Beyond Wild Imaginings (12 page)

She frowned. “Me? Me what?” Had he suddenly lost his ability to communicate? What was the deal?

He took her hand and placed it back over his heart.

Her frown deepened before understanding washed over her. “
I
make your heart race?”

He smiled and nodded, taking her hand in both of his and sighing. “Kelly, I am not good with words. I have been trapped within the Creative Realm for twenty years. I was alone. I had no use for words. I know nothing of Manhattan, or Napoleons and hoagies, or why people do and say the things they do in your world. I know nothing of my own emotions. All I know, despite my limited vocabulary, is that I am a man with a soul that has always belonged to you in some fashion, and a heart that feels on fire whenever I am around you.”

His voice was husky with emotion, and she stared at him in bafflement. Her throat closed so that it was extremely difficult to swallow and her fingers began to tremble. “Garren,” she rasped, “what are you trying to say?”

He let out a frustrated huff and glanced around, as if hoping to find the right words somewhere on her bedroom walls. When they wouldn’t come, he let out another breath and looked at her, trying to convey everything he couldn’t seem to verbalize with his eyes alone. It worked pretty well. Thunder rolled ominously outside, and a delicious shiver worked its way up Kelly’s spine. For the rest of her life, she would never forget the look in those violet eyes. Intensity, burning desire, determination, and focus. It was the most erotic thing she had ever seen.

Garren reached up and cupped her cheek in his palm, then trailed his fingers to the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. She didn’t fight it. Not for a second. He was magical, and he had woven a spell around her that she didn’t even want to try to break. His lips brushed over hers in a teasing wisp of a caress, and her stomach clenched in a way she hadn’t experienced since she’d first been kissed as a teenager in high school. It was anticipation, anticipation of knowing that something absolutely fantastic was about to happen. She drew in a shaky breath right before his lips touched hers full on. Her body all but caught fire. His mouth was sinfully perfect, and his full lips moved over hers with gentle pressure.

Garren cradled her head in his hand, bringing his other arm around her to pull her close to his body. He was unhurried in his exploration, as if he wanted to savor every second and make it last. Kelly’s head swam, and as the tip of his tongue gently skimmed along her bottom lip, she swore her blood turned molten. Her heart was no longer pumping human blood. It was lava. She grasped the front of his shirt in her hands and pulled him close as she opened her mouth and let him deepen the kiss. An almost animalistic growl of pleasure left his throat, and he shifted her so that she was lying back down on the bed, cradled in his arms. She tangled her fingers in his soft hair as he made love to her mouth with his tongue, and her whole world spun out of control.

When he pulled back, her breath left her in a rush, and she brought her hands to her head in an attempt to quell the dizziness. “Oh my gosh,” she breathed. She blinked up at him. “No one has ever kissed me like that.” She’d had her share of kisses in her time. None of them had affected her that way. She’d been weak in the knees, and she’d felt fervent passion, but Garren’s kiss was all-consuming, a virtual firestorm that threatened to devour her. She really didn’t know how she would ever be able to kiss a normal human man after something like that. It hadn’t just been her body that had reacted to Garren. It had been her heart and soul as well. She had felt it deep within her. And it had seemed like the most natural thing she had ever experienced, like she was supposed to be in his arms with him dominating her mouth.

He grinned down at her, and a lock of ebony hair fell across his forehead. She reached up and tucked it back, then met his eyes with a small frown. Wait, what was she doing? Was she out of her mind? She was kissing an imaginary creature! And feeling relatively unabashed by it! Her frown deepened. “Garren, I—” As if sensing her thoughts, he leaned toward her again and nuzzled his nose against hers. Her breath caught, and she closed her eyes. No one said a word for several seconds, and she could swear that she felt their hearts beating in tandem. “Garren, this is a bad idea,” she whispered.

He nodded, bringing his lips closer to hers. “Probably.” He nipped at her bottom lip.

