Compromising Kessen

by Rachel Van Dyken

  Kessen began rummaging through a bag next to her. Christian was too afraid to break the spell of their working together, so he merely watched while she pulled out a favorite shirt of Duncan’s and one of Nick’s.

  “A toast!” she yelled, flinging them into the air in front of him.

  “To our dear friends,” he finished, grabbing one of the shirts.

  “Who sacrificially went back to London to fetch a dress that doesn’t exist.”

  “And a swimsuit.”

  “And a matching purse, was it?” She laughed.

  “Among other things.”

  “Hear, hear!” She threw the first shirt in. His soon followed, then she threw him a marshmallow, and they went to work on their dessert.

  “I used to be afraid of marshmallows,” he found himself saying out loud. He was doing a lot of that lately.

  “Oh?” she asked, putting two mallows on the skewer and laying it across the fire “Why?”

  “Why what?” he asked, distracted with his own mallows.

  “Why were you afraid of a piece of food?”

  “Ahh,” he said, licking his sticky fingers. “It is quite simple; I hated to get dirty when I was little, and marshmallows had the audacity to constantly cling to my fingers.”

  She gave him a “you must be joking” look, and he laughed.

  “Okay, fine. The real story is Duncan and I wanted to have a camp out. We actually did it here at this very house. He set one of the marshmallows on fire and flung it through the air. It landed on my skin and burned me. It took me years to gain the courage to eat them again.”

  She nodded somberly then began shaking her skewer.

  “Wha—what are you doing?” he asked, slightly panicked. Would his embarrassment know no end?

  “Oh, just playing,” she answered, still shaking the skewer.

  “Uhh, do you mind not shaking the death stick?” He began scooting away slowly.

  “You mean this death stick?” she asked calmly. Kessen shook it vigorously into the fire, and the marshmallow flew through the air. Christian, in another total state of panic, closed his eyes.

  Nothing happened.

  He opened one.

  Kessen was right in front of him.

  Or rather, Kessen was nearly straddling him.

  He rather liked this sudden change of events.

  Only one mallow had flown off; she brought the other one to his lips.

  He opened his mouth and chewed; it was good.

  She began to pull her hand away, but he caught it within his own and carefully licked each sticky finger until he thought he was going to go mad. Kessen’s eyes glazed over and her breathing came out in short gasps. When he reached the final finger, he lingered, tasting the sweetness of the mallow and the saltiness of her skin.

  Had to marry her came rushing back in an instant. Would his family look down on him for taking her down to the courthouse now?

  “My shirt!” A yell came from behind them.

  “My favorite shirt!”

  “Get it, Duncan! Get it!” Nick yelled, as Duncan looked like he was about to cry.

  “It’s too late, my friend … we weren’t fast enough,” Duncan said, burying his face in Nick’s shirt.

  “There, there. It will be okay,” Nick said, sending a scalding look in Christian and Kessen’s direction. “My, my. What have we here? A little midnight camp out?”

  “Murderers!” Duncan yelled, still fake-sobbing into Nick’s shirt.

  “Shhh,” Nick crooned, patting Duncan’s head. “They know not what they do, my friend.”

  Duncan looked up, noticing the marshmallows, and smiled. “Hey, Kessen, did Christian ever tell you about the time I threw a marshmallow and it hit—”

  He looked at Christian and paled. “Never mind. Sorry, I thought you were over it.”

  Kessen nudged Christian. “He was over it until I threw my marshmallow at him just a few seconds ago.”

  “He screamed like a girl, didn’t he?” Nick piped in.

  “His voice does get high-pitched when he’s frightened,” Duncan agreed, sitting down on the chair nearest Kessen. “Mind if I use your skewer?” He gave her a charming wink that would have melted a candle. The guy had no shame.

  “Sure.” She handed it over, but not before Christian let out a little grunt of manly frustration. How dare they interrupt what could have been the best experience with marshmallows he would ever have in his entire existence.

  As if reading his thoughts, Kessen leaned over and whispered, “We can finish our dessert later.”

  There is a God.

  He relaxed as Duncan and Nick went on to describe their treacherous trip back to town, where they discovered they had no money and several items to pick up which demanded the money they left back at the house.

  Duncan explained they went to Lady Newberry’s house and asked her for money to get some of Kessen’s things, promising they would pay her back once they beat up the Vandenbrook heir and stole his lunch money to see how it made him feel.

  Lady Newberry, always the classy lady, merely cracked a smile and gave them twice the amount they needed and told them to enjoy a nice dinner on her.

  Which they did.

  “Even though we were the victims,” Duncan said between bites of his burning marshmallow, “we decided to take a shot at sainthood and allow you two to spend some quality time together without interruption.”

  Christian rolled his eyes. “Which by my calculations only lasted around five hours total.”

  “Sorry for being a good friend,” Duncan cried.

  Then he threw a marshmallow at Christian’s face.

  Christian lost it. He grabbed the closest bag of marshmallows he could find and began firing away at Duncan’s head. Kessen grabbed her own bag and began hitting Nick.

