Untouched by Sara Humphreys

The vision of the fox floated gently into her mind. Its amber eyes glowed brighter, and with every featherlight stroke, exquisite pleasure rippled through her body. Too tired to fight it and exhausted from years of isolation, she allowed herself to give in. Eyes closed, she leaned into his hand and surrendered to the seductive sensations swirling through her.
    She didn’t know why he could touch her this way. She didn’t care. All she knew was that she never wanted it to end. As if he’d read her mind, Dante held her face with both hands and stroked her cheeks softly. He treaded lightly over the virgin flesh. The rough texture of his fingers against her soft skin created delicious friction.
    “You have nothing to fear from me,” he said. The sound of his voice washed over her, enticing and erotic. He leaned in, and his breath blew hotly against her ear. She moaned softly in response, sinking deeper into the sweet honey of his touch. She hung there, blissfully succumbing to it, until one word floated into her mind and ripped her from the soft sensations. Princess.
    Her body stilled. Her eyes flew open, and she launched herself away from him.
    “What the fuck?” she whispered through trembling lips. She backed away blindly and nearly fell over the large armchair. He didn’t move or try to come after her, but kept his expression neutral. Dante stood there as though speaking to her with his mind was a totally normal thing to do.
    “Did you just—?” She stammered helplessly and pointed at him accusingly. “Say something, for Christ’s sake! Don’t just stand there looking at me like I’m crazy.”
    He stayed stone still. His deep amber eyes stared back at her as he held her in his unrelenting gaze. She stood her ground, hands planted firmly on her hips, waiting for him, daring him to deny it. The silence that pulsed between them seemed almost palpable. She wanted to scream and pound him in the chest, make him tell her she wasn’t crazy—and then she heard it.
    Yes.
    That one word slammed into her mind. His lips hadn’t moved, but she had heard him. One word. She never thought that one word could ever sound that loud.
    The son of a bitch was telepathic.
    She had heard of telepathy but never personally experienced it. Her whole life had just gone from weird to completely fucking nuts in a matter of minutes.
    “You, of all people, should know that the world is full of surprises, and not everyone is who or what they seem to be.” His voice, calm and even, shattered the silence of the hotel room.
    He sounded so nonchalant that Kerry wanted to punch him in the nose. Before she could batter him with questions, they were abruptly interrupted by a loud knock at the door, which elicited a yelp from Kerry. Dante cursed under his breath but kept his penetrating stare trained on Kerry. For a moment neither moved, but when the persistent visitor knocked a second time, Dante reluctantly stalked over to answer the door.
    He peered through the keyhole. “Who is it?” Dante barked.
    “It’s Arthur, Kerry’s representative from the agency,” he snapped impatiently. As if everyone on the planet should know who he is. Typical Arthur. “Open the door!”
    Kerry smirked and shook her head as Dante opened the door for him. His mouth was set in a grim line as he looked down at a visibly annoyed Arthur, who stood all of five foot seven and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds. The man hadn’t had a carb since the new millennium. His perfectly coiffed salt-and-pepper hair glistened with sweat, and the look on his face was one of flat-out annoyance.
    Arthur removed the silk handkerchief from his jacket pocket and dabbed at his forehead, while giving Dante the once over. “You must be the bodyguard.” He gestured up at Dante with his handkerchief before stuffing it back into the pocket of his linen blazer. “Kerry sent me a text about you.” He looked Dante up and down, nodding his approval. “Well, you