She reached up and threaded her fingers through his silky hair. “A really bad idea.” She closed her eyes as his mouth came down on hers again with more force and more hunger than the first time. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down so that he pressed to her. She threw any concerns she had to the wind, deciding that she didn’t care whether Garren was imaginary or not. She could feel him. She could see him. That was good enough for her, and while she knew that there had to be some sort of complication that would come of this new development, he felt good, and he tasted good, and her heart—her broken, wounded heart—soared in a way she had never experienced. That alone was reason enough to let him continue.

She pulled back just enough to meet his eyes, and she smiled. “Garren.”

His lips curled into a soft smile, and he pressed tender kisses along her collarbone before looking at her.

She sighed and trailed her fingers along the lines and angles of his face, studying him. Her mind buzzed with questions. She wanted to know why he had done everything he just had. Why had he crawled into her bed? Why had he kissed her? Why did she make his heart pound? She wanted to know, but she decided not to ask. His kiss had been breathtaking, and he still cradled her in his arms as if he cherished holding her. If she asked and he ended up saying something like, “Well, I was alone for twenty years and I’m horny,” she just didn’t think she’d be able to handle it. It would make her feel foolish and worthless, and she’d spent enough time in her life having men make her feel that way. She wanted to believe, for once, that she was worthy of something truly enchanting and completely magical. Garren was a gorgeous man, and she couldn’t deny that her heart was attached to him in a way that defied any kind of logic.

Kelly had spent a lot of her life feeling awkward and like an outsider. Her creativity and eccentricity had put her in the same category as computer nerds and drama geeks. She’d spent most of her life feeling isolated. Garren validated her in a way that even Chad couldn’t touch. He made her feel like she wasn’t a freak. Rachel thought that the cure for Kelly’s depression was to get back out in the dating circle and to get her head out of the clouds. Her solution was to set her up with an atrocious bottom-feeder of a man. Garren’s solution had been to try to put out the man’s eye and then choke him to death. He hated that Roger had demeaned her intelligence. He hated that he’d left her on the street in the rain. He had flown her back to her apartment and had taken care of her like he had a right. Like it was his duty.

But it wasn’t just duty. Garren acted like he enjoyed taking care of her, like it was a pleasure to do so. In the forty-eight hours she had been with him, he had made her feel more cherished and loved than she had felt in…well, in the last twenty years.

The thunder outside gave a low, rumbling roll and brought Kelly out of her scattered thoughts. She looked back up at Garren, who was waiting patiently for her to finish her sentence. She trailed her fingers down to his lips and traced their perfection. She fought a shiver just remembering how they felt on hers, and she ached to taste his kiss once again. “Show me your world,” she whispered.

She rolled her eyes. “You blew that out of the water, didn’t you? Come on, you seduced me already. I don’t think it’s going to matter much.”

He feigned offense. “I did not seduce you.” He arched one ebony eyebrow in an incredibly flirty, and sexy, manner. “I just went after what I wanted.”

Her face burned and she closed her eyes, shaking her head in embarrassment. “Are you gonna show me or not?” She didn’t know how to handle the things he said to her. She didn’t know what to do with the things he made her feel. She really did have an awful track record with men. She went for selfish guys who used her and tossed her aside when they got what they wanted out of her. Garren had nothing to gain. He wasn’t even trying to rip her clothes off so she couldn’t assume that he had kissed her because he wanted sex. Was it possible that, just maybe, someone enjoyed her just because she was…her?

Garren shook his head and sighed, brushing back some of her hair. “Always so impatient.”

Before she could protest, he lowered his lips to hers again in a tender, soft kiss that made her stomach feel like a hundred butterflies had suddenly come to life in it. She closed her eyes and instantly felt the darkness slip away as a great expanse of milky whiteness took its place. It resembled fog, formless and shifting constantly. Within it she saw flashes of color along the horizon. Green and pink hues highlighted the distant clouds like the Northern Lights, but there was nothing solid, no shapes or life. Just endless white. She pulled her lips from his. “
This
is your world?”

