“You could stop my heart with that spell,” he commented for her, even as he disregarded her earlier remark about her ancestor. He wasn't ready to give up the details of that particular relationship to this girl just yet. It tied too closely into his reason for seeking her out in the first place.<br/><br/><br/><br/>She would have been able to feel the erratic thudding of his heart against his rib cage when she pressed her palm against him. Even with the build up of power, it did nothing to deter him. If anything, he leaned further into her and smile into her throat. Either he was reckless, didn't care, or knew that she didn't dare go through with the threat her power posed.<br/><br/><br/><br/>“What is your kind of romance, Lane?” He teased her once the friction faded and their moment passed as they once again started down the road. Despite his smug look, the man was not unaffected by his own deviance. Muscles that would have otherwise been hidden by his jacket were now pumped up and defined. James was no bodybuilder by any stretch of the imagination and kept his form lean, but fit. Whatever power he had demonstrated lingered now and pushed adrenaline through his veins faster than he could breathe. He might have claimed to be nothing more than a man, but there were certainly other factors at play underneath the surface of whatever exterior he presented.<br/><br/><br/><br/>He tilted his head down to look at her once the question was proposed, his grin the only response to her scowl. It only broadened when she blushed and glanced away. “Here's what I think. You've been stuck behind someone else's shadow – your mother's, perhaps? - all of your life, and now that you have opportunities outside of being a sheltered, normal girl that runs an alternative medicine and wacky tourist attraction for the arcane crazed, you still aren't sure exactly<i>what </i>you want to do. How old are you? Somewhere in your early to mid-twenties; I can tell that much just by the lines of your face,” he continued on into the restaurant with barely a pause to nod at the hostess that sat them opposite of one another. He leaned forward now to study her. Then reached out to trace the line of her cheek. “You've lost the baby fat in your face that you no doubt carried until a year or two ago. And you might just now be learning that you aren't just<i>pretty</i>, but classically beautiful.”<br/><br/><br/><br/>He kept his hands to himself once it had dropped again, palm up on the table. They had thick callouses on them, some of which were scars. Where she conjured her powers on a spiritual level, James had to work harder for what he produced. And a lot of what he did required blood to seal the deal.<i>He's a cutter.</i><br/><br/><br/><br/>Now, he did lift his attention up and to the young woman that Lane waved to and lifted his own to waggle his fingers in her direction; he even proffered up his most charming smile to earn points. That's about when the miss in front of him turned the curve of the conversation toward his own experiences. He leaned back in his seat, interested.<br/><br/><br/><br/>“Is it working?” Flashback to just a few minutes prior. He divulged her with a wicked twist of his lips and a hooded stare. “Do you want me to get into your pants, Ms. Barnes?” His voice took on a deeper pitch so that his words rolled off his tongue as a rumbled timbre. “Let's pretend that there is no book, no ulterior motive, and simply the two of us. What would you want?”<br/><br/><br/><br/>He deflected the other part of her question for the time being. James had more tact than to admit just how many<i>conquests </i>he had notched into so many bedposts. He would be a liar if he told her that they had all been meaningful romances that lasted through the decades. Some, yes. Not even close to being half. What he did do was throw the question back in her face, his tone hitched in a challenge. “How many great romances have you been involved in, since you are so curious about how many trees had to be cut down in order to fit the number of notches from my escapades.”<br/><br/><br/><br/>The last bit really did catch him off guard, though. His expression stilled, then became serious. Clearing his throat, he waited until their waitress came by with two waters and walked away with their orders before he started in on that discussion. He breathed deep and exhaled hard, his body straightening so that he could comb his fingers through his hair.<br/><br/><br/><br/>“I'm dying,” he admitted and left out the part that, well,<b>everyone </b>was dying, starting from the time they were squeezed out of their mother's womb. “So there are two reasons why I need a peek at that book. The first is to stop myself from actually dying. Call me selfish, but four hundred years seems too young for me to go. God help me, but it should be more than enough time, and far more time than I actually deserve to keep under my belt. The second reason is thanks to another woman that has been driving me crazy for at least two hundred years. I'd like her gone and out of my life for good. Call it a messy divorce and I'm finally settling.” There was a third, and one that was far more personal than he was willing to admit.<br/><br/><br/><br/>“As for my relationship with Adella--” He chuckled wryly. “Needless to say, she picked another man over myself. There were.. moments, but in the end, neither myself or him could save her from happened.” The insinuation was there that he had at least been lovers with the woman at some point, and perhaps bitterness over the man that had won her over in the end. It touched on the bittersweet smile that settled on his features. “Don't play with dark magic at home, kids. Someone could get hurt.”<br/><br/><br/><br/>“Now, tell me your crazy – why aren't you ordinary? Aside from nearly giving me a heart attack.”