Silence that Sizzles (11 page)

“Kyle, is that you?” The voice was like a blast from his past, and it was like a bucket of ice poured over his body. He pulled away from Kelly and quickly pushed her behind him. He felt like he was a teenager that had been caught red-handed.

“Mother.” The word was loosely associated with the woman that he saw in front of him. She moved forward toward him, and he met her in between. She looked up at him. “Your father was able to make the event after all. He believes that his invitation got lost in the mail.”

Kyle stopped himself from rolling his eyes. The invitation hadn’t gotten lost in the mail at all. He had very deliberately scratched his father’s name off the invite list. It made him angry that his father had figured out a way to try to weasel his way back into Kyle’s life yet again.

He gave his mother a quick peck on either cheek as she offered them up to him. She hadn’t been a bad mother. It was just that she had been cool and aloof to him most of his childhood. She had been far more concerned with ensuring that she was the proper general’s wife in the public’s view. He saw his mother’s slightly raised eyebrow as she tried to peer around him. It was unavoidable.

He turned his body slightly so that Kelly was fully in view. He hoped that he had given her enough time to be able to compose herself. “Mother, this is Kelly Malone. Kelly, this is my mother, Eloise Frost.”

His mother looked Kelly up and down. Kyle didn’t have to be an expert on his mother to understand that she wasn’t really approving of what she was seeing. He felt it necessary to add in the next line. “Kelly is a doctor. She’s done work with the military. I met her when I was overseas.”

As he expected, his mother’s face lit up with delight. If there was any association tied to the Army, she was a fan. She offered her hand to Kelly. “Kelly, I’m delighted to meet you. It’s a nice thing to finally see my son interested in someone of the opposite sex.”

That’s when Kyle realized his mother grasped exactly what he and Kelly had been up to out on the balcony. He felt a slight rise of embarrassment and just hoped that she didn’t tell his father. Not that he would care if his father knew about Kelly, but it was more so that he didn’t want his parents interfering in whatever had been growing between them.

Kelly took his mother’s hand and shook it gracefully. She stepped forward and seemed confident. She didn’t flinch at all at the implied innuendo of their relationship. That made him hopeful. “Mrs. Frost, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Now it was Kyle’s turn to frown. He realized that he probably had talked about his mother at some point or another during one of his many sessions with Kelly over the years. He was trying now to remember anything that he might have said.

His mother looked delighted. “Well, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear that he speaks of me at all.” She gave Kyle a look with an arched eyebrow. “Please, Kelly, will you join me for a drink?”

Kelly gave him a sly grin before turning back to his mother. “Of course, ma’am. I’d be delighted.”

Kyle watched in shock as the two women in his life started to walk away. Immediately, his mother started to chatter. He could hear her saying something about Kyle and what a hellion he had been in his teenage years. He could also hear, as he started to follow them, his mother talking about looking forward to seeing him settle down. He tried to move closer to hear Kelly’s response when a hand reached out to stop him. He turned to find his father standing there.

“Kyle.”

Kyle had only seen his father once since the discharge hearing. He knew that it had been his father’s signature that had guaranteed his fate. He felt a familiar heat wave of anger rushing through him as he looked into his father’s eyes. It had been almost three years since then. His father’s hair was tinged a darker shade of gray, and he seemed a bit thinner than the last time Kyle had seen him. Despite the fact that he looked like he was in his early fifties, Kyle knew better. Shifters aged much slower than humans. His father was almost 100 years old.

“General.” Kyle had stopped calling his father ‘father’ many years ago. His father was much more comfortable with the rank and form titling that came with his service in the Army. Of course, after so many years in service, it made sense. Kyle still didn’t think he quite understood how it was that his father had worked with the Army all that time. It was something that they would have had to keep in secret, but if there was any agency that was good at keeping secrets, it was the military. His father had worked with them for many years, and so it was natural that he was more comfortable commanding troops than being a family man. That was the way the Kyle had always felt anyways.

“Who’s the broad with your mother?” His father glanced briefly in Kelly’s direction.

“She’s not a broad,” Kyle said. He worked to keep his tone neutral and even. That was difficult with his father, even in the best of circumstances. “Her name is Kelly. Dr. Kelly Malone.”

His father gave Kelly a more appraising glance. “She looks familiar.”

“She should. She was the physician assigned to my squad in Afghanistan.” Kyle left it at that. He knew that was really all he needed to say. The General had near a photographic memory. He would remember every order and every person who’d ever been assigned to squads under his command. That would have included Kyle’s.

A slow grin spread across the general’s face. “Ah, yes. I remember now. Attractive gal.”