His lips quirked. “No, that is the Creative Realm. That has been my prison. This was my world.” He touched his lips to hers again, and instead of the all-encompassing white of before, she saw a lush, green expanse of forest with a brilliant, cloudless sky above it. Nestled against the trees were small, cabinlike structures. Outside several of them were women cooking things over fires. Kelly recognized it. She recognized the world she had often visited in her imagination. Garren’s race had been forest-dwelling people. They had been civilized enough to be like the girls who’d created them, but primitive enough to be interesting. It was like taking a trip back in time for her, only it was so much more.

When she’d visited Garren’s world as a child, it had strictly been in her mind. This had been a life, a real place where his people had lived. She watched as the Lucienus went about their daily routines, talking and laughing with one another. Children ran and played. Most of the women tended their gardens or cooked for their families, but a select few were in a large meadow practicing archery. Kelly remembered them. They had been Lanelle’s creation. Lanelle had always been very athletic and competitive. Her guardian had been a warrior. She had also created a league of warrior women for their world because the thought of a housewife sort of woman had thoroughly disgusted her. They’d had many adventures with that band of warriors.

As Garren continued to kiss her, Kelly continued to see the world she had only ever viewed as a game, a playland for children. It fascinated her, intrigued her, and made her a little sad. To think, the six of them had created a beautiful place, and they’d destroyed it all without a single thought. It made her sick inside. Where were the others now? Living in a world that no longer allowed for magic and dreams. Their guardians had perished because of their selfish desires to be adult and responsible.

She continued to watch, and her eyes fell upon a group of men standing in a circle on a large, tablelike rock that sat higher than the rest of the land. It resembled a stage, a platform of sorts, and Kelly instantly knew what it was. Garren and the others had been royalty. They had been the leaders of their race. That must have been where they had met, and had spoken to their people.

Her heart stuttered in her chest as she studied the group. Her eyes fell on Harrison, Lanelle’s guardian. He was strong and virile, his muscled arms crossed over his bare and just as muscled chest. His face was stern and stoic, and he seriously looked like he could crush a skull with one fist. Next to him stood Andril, Beth’s guardian. He was thin with sandy-colored hair that was pulled back into a ponytail at his nape. He carried a leather-bound book in one hand. Beside him was Rowan, Rebecca’s guardian. He stood proud and statuesque, looking full of honor and chivalry. He’d been married, Garren had said. Kelly was not surprised. He’d been kind and gentle and very refined. Beside Rowan stood Rachel’s guardian, Eamon. It almost made Kelly giggle at how Brad Pitt–esque he looked. Flawless golden hair waved around a masculine, beautiful face full of sharp lines and perfect angles. It made her heart twinge to look at him. Rachel had loved Eamon. Now she didn’t even remember him.

Last of all, Kelly’s eyes fell on Garren. His hair was brown, not the shining ebony that her fingers were currently entwined in, and something about his face made her pause. Actually, it was the same look she saw on all of their faces. Innocence. Naivety. It made sense. They were adults in stature, but they wouldn’t have had the knowledge of the world outside of what their Kindred Spirit Sisters had known. Garren’s eyes were different now. Still violet, still beautiful, but no longer innocent. He had seen isolation. He had seen loneliness and death. He had seen suffering. He had watched his whole world perish.

With a shaky breath, Kelly pulled her lips away from Garren’s, unable to look anymore. Tears ran softly down her cheeks and her heart ached with the loss of so much. The other guardians, she had known them as well. They had been her friends. They hadn’t just been images. They’d been real. Real people with real lives. She wished she could have done something to prevent their deaths. She wished that her belief could have been enough to keep them all alive. She believed now. Why didn’t that matter? Why didn’t it make a difference? Why couldn’t she bring them back? She had unwittingly taken so much from Garren. They all had. More than anything, she wanted to give it back to him. She wanted to give it back to all of the guardians. They had belonged to her as much as they had belonged to the others. Why didn’t her love, her belief, make a difference?

Garren’s sudden, sharp intake of breath made her come back to reality. She glanced up at him and frowned as he moved away from her and sat up. He looked shocked and slightly alarmed.