by Jill Shalvis
“I’m really confused,” I said in a smaller voice than I’d have liked.
“That makes two of us.” Kellan took my hand. “Come on.”
“To the couple?”
“Oh yeah.”
They were sitting in the dining room. Well, the guy was sitting. The woman was straddling his lap, kissing him as if she planned on sucking his lips off and making them hers.
“Ahem,” Kellan said, and they jumped apart. “Hi.”
The young woman stood up and straightened her blouse with a sheepish grin. The blouse was already buttoned crooked. And because I was now Supergirl, I could see that her bra was all askance. Yeah, definitely seeing waaay more of people than I’d like.
“Serena,” she said, and thrust out her hand.
The Harry look-alike stood and pushed up his glasses. “William.”
We shook their hands and introduced ourselves, too. And then Kellan asked where they were from.
“Far,” Serena said. “Took forever to get here.”
William nodded.
“Far like…back East far?” Kellan probed.
“Farther,” William said, and took Serena’s hand. “So what about you two? How long are you staying?”
“Until Monday,” I said. “You?”
“Same,” was the noncommittal answer.
I wanted to ask if they’d seen the lightning yesterday, if they’d suddenly found themselves equipped with odd, inexplicable powers, but something about them sort of said “Don’t ask.”
And I got goose bumps all over again.
“We’re starving,” William said. “I bet you guys are, too, given all that you’ve been through since the swap.”
The swap.
The swap?
Kellan and I looked at each other. We’d been doing that a lot since we’d gotten here.
“The swap?” Kellan repeated.
“You know.” Serena simulated either having an epileptic seizure or being zapped with a bolt of electricity.
Or…lightning.
Kellan tightened his grip on my hand. “The swap of what exactly?”
Serena glanced bemusedly at William, as if she couldn’t believe we didn’t immediately grasp what she was saying. “Um…nothing.”
“No,” I insisted, “you meant something.”
Serena, chewing on her lower lip now, shook her head.
And my goose bumps grew to full-fledged mountains as a deeply rooted certainty grew in my belly: We were truly the only ones who didn’t know what the hell was going on.
“Kellan?” I said as casually as I could, gesturing to the door. “A minute?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
I tugged him out of the dining room and into the hall, where we stared at each other for yet another long beat.
“Okay, I’m now officially freaked out,” I whispered, and started to have trouble drawing air into my lungs.
Kellan pulled me around a corner and pinned me back against the wall, lifting my chin with his hand. “Deep breaths.”
I realized I was panting, nearly hyperventilating. “They know what happened.”
“Yeah, they do. Keep breathing, Rach.” He waited me out, holding me between him and the wall, stroking his thumb over my jaw, holding my gaze with his incredible blue one, until I could breathe without feeling like I was going to pass out. Finally I nodded.
“We’re going to figure this out,” he promised, his hands still on me, wrapping me in a hug I desperately needed.
I’m not sure when I felt the nature of the embrace change from comfort to, well, way more than comfort, but suddenly I became vibrantly aware of how he had me sandwiched between the hard wall and his equally hard body. Taking his bloodied hand in mine, I ran my thumb over his knuckles.
He made a sound of pain, and I met his gaze.
“I’m fine,” he said.
A new mantra with us apparently.
“You don’t sound—”
“Fine,” he said again, letting out another rough sigh when I pressed up against him. Hmm. Maybe that hadn’t been a moan of pain at all.
Kellan shook his head. “Ignore me.”
But I’d spent a lot of time ignoring things I shouldn’t. My own heart, for instance. Kellan’s heart. It was easier, far easier, to do that, because when it came right down to it, I was one big, fancy chicken with my feelings. Always had been.
Not exactly a pleasant revelation to have about myself. “Kel—”
“No.” He made a rough sound of exasperation, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was also some humor in there as well. “Not here.”
“But—”
“Later, Rach.”
I squirmed a little, and he made the dark, erotic sound again, the one that melted my bones. He had me pinned, the length of him against me, so that I couldn’t move a single muscle.
Not that I wanted to move a single muscle, because Kellan’s body was to die for, and in this position—that is, me flat against the wall and him flat against me, one thigh between mine, his hands holding me still—there was no place I’d rather be.
Well, except alone with him somewhere, with him buried deep inside me…
“Listen,” he whispered, and I realized William’s and Serena’s voices carried from the dining room through the wall.
I looked at the plaster, and gasped. “I can see through the wall!”
“What are they doing?”
It took me a moment to focus. I still wasn’t used to being able to do this. “They’re hugging.”
“Hugging?”
“He’s backed her to the wall. He’s going to kiss her. Omigod, he’s going to—”
“What?”
William cupped Serena’s face with a gentle tenderness that made me feel like a voyeur. “They’re looking into each other’s eyes and talking,” I whispered. “But I can’t hear what they’re saying. Too bad my ears didn’t get the superpowers.”
“Yeah, just what we need. More insanity. Here.” Kellan pressed his ear to the wall, and I followed suit.
“They didn’t know.” Serena’s voice came through clearly. “How could they not know?”
“Marilee didn’t tell them.” William sounded surprised. “That seems highly unlikely.”