Kyle didn’t like the direction that his father’s thoughts were clearly going. “What are you doing here? You know as well as I do that you weren’t supposed to receive an invite. Your presence isn’t wanted here.”

Since he had stopped being part of his father’s clan, Kyle had been a bit more aggressive in dealing with his father. He had tried to maintain some kind of respectful distance, but at the end of the day, he didn’t agree with many of his father’s views on many issues. That included how to treat fellow shifters. There were many things that he wished he didn’t know about his father’s work during his service in the Army.

“I have to say I was a bit offended by that fact, Kyle. Especially after my long service for our great country. I am a veteran after all and a well-regarded one with the public at that. If you’re having some kind of fundraising efforts, it seems like you should be leveraging the resources available to you.”

Kyle knew that there was no way in hell his father was going to support or donate any money to their cause.  He was fairly certain that his father had a good idea of the different business transactions that went on behind the legitimate fronts of the Urban Dwellers. He thought, twisted as it was, that was probably one of the few things his father would be proud of him for.

The General’s work for the Army spanned far beyond his official orders. Over the years, his father had made vague inquiries in his interests that made Kyle believe his father would give him another opportunity to serve his country in another way. A way that was far less appealing to him.

“I knew that you and mother like to vacation in the Bahamas this time of year. I didn’t want to interrupt your vacation plans.” Kyle wasn’t interested in getting into any further discussion with his father. It was true that the Frosts enjoyed vacationing in the Bahamas. They had a large, historic plantation home there. When Kyle had been younger, he hadn’t thought anything of it that they were able to afford such an extravagant home in the islands. It was only as he got older that he started to question where the money was coming from.

“You know that your mother will never turn down an opportunity to see you. It has been a while since you visited with her.” Leave it to his father to bring his mother into the mix. Kyle knew that despite her cool façade, his mother was genuinely interested in his life. Recently she had been after him asking when he was going to give her grandchildren. That one he had a really hard time swallowing. If there was anything that Eloise Frost seemed to care less about, it was children.

“I’ll be sure to call her little bit more often. Surely, you could’ve put that in an email. No need to trouble yourself with a trip to Copper City.”

The General chuckled. “Email. That always just seem so…impersonal. Besides, I had other business matters here in the meantime.”

Everything about their relationship for as long as Kyle could remember was impersonal. He wasn’t pleased to hear, though, that the General was doing anything else in the city. He made a mental note to ask Eric to have someone check into it.

“Enjoy the party, General.” Kyle started to move toward Kelly, but then he heard his name being announced over the intercom. The time for his speech had arrived. He took a deep breath and shifted direction to head towards the stage.

As she watched Kyle take the stage, Kelly couldn’t help but think how handsome he was. He looked good in a tuxedo. Perhaps even better than what he looked like in his military uniform. Of course, she had always kind of had a thing for a man in uniform.

“Oh, let’s get closer to the stage,” Eloise said. She tugged on Kelly’s elbow to pull her forward. Kelly didn’t really need any additional persuasion. She was curious to know what Kyle was going to say. This seemed like a new phase for him. He had never been one who’d wanted to be the center of attention. She saw Eric and Tony climb the stairs to the stage and stand slightly behind Kyle. Again this was odd to her. If there were no alphas in the Urban Dwellers clan, it just seemed like it would make more sense to have Tony or Eric be the one who addressed the crowd.

Tony was the son of a powerful politician. He had grown up in the spotlight, and as a highly regarded expert on shifter psychology, was frequently called on to offer expert testimony. Eric ran a multi-billion dollar business and was in press interviews all the time. That wasn’t Kyle at all. Still, it was Kyle that took the microphone and looked out at the sea of faces in front of him. She thought that he appeared strangely relaxed all things considered.

She looked down at the small woman at her side. Kyle’s mother was nothing like what she expected. Eloise Frost had to be a strong woman to have been married to Kyle’s father for all those years. Kelly had paid attention in different meetings when the subject of the military partnership would come up. General Frost’s name was thrown around frequently. She knew that he was heavily involved in different aspects of the work that the military did with Oak Tree, and it made her suspicious of him and his motives now. She felt that the feeling might be mutual. The General appeared on the other side of Eloise, and he caught Kelly’s eye. He gave her a slow nod and a smile that she just didn’t quite understand.

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the first annual Copper City Veterans Gala,” Kyle’s voice boomed through the room. It was strong and confident. Kelly felt a slight fluttering in her stomach. She heard the murmurs of appreciation from other people around her. Kyle cut a commanding presence. Although he was quiet and reserved, when he was up on the stage, it was easy to see how he had the ability to own the room.

