Sweet Peril (29 page)

His grip tightened and he lifted me from the counter, forcing my legs to wrap around his waist and link behind his back.

“We’ll be careful,” he said, repeating what I’d told him.

“Yes,” I agreed against his mouth.

Our lips never parted as he walked us to the bedroom and laid us on the bed.

We kissed, rolling around with our limbs entwined, touching as much as we could possibly get away with. A glorious energy poured forth between us. I lost all track of time and the outside world.

People often referred to life in oceanic terms: a sea of possibility, plenty of fish in the sea. But it wasn’t that way for Nephilim. We were like fish kept in nets, expected to do the
bidding of sharks or be eaten by them. The sea held no possibility for us. But here and now we found ourselves in a private tank without a shark in sight. It was tiny and temporary. We were buoyant.

When we stopped to breathe and look at each other, I giggled.

“Your hair,” I said. It was sticking up everywhere. I worked through it with my fingers, while he smiled down on me. “I love you,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes and pressed another silken kiss to my lips. As long as he kept kissing me like that, no words would be necessary.

We propped ourselves on our sides facing each other. One of my knees rested between his. I ran a hand through my own hair, which had become a nest in the back.

“Is this kind of . . . boring for you?” I asked him, feeling self-conscious.

“What?” His hand that was resting on my hip tensed. He almost looked offended.

I brushed imaginary lint from his shoulder. “I mean, you know, just
kissing
.”

“This is better than anything I’ve ever done.” His voice was soft and sincere. He pushed the long bangs from my eyes. “Besides, have you ever snogged yourself, luv? It’s brilliant.”

I laughed, hiding my face in his neck, and he chuckled, too.

“Why?” he asked, playing with my hair. “Are
you
bored? Seeing as how you’ve kissed so many lads now and all?”

I whipped my head up. “Ew, I don’t even want to talk about that. Those were gross and sloppy and—”

“No details please.”

“All right. How about this . . . I could kiss you all night, Kaidan Rowe.”

“That’s my plan,” he said.

We leaned in and stopped an inch away, interrupted by a persistent beeping coming from down the hall. My heart jumped before I placed the sound.

“Brownies in bed?” I asked. He actually stiffened and looked pained. “What’s wrong? Do you have a no-food-in-bed policy?”

“No. You’re just . . . turning me on with the whole Betty Crocker bit.” His eyes blurred as he seemed to be imagining something. I couldn’t picture anything sexy about me cooking.

I hit him with a pillow and he held up his palms in surrender.

“Maybe I’ll bring a glass of ice water in case I need to douse you,” I said, standing to go.

“Hurry back,” he called. “I’ll just be here . . . dreaming of you in an apron and oven mitt.”

I giggled at the absurdity of it. “You’re so easy,” I muttered.

His laughter followed me down the hall, and I basked in it. Right now, my sea had never been more beautiful.

T
he only thing better than kissing Kaidan was kissing him between bites of warm brownie. I now understood the saying about love being like a drug. My body was alight. Though I wasn’t using my extended senses, they were on high alert from the buzzing, floating feeling coursing through my veins. I could see the danger of loving, because nothing else existed for me outside that room. Nothing else mattered. No Dukes or whisperers. No spiritual warfare. And certainly no reason why any soul would disapprove of a relationship that filled two people with such joy.

No. None of that was real. They were fleeting, distant nightmares pushed further away with each press of our lips, each gentle word spoken. We were together. We were
alive
.

I still couldn’t believe he was allowing this to happen.
Letting me love him with my touches. Touching me back. Voracious touches.

Every now and then I’d feel him pull back from me when I’d push forward, keeping me at bay when I got carried away. At one point after I’d licked his earlobe, he closed his eyes and his forehead crinkled in a wince.

I bit my lip. “I’m sorry.”

I mean, really, it would be hard for normal guys, so it had to be especially hard for him.

He opened his eyes to reveal the storm within him. “My every instinct is telling me to have my way with you.” He was dead serious and my cheeks heated. Fire shone in his eyes and I broke eye contact, burying my face into his cotton-covered chest. “But it’s not nearly as difficult as going all this time without you,” he said.

