[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

Before Esme used her emotion projection on Duke, she had listened to his comment back to her about what she said, giving a small laugh of her own. The way she saw it, though, he didn’t really have to be there with her. That was his choice. It wasn’t as if she had twisted his arm to make him stay in the room with her or give her a bath and then join her in it, even if she was grateful he was there to help her. Duke was also right about them being naked at the same time was a whole other ball game for them. But it also showed, at least to her, that there was still a connection between them after all the time apart and even after how things had been left when she decided to leave. That day still stuck out like a sore thumb in her mind, and she regretted it every day. She had gotten the chance to apologize to Dean about it, but she still needed to apologize to Duke. She just needed to find the right time and place to do so.

She had watched as he glanced down at her hand on his chest before meeting her gaze again. It was hard not to notice the breath he took, the softening of his gaze as he stared at her, and how his signature smile wanted to stay on his face, seeing it in the corners of his eyes and mouth. The soft smile she had slightly faded at his words, knowing how he felt seeing her beaten up and in a weakened state. It had even affected him back then, but now stress was added because of a new element they hadn’t had before. “I know.” she whispered. When he smiled brightly and rolled his eyes at her teasing by using his old favorite expression, her smile returned as she looked at him and held back a laugh from his eye roll. 

Esme kept her hand on Duke’s chest as she used her emotion projection to calm him. She saw his smile slightly fade as soon as he began to calm, knowing it had to be from how quickly he felt himself calming since he had probably never experienced such a quick calming effect. After she felt his heart rate slow beneath her hand, she stopped the projection, and her assumption soon presented itself. She couldn’t help but smile as a light blush came to her cheeks. “On purpose, meaning trying to keep your heart from jumping out of your chest?...... Then yes, it was on purpose.” she replied, taking his furrowed brow and the way he looked at her. Her warm smile then faded into one of nervousness, even though he said he wasn’t running anywhere. She looked down at her hand still resting on Duke’s chest. Her thoughts drifting to when she came clean to Dean about what she was, and how he hadn’t taken it all that well. In fact, he had actually scared her with the way he reacted to the news. 

Her hand on his chest went into a loose fist before she pulled herself from her thoughts and sighed heavily through her nose. At that moment, she half wanted to pull away and put her back to him, even though she knew Duke differed from Dean and handled things differently than he did. “You’re right…… I am different from everyone.” she half muttered. She fell silent for a moment as she searched for her words, then looked up from her hand, but not enough to look into Duke’s face, not being able to right then. “I was able to calm you because…… I can manipulate the emotions of others…… I also know the emotions of anyone near me. That’s how I knew how you felt about me before you said anything.” She finally lifted her head to meet his gaze after a small bit of silence. “I’m an…… Empath.” Esme watched him, letting her words sink in, waiting to feel any new emotion come off of him and waiting for him to say something.