“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-”
“
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-”
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?
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
If 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
But then again, here I was, kissing 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…
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
