Jill Shalvis - Out of This World

I stared at his sleek, smooth back, damp from either the rain or sweat. Which one didn’t matter, because both appealed. I was dizzy, wet and confused.

And desperately hungry for cookies.

Kel stopped to tear off a second strip of his shirt and tie it around yet a different branch. “Come on.”

“Right.” This take-charge Kellan was new. And incredibly appealing. “You think this is the right way?”

“Yep.”

Confident, too. Double whammy. We made more stops, tying a handful of strips to branches. Kel did the tying, muscles tight, brow furrowed. His jaw was scruffy, his hair its usual riotous mess. His eyes were fierce with concentration, and just looking into them made me shiver. The good kind of shiver, the kind that started at the toes, made pit stops at every erogenous zone and ended at the roots.

He lifted his gaze to mine, catching me staring, and some of his intensity cleared, but none of the heat.

And just like that, I knew.

I wanted to kiss him.

Shocked by the unexpected need, I shifted closer. Since he was so damn tall, I had to tip my head back to see into his face, which I did just in time to catch him taking a hard swallow.

“Rach,” he said, suddenly, endearingly, looking uncertain and off-balance again. “What are you-”

“Shh.” I wanted to just look at him forever, but that was weird. In any case, I’d definitely been staring for a beat too long now, and we were verging on awkward.

He swallowed again, and I slid my hands up his bare chest, giving myself another shiver, because his skin was warm and tough. I could feel his heart leap.

I could see it, too, but I didn’t want to accept that, not right now. Right now, I wanted oblivion, I wanted comfort, and I wanted his kiss more than I wanted my next breath. “Kellan?”

He gave one unsure shake of his head, and touched mine. “You’re hurt.”

“Not so much.” I lifted my hand to cover his on my jaw.

He pulled free and took a step back. “You’re off your axis, then.”

But I’d seen it, the hint of something restless and hungry behind the mellowness.

He wanted me, too.

I closed the gap again, just one step, bringing us back within each other’s breathing space. His was such a nice space, I thought.

How was it I’d never seen that?

He had that stubborn lock of wet hair falling into his eyes, dripping onto his nose, and unable to help myself, I pushed it over his forehead. And then there I was, my fingers in his hair, wanting more, so much more.

And given the way his hands went to my hips and squeezed, he felt the same way.

Unbelievably, everything around us seemed to sort of fade away, and I found myself lost in something new: his heated eyes.

“Rach, you’re sending off a weird vibe here, and-”

I nudged my body up against his, and in response, he let out a rough, ragged breath.

Not so Zen-like now, was he?

The knowledge made me smile; the power made me feel drunk. One look at my face, and Kellan groaned. “I don’t know what’s up with you, but-”

“Shut up, Kel.” And to make sure of it, I kissed him.

He went utterly still, like a wall of stone, like a man who’d just entered either heaven or hell but wasn’t sure which.

Then I touched the corner of his mouth with my tongue, and with another ragged groan, he hauled me up off the ground and dove in like a man starved for a feast.

And in perhaps the best surprise of the day, I learned something new about Kellan McInty.

The guy could kiss.

I mean, seriously kiss. Unlike anyone in my past, which had always been a little like the story of the Three Bears-either too much or not enough-Kel had it down: a hungry pressure, an uncivilized connection and just the right amount of tongue.

And then my mild-mannered, easygoing Kel did something a little shocking. He bumped it up to the next level, sinking his fingers into my hair, gripping my head so that the angle suited him better, and took it deeper, pressing me back against the closest tree. Now I had the hard tree trunk against my spine and Kellan’s hard body against my front.

I’d been kissed plenty, but I had to admit, not as if nothing else mattered-not the lightning, not being lost in the woods, not a single thing…

Finally he lifted his head, his blue eyes so dark, they were nearly black. He stroked my lower lip with his thumb as he looked at me. “That was different for us.”

Before I could say a word in response, he kissed me again. And when I say kiss, I mean more like devour. As in no-holds-barred, destroy-any-lingering-thoughts, melt-all-the-bones-in-my-body devour . Seriously, I couldn’t have whispered my own name if my life had depended on it.

Then he upped the heat even more by pressing a thigh hard between mine, while still taking my mouth with a possessiveness I’d never ever have guessed he carried. He kissed me long and deep, and so thoroughly, I’d completely forgotten where we were by the time he lifted his head.

His mouth, wet from mine, curved wryly. “Yeah. Definitely different.”

I couldn’t tear my gaze from his lips, which I desperately wanted back on mine. “Very.”

From somewhere behind us came a thrashing sound, familiar now, so I didn’t leap out of my skin this time. And then two seconds later, Axel appeared, sticking his head through a bush. “Dudes, you gotta keep up.”

“Yeah,” Kellan said, holding my gaze, not to mention still having me pinned against the tree so that I could feel what the kiss had done to him. Yowza. “We’ll try to keep up.”

I might have spoken, but my body kept humming with an undeniable sexual tension. Plus there was that underlying headache from whatever had happened to me out here.

Oh, and let’s not forget my new superpowers.

Yeah, lots on my mind today, and I was quiet on the walk back. With Axel’s dubious tracking skills, it definitely took longer than it should have, but with my thoughts racing faster than the speed of light, it didn’t matter.

Unfortunately, out here in the Twilight Zone, day faded faster than a blink of an eye. No twilight, no dusk, just a disconcerting blink, and poof , daylight to nightfall with no warning at all.

Eeriest thing ever.

Well, except maybe for waking up on the ground with the ability to see through everything.

Luckily we had been within easy reach of the B &B when everything had happened. Unlike earlier though, the house wasn’t lit, but was dark as can be. Without meaning to, I focused, and saw right into the house, into the darkness, and saw nothing.

So why did the hairs rise on the back of my neck?

“Lost power,” Axel declared with a shrug that said it was no big deal. “Shit happens, right?”

I gulped. I hated the dark, had ever since I had gotten hooked on reading Stephen King novels in eighth grade. “Does it happen a lot?”

“Enough. No biggee.”

No biggee, the stoner said. Okay, then, I’d just relax.

Not.

Kellan pulled me aside and lifted my face, studying me for a long moment the best he could in the dark, letting me study him back, which wasn’t such a good idea, as I drowned myself in his eyes. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

Again, I felt that melting sensation, as if he really could make it so.

“I have the flashlight, remember.” He flicked it on and handed it to me.

I silently blessed his mother and sisters for drilling the sweet, sensitive gene into him, because he knew I hated the dark.

“Thanks,” I whispered, my throat unexpectedly thick.

“You’re back to being very quiet,” he said. “Making me a little nervous.”

He should be more nervous about the fact that I now knew the answer to the age-old question, Shorts or briefs? But as he didn’t yet know my secret, he might not appreciate the fact that I found his plaid boxers both sexy and amusing. I did manage a little smile, but he didn’t catch it, his eyes holding mine captive.