Chapter 15

The limo hit another pothole and reminded me of the drive into Manhattan from the airport yesterday. During that ride, I wasn't sitting like I was sitting now in the posture my mother had drilled into me over the years that made me look ladylike. Uh-uh. I'd been astraddle my brother's hips fucking him like crazy. And that had been just the beginning, the harbinger of the unbridled sex that followed in the hotel suite with Josh and Nicole, the most delicious, satisfying sex I'd had in this life, if not my previous lives, as well. What made the sex so gratifying was all the love flying around.

"I agree," Nicole said with a smile.

"Here, here," Josh quipped.

I laughed. Being around a telepath and an empath had its moments, and this morning, Josh and I had had our moment when he understood the two times I'd lapsed into temporary insanity. I cried afterwards when I understood all was well between us.

Today was shopping day for Josh.

Our first stop had been Giliberto Designs, where we'd ordered some custom-made suits, sports coats and trousers, shirts, a tuxedo, and a cashmere overcoat for Josh, which he grumbled about.

"I don't need all this stuff, especially the overcoat. Remember, I live in Phoenix. Besides, men don't dress this fancy in Phoenix."

"Josh, you keep forgetting we're talkin' man of the world here, not just Phoenix, and some of the clothes we ordered from Giliberto can be worn in Phoenix."

"The tailor says it'll take four weeks to make the clothes, and I gotta come back for two more fittings."

I grinned. "I know. The other fittings pleased me no end because they'll bring you to New York two more times over the next month while I finish fixin' my novel with my editor." I looked at Nicole. "You, too, Nicole. Promise me you'll make the quick trips with Josh, so I won't miss you so much when you leave in a few days."

"Sandy, I can't take any more time off from work." Nicole sighed. "I guess it's time to talk about the job you guys offered me."

"What is there to talk about?" Josh said. "You're goin' to take the job, aren't you?"

"No."

Josh's eyes flashed with quick anger, but his expression quickly softened to a concerned look. He said, "I understand why from reading your attitude just now, and although many of your reasons are valid, I don't agree with all of them. To bring Sandy into the loop, tell her why you said no."

Nicole took my hand in hers. "I'm your lover, yours and Josh's. I can't be your employee."

"I agree with that reason," Josh said, "but I have a solution I'd like to propose when you're finished. Go on, Nicole."

"I don't have a written contract with Olsen's, but I accepted the job for the summer, and I will keep my end of the bargain. I learned a lot this summer working for Harry."

"Who's Harry?" I asked.

"My boss at Olsen's."

"Okay. Go on, Nicole."

"I admire Harry, Sandy, and he's treated me fairly, so I won't leave him without at least two-weeks notice, which would be silly. The new term at ASU starts in four weeks. That's when Harry expects me to leave, so that's when I'll leave. I won't consider leaving Olsen's two weeks earlier than when I'd planned to leave anyway."

"Okay," I said. "Frankly, I admire your loyalty. What else?"

"I'm fiercely independent, Sandy. I didn't go to college to find a husband. I went to learn what I'd need to know to start a career with the ultimate goal of becoming financially independent in my own right. My desire for a career doesn't preclude a husband and children, but I will enjoy a rewarding career, too. This trip, the expensive clothes, all the money you and Josh have spent on me make me feel dependent. I agreed to the trip, the clothes, everything, because I knew how important it was for Josh to be with you again. Otherwise, I would've told you to fuck off when you shouted at me and told me to shut up when I complained about how much money you planned to spend on me. Money might not matter to you and Josh, but it does to me, but only as a way for me to avoid being or feeling dependent."

I squeezed her hand with mine. "I'm sorry I shouted at you."

"Apology accepted. Look, I don't have the capital to start my own business, so I charted a career path that would take years while I moved me up the corporate ladder one rung at a time until I reached a top rung somewhere. Instead, I discovered that love at first sight was possible when I fell head over heels for a real-estate prodigy and an empath, to boot. Josh took all my lofty plans for independence, stuffed them willy-nilly in a sack and gave them a hell of a shake. Then I met you, and I fell for you, Sandy, and you shook up that bag some more. Frankly, I'm bewildered. My carefully charted career course conflicts with my heart."

Tears stung her eyes, I noticed.

"And I don't know what to do," she said. "The only thing I know for sure is that I can't work for you and Josh and be your lovers."

"Whew!" I huffed. I looked at Josh. "You said you had a solution you'd like to propose."

He flashed that boyish grin, and I melted.

"Yeah," Nicole said and shivered. "That damned grin of his does the same thing to me, gives me goose bumps sometimes, not to mention what it does to my pussy." She turned to Josh. "If you've got a solution for my dilemma, I'm all ears, because, as you know, I'm in serious turmoil over this issue."

"My solution is simple," Josh said. "Don't go to work for us, Nicole. Go to work with us."

"Huh?" Nicole said.

