Chapter 18: Painful Reminder
LUCIAN'S POV
Against my better judgment, I spent the entire day with Teresa, starting with breakfast in the garden. Ares—as usual—wouldn't stop talking in my head, especially during the tour of the pack lands, which, of course, he practically pressured me into suggesting to her. To make things worse, Rylan was sulking somewhere, feeling betrayed that I had taken the initiative on the tour when he'd been the one to suggest it to Teresa in the first place. But it wasn't my fault, blame Ares!
"Touch her hand," Ares muttered in my mind. "Just a brush, nothing big."
I mentally swatted him away, but the idiot was persistent. All day, he kept nagging me with the same suggestion: Brush your fingers against hers. Hold her gaze a little longer. You'd think a supernatural being like him would have better self-control—but nope.
"Why are you like this?" I muttered under my breath as I handed Teresa another brochure about the estate's–pack lands– so-called historical landmarks.
"What?" She glanced up, looking confused.
"Oh, nothing." I quickly cleared my throat. "Just, uh, talking to myself."
She nodded and turned back to the brochure, completely missing my awkwardness, thankfully. I realized Teresa was one of those people who could get absorbed in the smallest details. It was both endearing and frustrating—endearing because she was genuinely interested in what she was learning, and frustrating because... well, it was like she forgot she'd been in a conversation before something else caught her attention.
Was she genuinely this oblivious, or was she playing some kind of game? I couldn't tell, and it was driving me nuts. Not that I wanted her to notice me all the time or anything like that.
"Tell her she smells good," Ares suggested, and I nearly tripped over my own feet.
I mentally growled back at him. "That's creepy."