  Neither of them had any defense; both of the bags were next to Kessen and Christian. They ran back inside with vows of revenge and locked the door.

  “I hope they don’t intend to keep us out here all night,” Kessen said, laughing.

  Christian suddenly felt hot. He wrapped his arms around Kessen from behind and whispered in her ear, “I’m sure we could keep ourselves busy if they do.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Was it possible to fall in love in seven days? Kessen silently wondered as Christian’s hands burned what felt like permanent marks into her sides.

  It was as if each finger was trying to mark his territory on her person, one by one, slowly making the agony of his presence clearer as time ticked by.

  Neither of them moved. She doubted he even wanted to breathe for fear she would pull away. And maybe a few days ago she would have. She would have done a lot of things now that she was truly thinking. A few days ago she would have laughingly pulled away while teasing him about something ridiculous, if only to get a rise out of him, so he wouldn’t touch her anymore.

  Not that she ever shied away from his touch; she was much too aware of what his touch did to her, or rather how it undid her.

  But now, facing the locked door, feeling Christian’s arms around her. Everything felt … right. Kessen turned slowly, so she was now facing Christian head-on. His eyes were blazing. This was what it felt like to be in love, yet she couldn’t find the guts to say it.

  It was obvious she was being a coward, but what other choice did she have? People liked to watch others fall in love, but when it came to their own lives, it was a totally different subject. Weeks ago she would have killed to have this feeling, the feeling of being in love. She was familiar with it only because she longed to have the type of romance the Vandenbrooks were famous for.

  Why were those three little words so difficult for her to utter? Of course, it wasn’t as if Christian was helping, with his incessant staring and ogling.

  Why didn’t he say it first? Unless maybe he didn’t feel it. Maybe he just felt passion for her, nothing more. Because when she stopped and tried to be logical, she realized it wasn’t logical. Nothing abou
t her relationship with Christian made sense. She had to be out of her mind to think he would confess his love to her right now.

  “Kessen.”

  “What?” Her head snapped up, nearly knocking him in the chin.

  “If you keep squinting like that you’re going to get wrinkles.” He touched her forehead lightly with his hand, but he might as well have been searing her. His hands were like a torch she could feel all the way down to her belly.

  Not good. Definitely not good, especially if he wants me to stay up with him all night.

  “I was thinking about the ball tomorrow night.” She quickly broke contact, so a coherent thought would be present. Christian looked at her thoughtfully and made a waving motion with his hand.

  “It’s not a big deal, Kessen. Just a whole bunch of our old family friends and important people in society. If you play nice and dance with me more than once, I promise to help you fake a sickness, so we can go somewhere else and watch a movie or read…”

  He said the last word with all the emotion he apparently could muster, making reading sound more like eating nails than enjoying a nice romance novel.

  Kessen beamed. “So you’re saying you’ll read to me if I go and play nice?”

  “Did I mention reading to you? No, I don’t think I did.” He grimaced. “How about I’ll show you a few of the spots the book took place in, and then if I feel generous I will read one line of your choice.”

  Kessen took a minute to pretend to ponder the idea, when what she wanted to do was scream like a little girl. Her obsession with these books was well on its way to being a little much.

  “Deal.” She reached out her hand to grab his, but stopped when she heard a faint yelling in the background.

  Both she and Christian turned to see Duncan and Nick on the other side of the door with paintball guns in their arms and at least four layers of clothing on.

  Duncan put his gun down and lifted up a sign that said “WAR.”

  Then Nick nodded his head and did a little “I’m watching you” gesture, while he held up another sign that said “Run and hide … here we come.”

  Kessen didn’t need to be told twice; she quickly pushed Christian down and made a run for the front of the house, where she figured the door would still be unlocked. Christian yelled at her as she ran around the corner. The last thing she heard was the sound of paintball guns going off and him screaming expletives into the night sky.

  She made it to the front door and was accurate in her assumption. It was open. She ran up the stairs and locked her bedroom door, then looked out her window. Pinned to the ground with paintball stains covering his designer jeans was Christian. He had a sign on his back that read, “Ransom.”

  Kessen laughed and yelled down to Nick and Duncan, who were at the moment dancing around the fire as if they were wild Indians.

  “What will it take for you to let him go?” she yelled as loudly as she could.

  Duncan looked up first. “Payment, princess. Payment.”

  Interesting turn of events. “What type of payment?”

  Duncan looked stumped; he punched Nick in the shoulder. They talked in hushed tones for a few minutes before Nick yelled up at her, “We will give you Christian if you promise not to speak to him until the wedding.”

  She shook her head. “Impossible. That’s not even nice, and honestly it’s more than four days away!”

  Nick looked guiltily to the ground, and Duncan began whistling.

  “Isn’t it?” Kessen yelled. “Boys!” This time they cringed when her voice reached their ears.

  Nick cleared his throat. “It’s been moved.”

  Kessen put her hands over her eyes. “Please tell me you’re referring to something other than my wedding.”

  She thought she heard Christian moan.