"Instead of a wage, work for a piece of each deal you help put together."

"Josh, that's brilliant!" I exclaimed.

"What? You mean like an independent contractor?" Nicole said.

"I was thinking of you more as a partner than an independent contractor, but use whatever nomenclature feels comfortable for you. And, by all means, finish your commitment to Harry."

I watched Nicole carefully and didn't need to be a mind reader to know Josh had hit upon the perfect solution to her dilemma, especially when, with a happy squeal, she ended up in his lap and kissed him enthusiastically.

"Next stop Bergdorf Goodman Men," I said, cheerily a few seconds later.

"We shopped in Bergdorf Goodman," Nicole said, still perched on Josh's lap.

"Yup, BG for women is across the street from the men's store. Josh, a man of the world wears clothes beyond suits to augment his insouciant lifestyle. This means you'll need some sophisticated casual wear in your wardrobe that will dazzle the casually dressed men and women in Phoenix and around the world."

We spent hours in BG for men, and Josh picked out a couple of suits from the racks along with the casual clothes Nicole and I helped him select. Nicole and I had a grand time. I wasn't so sure about Josh. Once back in the limo, I wondered if the shopping spree was irritating him.

"No," Nicole said. "He's havin' fun, at least accordin' to his thoughts." She chuckled. "But, his fun comes more from bein' with us, Sandy, than the shopping."

"Okay. Next stop Saks Fifth Avenue for underwear, socks, handkerchiefs, lounge wear, and pajamas."

"I sleep nekkid," Josh quipped.

I laughed. "Then we'll skip pajamas."

The limo pulled to a stop, and the driver announced we'd arrived at Saks.

I followed Nicole out of the vehicle to the sidewalk, and Josh exited behind me. Suddenly, Nicole stopped dead in her tracks, and I stumbled into her.

"Josh!" she said in a loud whisper. Sharp, sudden fear was evident in the tone of her voice. "That man, connect with him."

"Which man?"

"The middle-eastern man standin' by the sign. I think he's a terrorist!"

"Oh, fuck!" Josh said with alarm a second later. "Back in the limo, ladies. Now!"

"There's more than one of them," Nicole said, ignoring Josh's order. "There's one more down the street a ways."

"Okay, I've got him," Josh said.

"They're goin' to attack the people at the skating rink in Rockefeller Center. They have grenades, automatic weapons. Fuck! There's one more somewhere. Can you find him?"

I'd scrambled back in the limousine and noticed our driver standing by the wide-open door and looking at Josh and Nicole as if they were insane.

"No," Josh said.

"Oh, no! The third one is a suicide bomber! He's... no, not the skating rink. He's in Saks!"

"I found him. He's inside about thirty feet."

"What can we do?" Nicole asked frantically.

"Timing? Nicole, how much time do we have?"

"I don't... Yes! They're set to go at the top of the hour."

Josh glanced at his wristwatch. "Three o'clock. That gives me only two, maybe three minutes tops - I think. Dammit, my watch isn't synchronized with theirs."

I gasped when I watched Josh rush inside Saks. Was he crazy? The police! We needed the police. Oh, god! Josh! I literally shook with fear, not so much for me as for Josh. We were finally together. We were lovers, friends, brother and sister. I didn't think I could survive losing him again.

A few seconds later, Josh guided another middle-eastern man out of Saks, gently holding him by his elbow. The man looked confused - no, zombie-like was a better description. Was he the suicide bomber? If he was, why was Josh standing beside him?

"The one by the sign! Stop him, Josh!" Nicole shouted.

I looked out the front window of the limo and watched with amazement as the man standing by the sign sailed through the air about five feet, slamming onto the sidewalk and sliding on his back until his head struck a lamppost. A few seconds later, I heard a loud explosion. Had the suicide bomber detonated his bomb?

No, the man from inside Saks stood meekly as if he were asleep on his feet.

"The third one just threw a grenade, Josh! He has more!" Nicole said.

Terror gripped me when I saw Josh rush across Fifth Avenue through the traffic. He weaved through the vehicles but slammed into the crush of humanity frantically fleeing the skating rink. I lost him in the mob as another explosion reverberated off the tall buildings.

Hysterical screams and shouts filled the air as I searched anxiously for Josh. Then I remembered the suicide bomber and turned to where I'd last seen him.

He hadn't moved! And he still looked like a zombie. What did Josh do to him?

Something strange happened to me then. One second I was utterly terrified, and the next I felt completely safe. It was the most incredible emotional transformation I'd ever experienced. Josh had taken out two of the terrorists. One was on the sidewalk unconscious, the other stood in a daze as if frozen in time. I knew without a doubt that Josh would soon have the third terrorist under control. As calm as a cucumber, I moved out of the vehicle to stand by Nicole.

"Where is he? Is he all right?" I asked.

"Yes, he's... ah, good. It's over, Sandy."