“As many of you are aware, the biology of the shifter form is much different than other animal species in the world. It requires a new level of expertise and treatment that can only be done by qualified doctors who understand shifter physiology. Those kinds of doctors have been in short supply of the last decade. It is the intention of me and my counterparts here in the Urban Dwellers community to raise the necessary funds to be able to provide education for both human and shifter persons who are interested in pursuing this kind of medicine, and also building facilities both here in Copper City and all over the world specializing in the treatment and care of shifters. Nowhere is that need more prevalent than in the veteran community. Our partners in the military,” at this Kyle cut a glance at his father that Kelly couldn’t read it, “have done the best that they can given the complex nature of a shifter’s biology. But, it is time for us to start taking care of our own. I appreciate your support here tonight and hope that that means you will open your checkbooks as well for us to begin this endeavor. It is my great pleasure to announce that myself, in conjunction with my business partners Eric Carmichael and Anthony Atwood, are putting up the first $10 million towards this effort.”

A rush of surprise and gasps went through the room. Kelly knew, though, that $10 million was nothing but a small drop in the bucket for the three men. How they got it remained a questionable point.

She cut a look at the General. He stood there with an impassive look on his face. Suddenly, Kelly wondered why she hadn’t thought about possibly staying in Copper City. If pursuing work with shifters was something that she wanted to do, the city could become a research Mecca for her. Why hadn’t Kyle mentioned working with the Urban Dwellers on this instead of Eric’s R&D department? Was he uncertain of her skills? Surely that couldn’t be it. He always acted as if he had the utmost respect for her and her background. Then she began to wonder if he questioned her loyalty. It all came back to the question of trust between them. She had worked for the enemy, and now, even though he was helping her, she still had that cloud of uncertainty following her.

She wondered what it was going to take for him to trust her fully again. She realized that she had betrayed his trust four years ago, but surely the fact that they had grown so intimate with each other was enough for him to see that she was on his side.

This brought an additional feeling of confusion to her. She didn’t like the idea that there were sides. Perhaps she had had her nose buried in books and beakers for far too long. Now that she had popped her head up, she understood that there was some kind of divide in the world between humans and shifters despite the fact that the integration efforts had been going on for the last seventeen years.

She listened to the rest of Kyle’s speech and continued to be impressed with his poise and confidence. She already saw several women starting to dig in their clutches. She had a feeling the gala was going to be a great success as a fundraiser. Then it was time for the final reveal.

Kyle took a step back as Tony and Eric pushed a small cart forward to one side of the podium. There was a large white sheet covering an object that was sitting on the cart. Kyle pulled the sheet off with a dramatic flourish.

“Just because I know all of you like to see where your money is going, I want to share with you the first prototype of the building that will be built in downtown Copper City next year. It will be a fully state-of-the-art center for shifter care right here connected to Copper City General Hospital. It will be the leading facility in the world for taking care of shifters.” A roar of applause went up in the air.

Kelly felt warm. This man who commanded the room was the man that she was going to go home with that night. Of course, it wasn’t her home. But nonetheless she saw the way that he had inspired everyone in the room, and it had inspired her. She couldn’t wait to congratulate him. She started to move toward the stage when Eloise caught her elbow. “Just a moment, dear. Give them a moment.”

Kelly wondered what Eloise was talking about. Then she saw Kyle’s father striding across the room to the stage. Now there was no mistaking his look. He was upset.

“You must be very proud of him.” It was time for small talk again it seemed. Kelly was eager to talk to Kyle about his plans. All of it opened up new possibilities, and she was eager to hear who they had started to recruit for the research and to learn more about the focus for the kind of work they were planning to do.

“He has his moments,” Eloise said.

What an odd thing to say. Was she proud of her son or not? Kelly was starting to see why Kyle didn’t necessarily like talking to his parents. His father seemed like a hardass, and his mother seemed like a flailing, empty woman with no backbone.

Kelly caught a glimpse of bouffant blond hair and heard the tickle of a familiar laugh. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I see someone that I would like to talk to.” Kelly excused herself from Eloise’s presence and made her way toward Sophie. As she approached the woman, she couldn’t help but admire Sophie’s flashy red mini-dress. If Kelly was any less confident about her own appearance, she would feel inferior in Sophie’s presence. Sophie was surrounded by five men who seem to be hanging on her every word. She had a glass of champagne in her hand, and she was regaling them with some type of story.

Sophie caught a glance of Kelly headed in her direction. She smiled and held her arms open.

“There you are. I have been so bored. Please help entertain me. Put your eyeballs back in their sockets, boys. This one belongs to Kyle.”

