Chapter Twenty-One
Ben shifted closer to me. Again, I was stunned by his Terrean eye colour. My reaction to him did not go unnoticed, and this time, he did not let it go.
‘Cate, what is that?’
‘What is what, Ben?’ I asked, pretending to be oblivious to what he was talking about.
‘Whenever you come back to me, when you look at me, you do that … that … double take thing with my eyes. Why is that?’ He waited for me to answer.
I searched my mind for a way to answer him that would not give away the other world and their unusual eye colour that could only be found there. ‘It just reminds me of a particular colour in Gran’s memory … that’s all,’ I said, not lying, but not telling the entire truth either.
‘Is it associated with something bad, or unpleasant?’ he questioned, and winced.
‘No. To the contrary, it is a very nice thing,’ I replied.
He looked at me for a long moment. I felt like he was searching for his connection with me, at the same time making me feel a little uncomfortable. He touched me gently on the arm and looked into my eyes. I was sure that he was trying to read my emotional state, or my mind even. He had always done that with me. But now that I had knowledge of the other world and its people and their extraordinary capabilities, I wondered about where he grew up. I became anxious to talk to his parents and find out about his family history.
‘You need to take a break from Gran’s memories,’ Ben said, running his finger along my arm, making me shiver in a pleasurable way. My lavender rose heart smiled at its sun.
I didn’t want to take a break, but I thought I should agree to his suggestion. I nodded my head and added a smile to convince him I thought it was a good idea.
He grabbed my hand. ‘Come on. Let’s go—I’m taking you out!’ he said with a gleam in his eye.
‘Like, out on a date?’ I asked, lowered my head and fanned my face with my hand.
‘Sure, if that’s what you want it to be,’ he replied, and kissed my lips.