personal space without asking! How would I know what’s going on in your head?”

  “Then maybe ask directly? With words, using your mouth?” Calypso said acidly.

  “Ever tried that?”

  I was breathing hard, looking into the grey eyes where I couldn’t read a damn thing right now. I took a deep breath, like before diving into water, and asked:

  “So what is going on in your head? Why were you looking for me all year, according to our classmates? To mock me? Get revenge for running away?..”

  “Silly girl,” Calypso smiled unexpectedly softly.

  “Did it never occur to you that I simply wanted to see you again?”

  What?..

  “What do you mean?..”

  “Exactly what I said. I was furious that you ran, but mostly I was furious at my own helplessness, that I couldn’t find you. I wanted to, but couldn’t. And you were right under my nose the whole time… It never even occurred to me to check you… I spent the whole year dying to see the one who’d captivated me with her boldness, her sensuality. And preferably not just once, far from just once. I’ve never met a girl like you, you’re the only one who made such a strong impression on me that you wouldn’t leave my head this whole time. I tried to move on to others… Tried a lot. But my thoughts kept coming back to that Owl who’d gotten under my skin, enchanted me, and damn it, didn’t even leave a chance for any further contact. And that very Owl, in the form of you, was hiding from me this whole time, like…”

  I didn’t let him finish, because I leaned forward and covered Calypso’s lips with a kiss myself.

  He responded to the kiss instantly, pulling me toward him by the back of my neck, burying his fingers in my hair and practically crushing me with a wave of emotion.

  I think my brain just shut off, like a switch was flipped. And all my internal brakes went to hell, all my fears and doubts flew out of my head in an instant. I’d gotten what I wanted and kissed Calypso like it was the last time in my life — hungrily, desperately, with all the sensuality and passion I was capable of.

  He eagerly matched my caresses, held me so tenderly and yet so passionately at the same time that it took my breath away, and my heart kept skipping beats.

  The deep kiss made my head spin mercilessly, my whole being trembled with endless pleasure from every touch of Calypso. From realizing that he himself, himself wanted to kiss me, himself was taking the lead and pressing his whole body against mine so suggestively that everything happening felt like some unreal dream.

  At first my brain kept doubting whether this was all a joke, but Calypso’s lips and hands quickly convinced me otherwise. You only kiss like that when you’re genuinely enjoying the kiss and every touch. When you want to absorb every breath, every curve of the body.

  I buried my fingers in Calypso’s long hair, breathing in the sweet gingery scent of his cologne. Calypso’s eyes seemed black because of his dilated pupils when he briefly pulled away from my lips to remove my cloak that was getting in the way of reaching the buttons of my blouse.

  Neither of us wanted to talk; we let our bodies do the talking. Our gestures, our touches spoke for us far better than any words. The greed with which Calypso drank in my kiss, as if he could never get enough. How impatiently his hands slid over my hips and higher, reaching under my blouse, noticeably tracing his fingers along my bare back. How he squeezed his eyes shut and gasped from my answering caresses.

  And then my brain completely melted from the intimate whisper in my ear.

  “I want…”

  And the tip of his tongue traced my ear in a light, tantalizing tickle.

  “…you…”

  Calypso’s hands were rapidly freeing me from my blouse.

  “…all of you…”

  Long fingers traced my neck, my collarbones, and slid lower, so thrillingly, so wickedly…

  “Mine…”

  I responded to the stinging touches of his tongue on my collarbones with a soft moan; my head was buzzing from the overload of vivid emotions and sensations.

  Ye-e-es, god, ye-e-es…

  I think I breathed that out loud, because Calypso smirked smugly:

  “Hmm, I’m not ‘god,’ but I like being addressed that way, keep going.”

  Oh, go to hell, say whatever you want, just don’t stop…

  My dream had basically come true, so the whole world could wait.