I caught her as she sagged against me. The stress had gotten to her, I reasoned as I helped her into the limo. She apologized inanely for being a bother.

A minute or so later, Josh joined us. "Let's get out of here," he said as he jumped into the limo with Nicole and me. Our driver slammed the door and ran around the limo to the driver's seat.

"What about him?" I said to Josh, referring to the zombie-like suicide bomber.

"I'll explain in a minute." The limo swung away from the curb and started to weave through the chaos on the street. Our driver looked grim and determined. "Take us to our hotel," Josh said and raised the shield between the driver and the passenger sections of the limo.

"Okay, first the suicide bomber," Josh said. "I went inside Saks and touched him to transfer an attitude I'd bundled that made him want to walk out of Saks and stand without moving until the police arrived to arrest him. I... I didn't need to touch him to transfer the attitude, but I didn't want to take the chance, which turned out to be a big mistake, and that mistake wasn't my first or my last."

"I don't understand," I said.

"I could have thrown the attitude at him without touching him, even through Saks' glass storefront," Josh said. "An attitude connection is mind-to-mind, Sandy. If the receiver of one of my attitudes is within range, an obstruction is immaterial. In my defense, I was frantic about the potential innocent victims inside the store, so I went the extra mile."

"Oh."

"The second terrorist saw the suicide bomber walk out of Saks, which, thank fate, confused the second terrorist momentarily. Then he made a mental leap I didn't expect. He figured his fellow terrorist had chickened out, so he decided to martyr himself by throwing a grenade to detonate the explosives wrapped around the immobile suicide bomber. When Nicole warned me, I picked up on the second terrorist's intent and hit him with a massive bundle of pain, something I'd done before, so I didn't need much time to put together the bundle. I just did it. The third terrorist saw the second fly through the air, and he immediately hotfooted it across the street and out of range before I could stop him. The twisted goon killed a bunch of people before I caught up with him and hit him with a bundle that stopped him in his tracks with his hands in the air. The police were right behind me. They had him on his face and handcuffed when I started back to the limo. Using another attitude, I clued in one of the police officers about the suicide bomber standing in front of Saks and waiting to be arrested, as well as a third terrorist lying unconscious on the sidewalk."

I wrapped my arms around Josh's neck and kissed him thoroughly. "My hero," I said.

"Yeah, mine, too," Nicole agreed and kissed him just as soundly.

When Nicole let him up for air, he shook his head and said, "Uh-uh, not me, Nicole. You! The thoughts you heard were the key, not what I did. You knew they were terrorists, knew there were three of them, and what they planned. I stopped them, but without you, I wouldn't have known what was happening. And brave! You stood steadfast and did what had to be done. I'm so proud of you, so..." He kissed her passionately. "If anyone deserves a hero's medal, it's you."

Shortly after arriving at our suite, Nicole went to sleep. The repercussions of the adrenalin rush she'd experienced at Saks had wiped her out. Although agitated, Josh seemed fine, but I wasn't in much better shape than Nicole.

"Your empathic abilities have evolved, Josh. They've become much more powerful than I realized."

"I told you about them. I don't know why you're surprised."

It didn't take a mind reader to know what he was thinking. He'd said something similar when he realized how much his empathic abilities frightened me just before I cancelled my trip home. "Calm down, buster. I won't leave you again. You're stuck with me now."

He relaxed a little. "You called me your hero. Instead, you should have slapped me silly for putting you and Nicole at risk. I made some serious mistakes, Sandy."

"For instance?"

"I didn't respond quickly enough to the danger those men posed. Once I'd identified all three of them, I should have hit each of them with a bundle, one immediately after the other, that put them in a catatonic state unable to move or do anything until the police took them into custody. Ten seconds, maybe less, Sandy, and it would've been over, and no one would have died. That's mistake number one.

"That I didn't trust my abilities was mistake number two. Instead of dealing with the terrorist inside Saks from where I stood on the sidewalk, I walked up to him and touched him to make sure he received the bundle I'd prepared for him.

"My third mistake was walking him outside, and that's the mistake that put you and Nicole at risk. A split-second, Sandy! That's how close we were to dying. I stopped the second terrorist a split-second before he pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand that would have killed the suicide bomber, the grenade thrower himself, as well as Nicole, you and me, and anyone else nearby.

"My fourth mistake was watching the second terrorist fly through the air and slide across the sidewalk until his head struck the lamppost rendering him unconscious. Instead, I should have ignored the second terrorist as he flew through the air and taken the third terrorist out of play immediately. I knew what would happen to the second terrorist. I did the same thing to the creep who stabbed me years ago, so watching the results of my handiwork was a huge and, as it turned out, a fatal mistake. The third terrorist was a few feet out of my empathic range by the time I turned away from the second terrorist to deal with the third. My fourth mistake was disastrous. It cost some innocents their lives." He sighed. "I'm no hero. The only hero around is asleep in the other room."