by Brea Viragh
I sucked in a breath, unable to imagine the next five minutes.
“Do you do anything for work, Kai? Or do you focus on your classes?” Thessaly asked. “It must be hard trying to balance your responsibilities.”
“Absolutely. I do graphic design and software coding for the college. It’s only part-time while I try to finish up my course load but it helps pay the bills and gives me a break on tuition.”
“It’s good to have money coming in. And prospects for a steady job after college! I think it’s admirable that you decided to go back to school.” Indeed, my mother sounded as pleased as a cat who caught the mouse at last. “How old are you, Kai?”
He stroked. “Twenty-four. My birthday is in January.”
“What a perfect age. Don’t you think it’s commendable how Kai went back to school to better himself? It shows a real strength of character.” Thessaly blinked at me.
“Is it commendable to talk about people as if they aren’t present? No, it’s rude,” Nolan grumbled, hiding his negative reaction in his food.
“Yeah, I agree,” I managed to get out. Although I wasn’t sure which one of them I answered.
The more Kai continued to diddle, the more I lost my focus on the thread of conversation. How he managed to keep a straight face, I’ll never know.
The burning began to twine through my belly and lower abdomen. Higher yet to my chest and sternum until I felt the heat through my arms and the top of my head. I was in trouble. I slurped at my water and spilled it all over the front of my dress.
“You’ve been stewing since you got here,” Thessaly chastised. “Can’t you at least try to be engaging?”
“Sure, I’ll…try.”
I tried not to focus on Kai when I felt Nolan’s burning gaze from across the table. I tried to eat the food and not slop it on my borrowed dress. I tried to ignore my budding orgasm.
Nolan quirked a brow in my direction and said nothing while he chewed. Sooner or later, he would push it out of me.
“It’s fine if she stews, I don’t mind. It’s nice to meet an honest person every once in a while,” Kai stated. “Nell doesn’t bury her feelings.”
“These are good mashed potatoes,” Curran said, speaking up at last. His fork made a continuous path between his plate and his mouth as he fell silent again, having made his requisite contribution to the dinner conversation.
“Thank you, dear.” Thessaly waggled her finger at me. “If only others could be as appreciative.”
Things were going downhill, fast. Or were they going uphill? I teetered on the precipice of a cliff, a tingle spreading through my limbs.
“This has been a different experience from my normal holidays,” Kai remarked. “I’m not used to the company or camaraderie. Usually it’s me with a microwave dinner, sitting on the bed in my underwear.”
“I couldn’t let you sit in the room all alone,” Nolan said. “Are you kidding? You never have to be alone with your microwave dinner again.”
“Thanks again for inviting me.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” my mother gushed. “After all, there’s more than enough room at the table. My children have moved out of the house and we’re still waiting on grandchildren. There’s plenty of space! You can come anytime you like. Consider this an open invitation.”
Thessaly was fishing for a reaction. Waiting to see what I would say or do. I frowned down at my plate and grunted an assent.
“Some of us have a hard time finding the man of our dreams, Mom. Knights in armor don’t come shiny anymore.” I meant it as a jab to Kai, who continued to hammer away at my core. I squeezed my thighs together, capturing his wrist between them, though I wasn’t sure if the move was meant to stop him or help him.
Nolan blanched, shooting me a death look. He still hadn’t told our parents about his preferences when it came to the opposite sex. Or should I say, the same sex and our shared proclivity for lanky men.
“Or so I’ve found,” I finished quietly. Later, when I could think straight, I’d remember those horrible teen years when Nolan struggled with his sexuality. The nights when the dark shadows under his eyes rivaled bruises.
I’d keep his secret.
“I’m only saying how the house has room for more. Kai is always welcome. Welcome to stay as long as he’d like.” Thessaly nodded, having made her point. “How are you liking Heartwood?”
“It’s a beautiful little town,” he answered. “Everyone I’ve met seems pretty friendly.”
“We have our fair share of creative types here. Lots of brilliant painters, potters, farmers and such. We have pagans and Wiccan witches, too.”
“I’m sure Kai doesn’t want to know how weird we are,” I said. My breath caught and hitched, voice ending on a high note. My fingers curled on my lap and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out. “He’ll find out on his own that we’re not normal.”
“We are normal,” Thessaly insisted. “Everyone has their own oddities. If you met someone who fit society’s definition of normal, you would find him terrible and strange. Besides, pagans are the kindest people I know.”
“I’ve never actually met a witch. I bet they live pretty normal lives outside of their practice,” Kai stated.
Thessaly lifted her wine glass and studied him over the rim. “Exactly!”
I couldn’t keep the score in my mind. Hell, I couldn’t keep my mind off the sensations. The utterly fabulous sensations like glass on the verge of breaking.
“I expected weird, don’t worry,” Kai admitted. “I live with Nolan, after all.”
I snorted. “He’s a strange one, all right. Always has been. Good thing I was born first.”
My father reached across the table, torn away from his food for half a second, to cuff me on the back of the head. “Manners.”
Too embarrassed to feel any guiltier, I apologized. Though I tried to mean what I said, the barbs poked through nonetheless.