“Not to mention unethical,” Serena said. “You can’t pass off an ability to an unsuspecting. That’s just bad form.”
“Honey, not everyone is as open as you are. Maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe Marilee had her reasons,” William said.
Reasons?
Abilities?
An unsuspecting? My god, I really had ended up in the Twilight Zone.
I might have gone running into that dining room to demand answers, but one, Marilee came down the hallway.
She looked as cool as ice, as always, carrying a tray that was loaded with freshly cut fruit and the promised casserole.
“Sorry,” she said, slightly breathless, still not looking at us. “Here’s some—”
Kellan yanked me close.
“What—” I started, but saw his warning, and his intent.
He didn’t want Marilee to realize we’d been eavesdropping, and there was only one way to explain us standing there.
He kissed me.
Hard.
Deep.
Wet.
“Oh!” Marilee gasped, apparently finally looking up. “Um, excuse me.”
She vanished into the dining room.
And yet Kellan kept on kissing me. And kissing me. And kissing…
The guy so knew his way around the inside of my mouth that I actually lost track of things, pulled him close and enjoyed.
Chapter 12
Kellan’s view of things
I f anyone had told me in high school that someday I’d have Rachel Wood pinned against a wall, kissing her as if she were the next best thing to air, I’d have laughed up a lung.
Yeah, she was that far out of my league.
But then again, her
e I was, kissing her, inhaling her. I kept telling myself to slow down. Slow. Down. It was self-preservation, a necessity, because this wasn’t just any woman, but Rach, the one who could so easily break my heart if I let her.
And yet, I couldn’t keep my distance to save my life, because there were her hands, racing restlessly, possessively, over my body, beneath my shirt, touching my bare skin. Plus, I’d been inside her now, just twelve hours ago, and I wanted to be back inside her more than I wanted my next breath.
She pressed herself closer, grinding her hips against mine, going still for an imperceptible beat when she felt me, so hard that the buttons on my Levi’s were threatened.
I had no idea what I thought I was doing—we were in the hallway, for God’s sake—but I held her head still for my mouth, plundering and pillaging, loving how her hands slid up my chest, to my face, then in my hair. In fact, she held on so tightly, it was possible she was going to snatch me bald, but I’d gladly give up my hair rather than have her let go.
How was I supposed to walk away from this? From her? It would take a stronger man than me, and thanks to our “abilities,” I was as strong as it got at the moment.
I’d only meant to shut her up, to make sure she didn’t give away anything we weren’t ready to give away, but like last night, I’d gotten thoroughly lost in the taste of her, in the feel of her lithe, curvy body plastered up against mine. And the sounds of sheer pleasure she made…God.
In yesterday’s storm, aka “the swap,” I’d been changed. It hadn’t been immediately evident to me how, but I’d felt it. I’d always been lean, skinny lean. Even scrawny lean, as Rach liked to tell me.
But there was nothing scrawny about me now. Every muscle had toughened, hardened, and I could do things I’d never even thought of. Hell, I did them without realizing I could, hence the whole hand-through-the-door thing.
And of course, the coup de grâce: making Rach come.
Yeah, I’d really had no idea I could do that.
So I kept kissing her. It felt amazing. She felt amazing. And those sexy little sounds she made deep in her throat really did it for me big time. Finally needing air, I pulled back just for the sheer pleasure of taking her in.
She looked right back at me, her eyes huge and dark, her mouth pretty much an open invitation to sin. I loved her mouth. I wanted her to do things to me with that mouth. Without intending to, I went at her again, and she met me more than halfway, sucking my tongue right into her mouth, gripping me so tightly I couldn’t breathe, but that was fine. Breathing was overrated. I moved my hands up to tangle them in her gorgeous, silky hair, holding her head, not that she was trying to get away.
But despite the roaring of my own blood as it all drained south to my raging hard-on, I remembered that this was all for show, for Marilee, and she’d gone into the dining room.
We could stop kissing now.
Yeah, any time.
Instead, my hands swept down Rach’s body, mindless now, seeking more of her, all of her. And thankfully, Rach seemed to know what she wanted as well.
Me.
Loved that.
I still had her pinned to the wall, one of my thighs thrust hard between hers. And somehow, I’d managed to grab one palmful of sweet ass, the other palm cupping her breast, my thumb playing over her nipple, which had pebbled in my hand. It wasn’t enough, not nearly, so I skimmed my hand beneath her shirt, seeking hot skin to hot skin, and when I encountered a light satiny bra, I simply tugged it down.
She let out the sexiest little sound I’ve ever heard, and pressed her breast harder into my palm. “Oh God,” she whispered, as I continued to rasp my thumb over her nipple, back and forth, listening to her pant. I was out of control, and utterly unable to stop my other hand from slipping inside her panties, from spreading her wet folds and sinking two fingers deep inside.
“Omigod,” she gasped, as I found the right pressure to send her arching into me. “Omigod.”
I wanted to put my mouth on her there. I wanted that so much, I shook with it. But barely, just barely, I remembered we were still standing in the hallway, where anyone could come upon us at any time. One of us needed to get a grip fast, and judging by the dark, needy sounds escaping from Rach’s throat, it wasn’t going to be her.
