Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen--Yeah, I Have Issues

Once again, we stared at each other without saying anything. As if our minds and bodies spoke whole soundless volumes. I wondered about him, as I’m sure he did the same. My cynical side pushed to the forefront, dancing my insecurities in a gag reel inside of my mind.

“You think too much,” he whispered.

“Why?”

“Your thoughts are written all over your face. You second guess realities that need not be questioned. What is, is. What will be, will be, no matter what you say or do about it. Worries warp these realities, create illusion and paranoia, drawing lines in sand that aren’t supposed to be drawn at all.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

He pushed himself up, and cupped my cheek, turning my face toward him. His lips crept closer, and I held my breath.

At first, it was a soft brush of his mouth against mine. Warm and tingly, like the afternoon sun, and the scent of the sea. I pressed into him. Greed took me over. A raw, needy sound crawled up my throat. He answered with a half purr, half growl that traveled through him, and into me, sparking all the built-up lust I’d been holding back all day.

His hand clenched in my hair as his tongue explored mine, urgent and devastating.

I was on my back. I don’t remember how I got there. He climbed on top of me, hands planted on either side of my head, keeping the front of his body a scant inch off mine. Unfortunately. He nipped, teased and sucked my lips, a hardwire to my sex drive.

I wanted him. Needed him. More of his skin on mine. Yes. I wrapped a leg around his hips and tensed, but he wouldn’t budge. I groaned.

“No more than this,” he said hoarsely.

“Why not?” Breathless, I licked my lips. His unblinking gaze followed the movement.

“Three date rule,” he said, as if a prayer, or a curse.

“Excuse me?”

“You told Lola you had a three-date rule. This is date one.” He sounded dazed, hypnotized.

“How’d you hear that?”

He blinked, thick, dark lashes obscuring the seductive need. “I have superb hearing.”

Of course he did. What else had he heard? Bah. Who cared? I just needed him to touch me again.

“Don’t you want me?” I said. Damn it! I hadn’t meant for the invitation to sound so insecure.

He slowly, oh-so-slowly, lowered himself, undulating his hips so his thick, long erection coasted over my core.

“Definitely. Far more than what is safe.” He enunciated, tone careful and level. I shuddered, moaning. “And with every second that passes, I care less and less.”

“Kiss me, please.”

My world spun around faster than I could function. I straddled him. How had…?

His hand fisted in hair, as he dragged me down to him. His brought my lips to his, sucking the breath right from my mouth. Mindless, I ground on him. His growl, dangerous and deep vibrated through me.

He held me still in an iron grip. “You’re ruining all of my good intentions.”

Couldn’t he just shut up, and let me forget my rules? “You put me on top.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking.” He sat up and resumed the most erotic kiss of my life. Dizzy, heart hammering, I tried to focus. My body had other ideas. My legs wrapped around him and tightened.

“Mmm, stop that.”

I pulled back. “Sorry.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

“No, really, I am.” I bit down on my tongue, letting the slight pain peel a lustful layer back.

He nipped my ear. “I can smell how wet you are.” He lifted me from his lap and set me beside him. His gaze raked my body and despite everything, I blushed. “Now, we are going to lay here and watch the moon in a completely innocence, first date sort of way.”

“PG13.” I saluted him. “Got it, master.”

“Oh, there will be none of that,” he groaned.

I stuck my tongue out. “What? Your friends bow to you.”

“Is that what you want to do, Katrina? Bow to me?”

Wicked evil grin. “I can’t say whether I would or wouldn’t. Not on daytime TV time. You must wait until after eight p.m., when the kids go to bed.” His nose wrinkled with confusion. “Different wavelength, big guy.”

And down we went. Get your mind out of the gutter. If I had to, so do you. He curled around me, his front to my back. My head rested on his bicep, as we tried out the whole PG thing. We ended up making out three times before I drifted off.

I woke up a handful of hours later in the fetal position, while he rubbed my back. Dawn peaked over the mountains. Light crawled across the lake, chasing away the shadows and glittering off the dazzling lake.

I bit off a yawn, enraptured by the beauty. I wasn’t up this early often, for any reason. As a night owl without a job, I had no reason for the whole ten-to-six sleep schedule the working class adhered to.

Kalvyn tickled my ear with his lips. “We should get you back to Lola, and bed.”

“Ahh, dad, do I have to?”

“If I was your dad, I would spank you.”

I yawned, stretching my arms over my head. “I might like it.”

He licked my neck, a teasing, searing line.

“Is that supposed to convince to go to bed and sleep?”

“Point made.” He chuckled. “You should get a few comfortable hours of sleep before my people begin their day. If you’re lucky, they’ll be suffering from a late night. You might have until ten. I imagine Lexi will be harassing you shortly thereafter.”

“And you?”

“I’ll be close,” he said ominously.

“We have to go back through the water,” I replied. “Get all wet.”

His eyes burned, but he allowed the comment to pass. “Not necessarily. There is a low stretch that isn’t even calf deep, about a half mile up.”

Once again, I clung to his back, as he jumped up the incline, to higher ground. He all but flew over the terrain, shattering my preconceived notions of probability and the makeup of the human form.

Oh yes, ostrich complex came very easily to me pre-coffee. After I was thoroughly caffeinated, I might have a question or two I had to think about.

Movement on top of the cliffs drew my attention. Bianca, barefoot and naked, stared down at us. Her lips curved into a hateful snarl.