*****
For the first time since she’d come home, she was in her room. Katelyn fought to keep it hers when Kayla and Jacob moved into the house. She was not giving up the only place in the house that she could be alone. The room definitely needed some style. It didn’t have much space left after fitting in her bed, dresser, night table, and desk and chair. She considered rearranging the room. Maybe once her mom stopped being a bitch she could be talked into buying some curtains instead of the cheap mini blinds.
Katelyn was still wired. She looked at her book bag and sighed at the thought of homework. She threw her back pack on the unmade bed, but then picked it up and dropped in on the floor while she fixed the sheets and straightened the comforter. A new comforter would help the room out a lot. She could even buy it herself if she could get some money. She made a mental note to start searching for jobs tomorrow. Not many places hired 15-year-olds, but there were two fast food places in town that would. Mom will let me out of my grounding for work, she thought.
She took out the two worksheets Gorman assigned for her to complete. She shuddered to look at them, but she grabbed a pen off the clutter on her desk and hit play on her CD player--and stopped before she even made it back to the bed. The song playing was one Tim had played for her on his MP3 player. She didn’t own the CD. She had only downloaded it onto her player. She double checked the stereo and confirmed it was the CD playing. She stood over it looking absolutely puzzled.
“It’s about time.”
Katelyn jumped in fright and clutched her arms to her chest. She sucked in a great gulp of air, but was unable to breathe as she watched the closet door push the rest of the way open.
She nearly exploded in relief when she saw it was Tim that was emerging from her closet.
“Oh my God,” she was finally able to say, combined with shocked laughter. “Oh my God,” she said in a shouted whisper. She looked to her bedroom door and quickly went to lock it. She turned back around to see Tim throw himself casually on her bed.
“We seem to spend a lot of time in the bedroom,” he said slyly. “And I usually like to get to know a gal first.”
Katelyn was still in shock at his presence, but jumped down beside him and punched him playfully in the chest. “You scared the shit out of me!”
Tim blocked her light hits with his arms.
“How did you get in here?” Katelyn asked in absolute awe. "How do you know where I live?"
Tim grabbed her wrists to end her half-hearted punches and with little effort was quickly over her, lightly pinning her hands on either side of her head. Katelyn found herself momentarily breathless again. “I’ve come to rescue my lady,” he joked. He kept his green eyes intently on her blue eyes. Katelyn willed herself to return his look, to answer the intensity in them. “It sounds like you’ve had a rough day,” he continued softly. “I thought I’d kiss it and make it better.”
He lowered his lips onto hers, his eyes closing in the process. Katelyn closed hers and let her other senses take over. His kiss was light and lingering, enough to warm her whole body, which was already quite warm with his body stretched out over hers. They’d never been this close. She could feel the length of him extend over her and the strength in the muscles of the one leg thrown over one of hers.
His lips pulled away and she opened her eyes to find him looking at her. She searched them now, looking into them for the assurance words could not provide, but what this moment was offering as truth. Both Katelyn and Tim stayed silent, and then Katelyn felt his hands spread out along her wrists and gently smooth out her own palm, aligning his fingers along hers. He put the slightest pressure on her fingertips, the smallest caress.
She answered back by weaving her fingers into his and lifting her head up to kiss his lips. She shut down the doubts about whether she was reacting correctly and just obeyed her body. She wanted his kiss again, but stronger than before. Her breathing became urgent. He let her take a kiss and followed her exhale with a stronger kiss. She gripped his hands, and together they explored the different feelings of each kiss.
He drew his mouth to her cheek and kissed gently. She inhaled as if for the first time and then relaxed into his new attention, gentle touches down the side of her chin until he reached her neck. There he began to trace gently with his tongue. Katelyn felt a sensation stronger than any she’d ever had before. It was beastly and sexually charged. It scared her and she turned her head into him, forcing him to stop.
He pulled back slowly, coming out of his own passion, somewhat reluctantly. “What’s wrong?” he asked after a moment.
Katelyn felt awkward suddenly. She didn’t know exactly what to say, what words that would make him understand that she loved these feelings but didn’t trust them. She wasn’t familiar with this new power. She had never felt so willing before. It was easy to just kiss other guys and never let it go any further. Now, there was an unspoken urge to know more, but fear came with it.
She didn’t have to say anything.
Tim gently pulled off her and sat up on the bed. He held his hands out to her, and she gave him hers. He pulled her up into a sitting position facing him and then he leaned in and kissed her gently again. Then, he pulled her into an embrace, her head turning to rest on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he whispered into her hair, the warmth of his breath causing a small longing. “I didn’t come here to maul you. We’ve got a date.”
Katelyn pulled back with a question clearly outlined in her expression. “What?”
At this he sprung from the bed and positioned himself next to the window where he extended his arm out in great dramatics. “Behind curtain number one, a glorious evening awaits you.” He pulled the cord to lift the blinds, and Katelyn saw his mode of entrance, a window now missing a screen. He smiled slyly at her. “Thank God you fed that beast out there; I didn’t think I’d win that fight.”
Katelyn laughed as she imagined Chevy snapping off portions of Tim’s jeans, maybe even getting one of the coveted shoes the dog loved to rip to shreds.
“Shall we?” he asked although it was more of a cue than a question; he fully expected her to go.
Katelyn hesitantly looked to the locked door and then back to him. She was thrilled by the unexpected and didn’t want him to go without her. “Yeah,” she said, and then smiled beyond control. “Yeah.” She grabbed a jacket off the back of the desk chair and took his extended hand.
“Ladies first,” he said.
Katelyn poked her head out the window and looked down. Kayla’s tricycle was propped up next to the house just under the window. She brought her head back in, and Tim was holding her desk chair. She moved, and he put it under the window. She stepped up and his hands held hers firmly as she put first one leg through and then the other. He helped her as she guided herself back, bracing herself on the windowsill. “Got it,” she registered as her toes finally located the tricycle below.
Chevy gave out a lone bark as he woke from his position by the opposite side of the yard and trotted over. Chevy quickly recognized her, and she pet him while Tim came out and warily stood next to her. Chevy sniffed him over, more than once in the crotch. Katelyn held on to his collar just in case the inspection turned sour. But then the dog’s stub of a tail began to wag, its fierce jaws breaking open into a harmless pant. “See, even my dog finds you all the man he ever wanted.”
Tim gave her a champion smile and then took her hand, leading her the rest of the short distance to the side of the yard. They snuck out the fence and headed down the dark street.
Pick-me-up Page 13