  Duncan began untying Christian slowly; he used the time to explain the situation. “We were having it on Sunday, because Christian’s sister was going to be here, but she can’t make it. So now Lady Newberry has decided to move the wedding to Friday night.”

  Kessen felt ill. “But it’s Tuesday night!”

  By now Christian was untied but a little too sore to move from his current position. “Whasdmoes if da.”

  “What did he say?” she yelled.

  Duncan interpreted, “He said, ‘What’s one or two more days?’”

  The man had a point. Either way they were getting married, but she wasn’t ready. Not at all. That meant Friday she would be married. That was two less days to get to know Christian or make him fall in love with her, or at least somehow get him to admit it.

  But then again, she wasn’t admitting it, either.

  Now she was back where she started. Both of them were stubborn idiots, and neither willing to take the giant leap love asked of them.

  “I refuse your demand of silence!” she cried.

  Nick gave Duncan a little signal. Duncan began wrapping the rope around Christian.

  “Ugh, fine!” Kessen yelled. “How about a compromise? I won’t speak to him the day before or the day of the wedding?”

  Nick and Duncan whispered, and then shook hands.

  “Done!” they yelled in unison up to her.

  “Good! Now let Christian go. He’s had a rough day, what with that badger nearly killing him.”

  Christian moaned again as Duncan and Nick shot him questioning glances.

  At least now Kessen had an excuse to stay in her bedroom and sleep rather than stay up all night with Christian. That would have been a terrible idea, and he knew it.

  As she drifted off to sleep, a smile plastered itself across her face as she thought about what Nick and Duncan would say when Christian explained to them he ran from a woodland creature.

  ****

  Kessen breathed in the morning air as she rose from her bed. Her curtains were still drawn, and she wasn’t at all surprised when she looked out her window and saw Duncan, Nick, and Christian lying in sleeping bags by a smoking fire.

  A camp out, of course.

  It was most likely a dare for Christian to be a real man and sleep with the woodland creatures rather than let his fiancée scare them off with rocks. It must have worked, because they all looked as peaceful as could be.

  An odd warming sensation bubbled in her chest when she looked at Christian’s perfect face. She had never watched him sleep before, not that she was one to do that to anyone, since it was creepy and all, but still she couldn’t help but stare at him.

  He had the face of what she imagined a fallen angel would look like. His skin was perfectly stretched across strong cheekbones and a commanding nose. His eyes, although closed, boasted long eyelashes. Not that she would see it from her window, but she knew they were long, and silently wondered to herself what they would feel like brushing up against her cheek.

  His lips were another story. They were too sensual for their own good and simply didn’t belong on a man. It wasn’t at all fair. They were plump and deliciously shaped.

  A snore broke her concentration as she looked at Nick who, mouth wide open, was making ungodly breathing sounds. With the spell of her silent appreciation of Christian’s body gone, she moved on to the bathroom and got ready for the day.

  ****

  Christian hadn’t seen Kessen all day; the reason could have been she was hiding from him after shamelessly handing his head to the paintball gods on a silver platter.

  It was around three in the afternoon before they finally crossed paths.

  “Where have you been?” he accused, not understanding the sudden urgency of why he needed to know her whereabouts.

  “Reading.” Kessen shrugged, then walked on past.

  Was she avoiding him? Playing hard to get?

  “Thanks for last night,” he said leadingly, hoping she would take the bait and at least try to engage in conversation with him.

  She quickly turned on her heel to face him. “Last night?”

  Oh, so she was going to play innocent. Fine.

&
nbsp; “Yes, last night.” He crossed his arms. “Should I refresh your memory?”

  She smiled.

  He circled her like a lion circles its prey.

  “Last night, when you fed me to the wolves—or should I say, the paintball maniacs—by pushing me down, so you could escape.”

  Kessen tilted her head to the side in amusement. “What about it?”

  “I have more welts.”

  “Let me see.”

  “No!” He pushed her away.

  “Yes!” She stepped closer

  “No…” The words faintly left his lips, and he reached out and cupped her head with his hands.

  He kissed her feverishly, as if he hadn’t been doing exactly that for the past few days.

  It was turning into an addicting habit.

  One he had no plan to quit anytime soon.

  Her book dropped out of her hand as she wound her fingers into his shirt and lusciously moaned his name.

  His self-control was shot at this point. All he could bring himself to do was chant three more days, three more days, as Kessen’s kisses urged him to step further over the edge of sanity.

  What he wasn’t counting on was that his thoughts would soon become his words as he accidently spat out, “Three more days” across her lips.

  “What?” She backed away just enough to look into his eyes.

  She was beautiful.

  “Until we’re married.” He smoothed a piece of hair from her face and kissed her forehead.

  “Oh, right.” Her body language was proof she wasn’t the least bit excited.

  And maybe it was the kissing, but in hindsight he would like to think it was the fact his self-control had simply snapped a few days ago, leaving him irritable and annoyed, but he yelled.

  Christian never yelled.

  “How can you react like that?”

  Kessen looked dumbfounded. She obviously was not used to people yelling at her. Then again, Christian wasn’t used to yelling. They were at an impasse.

  “Christian, calm down. What are you talking about?”