Kai’s hazel eyes flicked over to mine, brown and green and filled with energy. Curiosity. A desire to see what I would do next. I was ready to burst.
“Manners! I’ll say! You need to be nice for our guest, Nell.” My mother moistened her lips and I tried not to wince. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into you this evening, but be kind. There’s no reason for your animosity.”
Kind? When I had trouble forming complete sentences because of our guest? At least I knew what had gotten into me.
There was a hint of wonder in Thessaly’s voice when she spoke again. “How long will you and Nolan be staying with us, Kai? I’ve heard several different things about a departure date, weather permitting. But no matter what, I think you should stay a couple of extra days. There’s so much to see and do here. I want you to make the most of your visit.”
Nolan rubbed the back of his neck with a noncommittal grunt. “I’m not sure yet. We don’t go back to class until next Thursday, so we have some time to kill. I was hoping to show Kai around town and get him acquainted with country life, but like I said, I’m not sure.”
“That would be real nice…just…nice.” My teeth bit down on the side of my cheek as a wave of pleasure blasted me. “I’m sure he would…enjoy it.”
My façade of competent woman slipped as pleasure surfaced. It allowed me a moment to penetrate my mental barrier and recognize the feelings that flared and were suppressed in the time it took for my heart to beat once, twice.
I’d allowed this to happen for one reason…
“I’m sure he will enjoy it. How about you take Nell, and the three of you can coordinate? I’m sure she’ll have ideas about things that might interest Kai, things you might have overlooked or forgotten, Nolan.”
My smile was thin and fixed on my face, and I was certain that if I let it relax from its rictus the slightest bit, I would blurt out the truth. “Sure,” I managed to murmur.
Nolan twitched at my answer. “Something wrong?”
“No.” My head rolled and I bit the inside of my cheek.
“No.” There it was, finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. Each nerve ending stood to attention under Kai’s ruthless assault. Any more and I would become unraveled. I stifled the impulse to cry out.
Instead, I made a show of leaning back in the chair, settling. Fidgeting.
“Meanwhile, we can all sit here together and enjoy our pre-holiday dinner. Why don’t Kai and Nell remain after we eat and get to know each other better, and Nolan, you can help me clean up in the kitchen. It’s been forever since I’ve seen my baby boy.” Thessaly rubbed the palms of her hands together until I thought I saw sparks. “I want you all to myself.”
“Why me?” Nolan whined.
My mother indulged in a delicate shrug. “It’s simpler this way.”
“I can help, if you want,” Kai offered.
“Oh, goodness no. Guests don’t clean. You relax and make yourself at home.”
“Thanks.”
He’d made himself plenty comfortable already.
“I hope everyone saved room for dessert.” Thessaly rose. “Nolan, please come give me a hand.”
Kai’s thumb twisted at the last moment. If I was teetering on the edge before, his final move sent me over and tumbling toward my death. Simple? How had I ever thought this would be simple? Taut electricity built in my abdomen until the muscles of my pelvis clenched. Hard.
The force of the orgasm flooded through me. It burned, chewing through my lower extremities and I swallowed against the low moan. It was too much. Hours passed instead of seconds while I waited, suspended in release.
A haze settled over my mind and my eyes closed. I’d had an orgasm at the dining room table, in front of my parents and my little brother.
I was coming down from the peak of my release when I turned and locked eyes with Kai, his own glistening with greedy triumph. We were in this together. I saw the moment our thoughts met on the same wavelength, the instant in space where we shared the same breath, the same feeling. He felt it too, the undeniable fusion bringing us together in that singular moment. My orgasm abated but I still couldn’t breathe, let alone process what had happened.
There was nothing simple about him. And as much as I hated to admit it, the final point went to him this round.
He’d won the whole damn game.
Game, set, match.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It took what felt like a year to get back to normal, and about another ten to make it through the rest of the night. I gritted my teeth through doing the dishes, then made up a headache as an excuse to retire early. I just wanted to retreat to my bed. Retreat like a dog with its tail permanently glued to its belly.
Better to wrap my embarrassment in blankets and batten down the hatches.
There was little I loved more than burrowing my head in my pillow and letting the world drift into gray. Well, I could think of many things I loved more, actually, but at the moment it was number one on my list of priorities. And about as far from my reach as Pluto.
The bed in my old room was familiar, facing a cozy sitting area with bookshelves and high-backed armchairs. When I’d occupied the space, I’d had a pretty white-and-pink princess canopy, accented with mounds of pillows and feminine furniture. When I grew out of the phase, my mother made me keep the accents. I supposed she wanted me to recapture the feeling of Cinderella preparing for the ball where I would meet Prince Charming. Now I hated everything pink.
I was no princess.
Unrelieved darkness greeted me when I opened my eyes. I pushed greasy strands of hair from my face and turned to look out the window at the smattering of stars in the sky, and the moon riding low. There were no streetlights in the country. Nothing to illuminate the way. I traced the backlit window sill with my gaze, thinking and fretting and wondering when my mind would collapse on itself. Better to pass out than deal with the runnels and ruts of worry.
