Taming the Beast

He took in a deep breath and sat back, folding his arms behind his head then looking into the fire. "Like I said, there's not much to know past that."

I knew I shouldn't pry. It was something that I never really had to do honestly, since everything I ever wanted to know about a person was at the tip of the iceberg that was their mind and easily accessible to me, so with Bram not volunteering any information about himself, I was left somewhat perturbed. Is this how normal people feel? No wonder they're so damn frustrated all the time!

But even still, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut—something I never had to worry about before. "There has to be more to it than that. Do you have a family? Where do they live? What you do from home now? What are some your hobbies? And how did you manage to land this beautiful house? How come you don’t like people? It's pretty easy, all you have to do is just answer the questions."

Suddenly I felt ashamed for even speaking up, because Bram turned his head away from me, his knuckles white as he gripped his knees. "I didn’t realize," he began, speaking through clenched teeth, "that I was inviting you over for an interrogation."

It stung, the way he sounded so frustrated but so disappointed at the same time. I bowed my head, feeling like an idiot. "I'm so sorry, Bram. I’m just being an airhead, I know. You don’t have to tell me anything else. I was just trying to make conversation. In fact, if you'd like, I'll just leave you alone."

I was boiling hot in my shawl and two layers of clothing underneath, but suddenly I felt the need to keep myself under wraps.

The silence was not so much awkward as expectant, like both of us were waiting for the other one to speak back up. To my absolute surprise, Bram was the first to say anything. "I'm sorry. I know I can be a bit…harsh."

Biting my tongue, I merely nodded, accepting his somewhat pitiful apology. Considering that the guy pretty much just saved my life, I figured I owed it to him to be gracious about it.

"I'm sure you dinnae mean to get stuck out there tonight, and I've been somewhat of a prick silently judging you about it since then. I'm sorry about that, too."

That took me aback, and I raised a brow at him.. "It's okay. I was sort of an idiot for getting stuck out there like that. I don't know if I said this or not, but thank you for your help. I really don't know what I would've done without you."

Unexpectedly, the corner of Bram's mouth quirked, and he almost smiled in response, just barely. "Probably turned into an ice lolly, honestly."

It was cute, so very cute, and the way he pronounced every single word made my blood rush through my body even faster. How can one man be so damn gorgeous in all these little, tiny ways?

"Yeah, it wouldn't have been pretty, I'll give you that."

Another moment passed before Bram finally turned his body to face me, the couch shifting and groaning in protest under his muscled-mass. "Well, now you know some about me. What about you?"

As much as I despised being put on the spot, I thought it rather easy to answer Bram. "Okay, no problem. I'm Ella, which you already know…and I'm from Brooklyn. I've lived there my entire life, which consists of roughly 24.75 years. I have two younger sisters, Desi and Colette. Desi is twenty-one and Colette is almost fifteen. All three of us live with our Mom. My dad left when I was a baby, so I never knew him. But my sisters' dad died when I started high school. I've had odd jobs here and there. My favorite thing so far has been freelance writing. It's been pretty good to me so far, but sometimes I can't be as creative with my words as I'd like. Not that it brings much money in anyway, but still. And I help out at home by helping my mom run the…psychic hotline out of our house," I said, quickly finishing at the end before an embarrassed coughing fit rose up the back of my throat. "So there you go."

When I finally settled my eyes back on Bram, a thrill ran up and down my spine as I realized he had been watching with rapt attention the entire time I rambled on. I didn't know if this was a good sign, or if he just thought I was crazy. Usually people tend to think the latter.

"That's a pretty fascinating life you're leading there, Ella. I don' really ken about writing, but I've always had an appreciation for the written word."

My eyes went wide. Did he seriously just tune out the whole psychic hotline part? "Maybe you didn't understand, but I mentioned something about a psychic hotline. You know, because I'm psychic." Perhaps it was my need to completely embarrass myself, but I wanted to make sure Bram understood the most important part of me. I felt compelled to keep going, to tell him about the constant migraines I suffered from back home, and the way I could barely get around anymore because of the noise in my head.

He snorted, throwing me off for good measure. "Yeah, I heard that part. I s'ppose you can tell the future? If so, then would you mind tellin’ me who's going to win the World Cup? I could use some information like that."

I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he really was calling my bluff. "I'm not a clairvoyant. That's my Mom. She can…see into the future. Usually."

Bram's bushy red eyebrow quirked up as he grinned. "So you're a psychic…who can't see the future?"

Impatient, I pursed my lips and shook my head. Usually I didn't have a problem fielding any questions people had about my Mom and the whole psychic hotline thing, and believe me, there were always a ton. Lots of people knew that she was dead-on accurate about ninety-five percent of the time. But for some reason, it irritated me that Bram wasn't getting it. "You don't have to be clairvoyant to have psychic tendencies. I'm telepathic, uh that is, I read minds."

This seemed to get his attention, and he leaned forward, tilting his head not unlike a curious animal. "Can you read my mind?"

Should I tell him the truth? Part of me knew there was no way I was going to lie to him—I didn't want to be deceptive with Bram whatsoever. I may not have been able to read his mind but something told me he was big on honesty. "No. It's weird but…no. I can't."

Somewhat triumphantly satisfied, Bram relaxed his posture. "That's probably a good thing."

"It's nice," I agreed, surprised at my own admission. "You can't imagine how much it sucks to be sitting there talking to someone when all of the sudden they start thinking about whether their wife will be home late enough so they can sneak a quick visit with their girlfriend. Or when someone starts absentmindedly thinking that they should get checked after sleeping with the last guy. The best part is when I think I'm into someone, and as smart and charming as they may be, all they can think about is how good I'd be in bed. So yeah…it's a nice change of pace."

Immediately I regretted saying anything at all, my skin flushing pink all across my chest as Bram held my gaze a little longer than necessary. It was crazy, but I wished I knew what he was thinking at that moment. If maybe he was wondering what I was like in bed, after all. The thought had already crossed my own mind about him several times.

"Men are rubbish anyway. At least from a woman's perspective, I'd imagine," Bram quickly added, seeing the withering look on my face.

"All people are rubbish. I've only met a few people that are decent enough for me to be near them longer than a few minutes at a time. Well, and you."

Was it my imagination, or was Bram leaning in even closer? Despite the electricity in the air that seem