Kelly wasn’t sure she liked the idea of being owned by anyone, but she had no interest in any other man in the room. If anything, the evening had solidified that her interest was firmly on Kyle. But they had to clear up all of the miscommunication and hard feelings first. Clearly there was one area that they spoke exactly the same language, but everything else seemed to be a mess.

Sophie took Kelly’s arm, and they started to stroll through the room. “That was quite a speech wasn’t it?” Sophie took a sip of her champagne and then pointed toward the stage.

“It certainly was. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised at how much progress they’ve already made. I thought this was a fundraiser just to give money to the care of shifters returning from service overseas. I had no idea that it was all encompassing and scaled like this.”

“For everything that they say and everything that they do, there is no doubt that those three men have an idea of how they want to impact the health and well-being of the shifter community at large for the better.”

“But surely it was influenced by Kyle’s experiences, right?”

“No matter how they got there, the fact of the matter remains, that they’re right. There isn’t proper care out there for shifters. The doctors don’t know what to do with us. Yes, we have very similar characteristics to humans, but we also have a wealth of other things that happen with our bodies that have nothing to do with that. Our diseases are different, our treatments are different, and there isn’t anyone in the world who is truly focused on making sure that they attend to our needs.” Sophie’s speech was impassioned. Kelly had never thought about it that way.

“We’ve been doing our best,” she said softly.

Sophie looked at her with a slightly pitying look. “That’s what they all say. If you really want to know about who is doing the first and foremost work when it comes to the health and well-being of shifters, you’re going to find it here in Copper City. Maybe it’s just me, but it also sounds like a perfect opportunity for people who want to be involved with that kind of work.”

There it was. Sophie had voiced what Kelly had been thinking. “Kyle hasn’t said anything to me about being involved in that work.” It seemed like a really big thing that he should’ve mentioned to her. Especially when he was talking about wanting to have her stay in Copper City longer. Kelly wasn’t opposed to the idea. Part of her was excited suddenly about what the future might hold for her. Especially when it came to the tall, dark, handsome shifter who was headed in her direction.

“Hello, gorgeous. I’ve been looking for you,” Kyle said as he wrapped his arm around her. He drew her in closer to him. Kelly knew that she should be a little bit embarrassed by the obvious display of affection, but as he nuzzled against her neck, she didn’t really feel like complaining. Sophie watched them with a cocked eyebrow and a small smile of satisfaction.

“For Pete’s sake, get a room,” Sophie said. Her tone was mocking, and Kelly could tell she didn’t really mind.

“Great idea, Sophie. What do you say we get out of here?” Kyle asked her.

Kelly was surprised. “Don’t you have to stay around longer to gladhand all of the new donors?”

“I’ll leave that to Eric and Tony. There are other things I have in mind at the moment.”

Kelly couldn’t help but smile. She gave Sophie a small wave as Kyle moved her quickly through the room. She thought she saw General Frost on his way to intercept them, but Kyle deftly moved them a different direction, and then they were out the door. There was a limo waiting outside at the curb, and Kyle helped her inside.

The door had barely closed before it seemed like his hands were everywhere on her body. His lips found hers, and she felt the urgent tug as he pulled up the hem of her dress. “I’ve been thinking about doing this ever since I saw you in this dress.”

Kelly leaned back and gave into the delicious sensations of his hands on her skin. Even though it had been less than a day, she felt like it’d been far too long. She welcomed every part of Kyle. She didn’t care about the misunderstanding that they had earlier. She would sort it out with him soon enough. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of wicked delight in giving over to this wild side that Kyle seemed to bring out in her.

She let Kyle push her back gently against the length of the seat. Soon, she was flat on her back, but she barely noticed because his hands dug into the hair at the nape of her neck and his hands were exploring the curves of her breasts. His lips crushed hers, and his tongue demanded entry. She could feel the slight burn across her chin from the scruff on his face, and she loved every moment of it. As Kyle’s hands pushed her skirt further upward, she did have a moment of hesitation. “What about the driver up front?”

She had never done anything reckless like this before. The only place she’d ever had sex in her life was in the bedroom. But the feelings that Kyle had ignited inside of her were driving her crazy with need.

“He can’t see a thing.” Kyle motioned at the darkened glass that separated their part of the limo from the front. “He can’t see through that. Special order on these types of limos.”

Kelly only had a moment to think about why they might require that kind of thing before Kyle’s lips were on hers driving all those thoughts away. She felt her chest heaving as his long, hard body covered hers. Her skirt was all the way up now, and she felt him brush aside her panties and groan as his finger found her soft center. He had been right earlier. She did want him. Badly.

Then she got her wish as he drove inside her. Hard. She felt his lips in the crook of her neck, and he bit at her neck. It was as if everything was spinning in some type of slow-motion building to this rush of a climax.