Did I see a hole in the ceiling? I wondered, since I’d been staring at the same spot for the last hour. Lying on my side, eyelids pasted open and sleep light-years away, I contemplated what on earth I could do to make it through the next day. Thanksgiving. A day to give thanks and be grateful for what you have.
This made me a terrible person, but I didn’t feel the least bit grateful. For anything. I’d spent an unproductive evening sandwiched between “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match,” and octopus tentacles trying to coax a second orgasm out of me. Not that I minded a little under-the-table action, but with the parental units watching, eating mud was more appealing.
Not to mention the cleanup afterward. I guess Kai wasn’t worried about an adjustment period. He’d embraced our family with open arms and five thrusting fingers. Left me twitching and trying to play a good daughter straight out of the Brady Bunch.
And there was poor Nolan, chatting on like a teenager with the latest gossip to chew. Oblivious to anything and everything. There were equal parts envy and exasperation when I looked at him. How could he be so oblivious?
I wondered why I’d come here, or why I’d stayed the night. A misguided sense of familial duty, probably. It felt wrong snoozing in my childhood bedroom. In years past it had been redone to my mother’s tastes and left with a single twin-size mattress for any guests who happened to show up. The quilt was a throwback to my late grandmother, and not one of her better pieces.
I glanced at the clock, horrified to find it read two a.m. There would be no good night’s rest for this wicked woman. Let me also say it made for a long night when there was no cell phone service. I spared a glance at the tiny metal bedside table where my phone lay, useless now except for games.
Knock. Knock.
The door creaked open and I shot up, clutching the blankets to my breast. “Hello?”
Kai stood against the doorframe with hands at his sides and shoulders slouched. “Hey. I couldn’t sleep.”
“You do know better than to sneak into a girl’s room at night. Right? Or were you not taught the basic principles of propriety?” I pushed hair out of my eyes and tried to still my beating heart. Slowly I released my grip on the quilt, knuckles cracking.
“And here I assumed this was the bathroom. Silly me.”
Kai made no sound as he crossed the room. He stopped inches from the bed, staring down at me like a nerdy rogue from out of my dreams. His voice was gravelly and colored with something carnal. Predictably, my breasts pushed against my nightdress, and despite what happened earlier, I was tempted. More than tempted.
I wanted.
Bad girl! Keeping the blankets against my chest to dissuade the breasts, which seemed to have a mind of their own, I demanded, “Whatever it is you think you’re doing…stop. You aren’t spending the night with me.”
He chuckled, a rumble deep in his chest. Through the dim outside light I noted his t-shirt, stretched over corded ropes of muscle that lent definition to his rangy frame. The knot in my heart snapped tighter at the sight. I needed a cold shower.
His eyes dropped to my chest and I knew I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding my arousal. “Who said anything about spending the night? I have several more pleasurable things in mind.”
The whispered words slithered into my sleep-deprived brain. I wanted to whimper, toss the covers aside, and tell him to plant his butt down.
Ugh, I was a hussy. Dinner had shown me that much. I pointed to the door when he fell silent. “Get out.”
“You won’t let me touch you? Kiss you?”
“No, you cannot kiss me,” I snapped. This had to be a dream. I was asleep and I would have to shake it off in the morning. “After what you pulled at the table tonight, it will be a cold day in Hell before I let you touch me ever again.”
Was the room too hot? Or was it me?
“I’m sorry. I was lying on the air mattress listening to Nolan snore and I knew I should apologize for today.” Kai said nothing about leaving but slanted me a look that made me twitch. “I’m sorry.”
He sounded anything but apologetic.
“You should be sorry.
” If I hadn’t been completely awake, I was now. A flush spread over my cheeks as my brain clicked into the on position. “You could do with more apologies.”
“For?”
“I don’t know. Showing up at my parents’ house unexpectedly, lying about being my brother’s roommate.”
Kai rolled his eyes and sat on the bed. “I never lied about being his roommate. I told you I was in town with a friend, visiting his family for the holidays. My friend’s identity never came up in our brief time together.”
“You could have—”
“It’s a freak coincidence, Nell. Let’s close the chapter and call it a day.”
I leaned forward, trying to summon up the strength to say what I had to say. “Nothing is a coincidence. This is a sick joke, and your behavior at dinner didn’t help.”
“I got carried away and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I didn’t mean to embarrass you in any way.”
“Well, you did. Your showing up here was bad enough.”
Kai continued in a small voice, “Can we be friends?”
“Ha. I have too much going on in my life right now to worry about your friendship. What happened, happened. I chose to have sex with you, and I chose to let you finger me to completion under the table.”
“I wanted those things too, so don’t pretend I’m an innocent bystander in all this.”
My cheeks flushed with heat. “Don’t worry. I plan to keep my distance.”
What else was there to do? I could feel his body vibrate like a motorcycle revved for action. The longer we sat, the more part of me demanded I close the distance to taste him. Warning bells clanged desperately in my head and I tried to remind myself again how I didn’t want to get tangled up with him.
Because the urge to touch him was an ache, I scooted away.
He found the ends of my hair and played with them. “At least let me be chivalrous and do the right thing. I apologized, now I’d like the chance to get to know you.”
