Out of This World

Head bowed, he was breathing hard, as if he’d run a five-mile race uphill. Beneath my fingers, his body felt overheated and damp from exertion. I examined his hand.

“How bad is it? Are you hurt?”

“It was just a door.”

“I meant from yesterday.”

“I’m as okay as you are, I suppose.”

“When did you figure it out?”

“Last night.” He shook his head. “I’m just not quite used to it.”

“Which begs the next question,” I managed shakily. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He held still for another beat, then turned to face me. “You were a little wigged-out last night.”

“So you were what? Trying to protect the little lady?”

“Rach-”

“No, you listen to me. You want me to freak out? Keep stuff like this to yourself. I mean, I can see through stuff, Kel.” I let out a disbelieving laugh. “And you…you’ve gone from some mild-mannered and easygoing guy to…to Superman, for God’s sake. I mean, what the hell?”

He winced at the Superman comment, as I knew he would.

And I could have added that his new strength came with an animalistic sexiness the likes of which I’d never seen before, but that seemed a little too revealing, so I kept that part to myself.

As if he could read my thoughts, he narrowed his eyes and said, “You know, I’m the same guy.”

“Are you?”

“Yes! The same Kellan McInty. Nothing inside has changed.”

“Okay.” I went into the bedroom and grabbed my duffle bag.

Kellan followed me. “I haven’t.”

I pulled out fresh clothes and headed into the bathroom.

“We need to talk about this,” he said to me as I shut the door.

In his face. Childish, I know, but how could he have kept this from me?

He knocked. “Rach?”

I turned away, and cranked on the shower. There. Could hardly hear a thing now, which suited me.

“Rach?” he called through the door. “I know you can hear me.”

When I didn’t answer, he turned the door handle.

Crap.

Leaping toward the door, I quickly locked it, not that that would stop Superman.

Satisfied at his silence, I eyed myself in the mirror. Huh. I looked the same as I had before coming into the Twilight Zone. Same brown wavy hair that always vaguely resembled a squirrel’s tail when the air was dry, and it was very dry at the moment. Same eyes that needed mascara to look halfway good, but the mascara right now was somewhere in one of my two bags and not on my eyes.

I’d been told I had an okay mouth, but I didn’t see it, mostly because it was down-turned at the moment.

Finally I gave up trying to see anything different, and I dropped both Kel’s shirt and my towel to the floor and, naked, stepped toward the steaming shower-

Just as Kellan broke the lock on the door.

I put my hands on my hips. “Hey!”

“Oh, that’s right,” he said, sporting a new and oddly arousing bad attitude as he eyed me up and down, reminding me that I stood there in my birthday suit and all its glory. “Voyeurism is your specialty.”

Oh boy.

Apparently, this was going to be a hell of a long few days.

Chapter 10

With some dramatic flair, I whipped the shower curtain closed. There. Now I could see him standing there, projecting a toughness that I had to admit was giving me a vicarious thrill, but he couldn’t see me.

Fix that, Superman.

I did my business with the soap, enjoying the fact that Kellan was on the other side of the curtain imagining what I was doing.

Which didn’t make any sense, because I was mad at him.

Wasn’t I?

Hell, I didn’t really know anything anymore except that I’d never been more exhausted, confused or frightened in all my life. Fact was, even though I was an artist, I still enjoyed logic.

And there was nothing logical about anything that had happened since the moment I had stepped onto that plane heading out of L.A.

Probably the worst part of all of it was that for as long as I could remember, Kellan had always been a rock. All the way back in kindergarten, he’d been dependable. Reliable. There for me to count on.

And now…now he was keeping secrets, which made me wary and…sad. I was sad.

How could he have kept it from me?

And that he’d managed to do so scared me most of all. And when I got scared, I tended to get pissy. Not particularly proud of that fact, but there it was.

P-I-S-S-Y.

I heard the bathroom door shut, and I knew he’d left.

Good.

Fine.

Damn it. How typical of a man, running from conflict. Never mind that I’d run first.

I turned off the shower and rung as much water from my hair as possible. I wished for a deep conditioner, but decided the hell with it. I’d just have squirrel-tail hair for the duration. Finally I opened the curtain, and let out a surprised squeak.

Kellan hadn’t left.

Nope, he was leaning against the door, arms and legs crossed in a casual pose that did not come close to matching the extremely uncasual look on his face.

A part of me tightened. The part with all the erogenous zones. The part that I didn’t want to acknowledge, because I really wanted to hold on to my pissiness for a bit longer.

His hair was sticking up, probably courtesy of frustrated fingers. His jaw was tight, scruffy. His long, rangy body practically shimmered with tension.

Or maybe that was a lingering effect from the nice bolt of lightning he’d taken on, a fact that made me mad all over again.

“I was going to tell you, damn it,” he said.

“Oh my God. Can you read my mind, too?” I asked in horror.

“No, it’s just all over your face.” His face grim, he tossed me a towel. “Hurry.”

“Why? Do you have another revelation for me?”

“Jesus, let it go. No, no more revelations. But whatever you seem to think, I’m a regular guy, Rach, and you’re standing there naked and gorgeous and oblivious. And if you aren’t more careful, I’m going to-” At that, he clamped his mouth shut. A muscle twitched in his jaw.

“You’re going to what?” I wrapped the towel around myself and lifted my head, inexplicably breathless for his answer.

He still hadn’t put on a shirt. His sweats were no barrier to my new eyesight. He was aroused-hugely so-and it made me tingle. A lot.

He muttered something as he pushed away from the door, something that sounded like “You’re a fucking fool, McInty.” And then he was in front of me, yanking on my towel, tossing it over his shoulder, pushing me back into