Damn. Because that left me, and I was prepared to offer the devil my very soul in order to let me continue touching her like this, to strip her down to nothing, to tear off my own clothes and then to bury myself in deep…
A sound from the other side of the wall brought me back, as it did Rach, given the way she jerked.
I was breathing like a lunatic as I lifted my head. Rach staggered a step, as if she could barely stand, and leaned back against the wall.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Um.” She licked her lips and looked adorably dazed. “Yeah.” Her nipples pressed against the material of her top as if begging for attention, and since I knew what they liked and how amazing they felt in my mouth, it was everything I could do not to give them that attention they wanted.
Yeah, so much for keeping my distance.
I could still feel her, the way her skin had been so soft beneath my work-roughened fingers, and as if my brain had disconnected from my body, I stepped close again, sliding my fingers into her hair, holding her head for just one more kiss. And then one more…I ate her startled murmur, and then her soft acquiescence, letting out a groan when she entwined her arms back around my neck and held on tightly.
When we ran out of oxygen, we blinked at each other, chests rising and falling rapidly.
“Love this new Clark Kent–to–Superman thing you’ve got going on,” she whispered.
The Superman comment made my jaw twitch uncontrollably. My exact reason for needing to keep my distance. It wasn’t me she was attracted to, but whatever had happened to me. If I had any hope in hell of keeping my heart in one piece when this was over, I needed to find my control and use it.
“Are you going to tell me that was all a diversion?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“So that Marilee wouldn’t catch us eavesdropping?”
“That’s right.”
She laughed a little. “Yeah, okay.” She nodded. “Nicely done. I doubt she realized that wasn’t real.” She bit her lower lip. “Um, Kel?”
It was in her tone, something warning me to back away. Hell, to run for my life. But my feet were glued to the floor as she came toward me. “What?”
“You should see the look on your face. I’m not going to hurt you, silly man.”
Right, she was only going to rip my heart in two, but it wasn’t going to hurt a bit.
“Don’t worry, Kel. I’ll be gentle.”
Gentle, my ass.
She slid her hands up my arms, entwined them around my neck and tugged my head down. Her lips just barely brushing mine, she looked into my eyes. “Can I have just one more diversion?”
I tried to back up, but she held on tightly. “Rach, no.”
Eyes sleepy and soft and sexy as hell, she stuck out her lower lip until I wanted to lick it. “Why not?” she whispered.
Yeah, you idiot, why not? “We need to focus.” I sounded desperate even to my own ears. “There’s something strange about those guests.”
“Well, duh, Kel.”
“And about Marilee and Axel, too. Everything’s strange, and we need to figure it out.”
Turning, she backed me to the wall now, staring at my mouth, and I nearly groaned.
She blinked those gorgeous eyes and licked her lips. Ah, man. “Rach—”
“Love the way you say my name,” she whispered, leaning her body into me. “As if I’m killing you and giving you your greatest fantasy all in one.”
“Bingo,” I managed. “You win.”
“Good. I do like to win.” Tugging my head down, she kissed me, long and slow. And she did something with her hips, just a little wriggly oscillation thing, rubbing against me in a way that made it impossible for me to think about
anything except tearing off our clothes and burying myself inside her.
“I had no idea you were such a good kisser,” she murmured, nibbling at my jaw. “No idea at all…” She rocked against me some more, and my eyes rolled back in my head.
Okay, time to get a grip, McInty. Tearing free, I held her away from me. “Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Think, man. “Because the coast is clear.”
She went still. Her eyes slid to the door to the dining room. “Gotcha. The coast is clear. After all, why else would we kiss?”
“Rach—”
“No, I understand.”
I pointed at the wall. “What’s going on in there?”
She was very quiet as she turned to face the wall. She put her hands on it, standing very still as she concentrated.
“What do you see?” I tried not to let my gaze fall down her body, to the unintentionally submissive pose she presented, legs slightly spread, hands up to the wall, leaning in slightly to listen.
I could shift behind her right now, came the unbidden thought. I could pull down her jeans and—
“They’re coming,” she whispered, and whirled around to face me as the door opened.
“Axel’s going to take Serena and William on a hike today,” Marilee said as she emerged.
“A hike,” Rach repeated, in a tone that said hiking was pretty much the last thing on Earth she’d voluntarily do.
“We’ll join you,” I said.
“We…will?” Rach shot me a death look, which served to shrivel my erection nicely.
“Yes.”
“A hike.” She sighed. “Sounds…lovely.”
“Sorry.” Marilee gave an apologetic shake of her head. “This is a prebooked hike. Just Serena and William.”
Axel appeared in the hall. “Ready for the hikers.”
“I could book you for later perhaps,” Marilee said to us. “If there’s room in the schedule.”
“If there’s room?” I said. “The B&B isn’t even full. How could there not be room in the schedule?”
“Oh.” Not easily flustered, Marilee kept her composure and smiled. “It’s best to see the area in small groups. You know, individual attention and all.” With that, she hustled Serena and William out.