I grasped his T-shirt in my fingers and brought myself nose to nose with him. His eyes ate me up.

“Let’s never do that to ourselves again.” I gripped the fabric tighter, a well of panic surging at the thought of being cut off from him. “I mean it, Kai. No matter what my dad says or how scared we are. We can talk when it’s safe. We’ll be careful. Please don’t push me away—”

“Shh,” he whispered, pulling me to him.

I breathed in the scent of skin at his neck. He ran a hand over my messy hair as the anxiousness settled.

“How often does your father ring you?” he asked.

“Every month or two.” I stayed cuddled close while he continued to caress my hair.

“Right, then. How about this? We know he checks to be
certain it’s safe on your end. So each time he rings, you can contact me afterward straightaway.”

“Deal,” I said, and pressed my lips to his neck. He held me tighter.

“It’s nine thirty,” he said with reluctance. “I’ve got to go to practice. Will you join me?”

I smiled up at him. Watching Kaidan play? “Sure.”

Oh, wow.

Oh, great goodness. I’d forgotten what watching Kaidan at the drums did to me. He was only warming up while the other guys tuned their instruments, and I already needed a fan.

I looked around the room at the other people sitting and standing—mostly girls but a few guys, too. One girl gave me a little smile and I smiled back before she returned to gazing at the lead singer, Michael.

The bassist went up to Kai when he finished his set, and I nosily stuck out my hearing.

“You brought a chick?” the guy whispered.

“Yeah.”

The guy grinned. “Man, you haven’t brought a girl in forever.”

“Your point, Raj?” Kaidan ran a hand over the drum’s top.

“Nothin’. She’s pretty hot. You bang her yet?”

Okay, go away, Raj.

Kaidan gave him a steely stare. “Nosy git, aren’t you?”

Raj laughed and pointed at Kai. “Dude. You got it bad if you won’t give any deets. I thought you and Anna were—”

“Nope.” Kaidan cut him off and cleared his throat just as
Michael called them all together, and Raj left him alone.

I was biting my lip when Kai looked at me with a worried expression. I sent him a small smile for reassurance. I wasn’t going to get upset, even if hearing
her
mentioned did turn my stomach.

Kaidan raised the drumsticks above his head to count off the first song, and Michael stopped it after a few seconds because someone was off-key. It had sounded great to me, which showed how little I knew about making music. They started again, and the core of my body tightened when Kai went into musician mode. I could see the very moment when he stopped thinking and lost himself in it. I wondered if he could keep drumming with me on his lap.

He was my drummer. My guy.
Mine
. I bit my lip to hold back a grin.

The door of the practice room opened during the song and a few people shuffled out of the way. A cute girl with short blond hair came in. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, a yellow aura surrounding her petite frame. I was just about to turn my attention back to the band when a stream of red bled into her aura. She was staring hard.

At Kaidan.

I should have looked away, but a gross sense of raging jealousy and morbid curiosity filled me. I knew it was the other Anna. She chewed the tip of her thumb and soon her whole aura was red. I wanted so badly to use my silent power of persuasion to make her leave, but I wouldn’t.

Go. Away. Stop staring at him. Go away, go away, go away.

It felt like evil banshees were clawing my insides. The other
Anna was probably a very nice girl, but I wanted to scour her skin and rip from her body every cell that had had any contact with Kaidan.

At the end of the song she clapped and said, “That was awesome, guys.” Clearly, she was tight with the band, and they all beamed at her praise. Except Kaidan. He’d frozen in place, staring down at the drums.

A horrid moment of awkwardness passed where everyone seemed to put two and two together. The whole room was glancing back and forth between Kaidan and us two Annas, although the other Anna seemed oblivious until her eyes landed on me and she realized I was new. Her head flicked to Kaidan real fast, then she made eye contact with me. As she stared, her aura turned a vile green.

The girl next to her whispered something, but Anna ignored her, instead walking up to Kaidan in her jean shorts and lavender fitted T. I sat up straight on the edge of my chair. Kaidan watched her, his face serious.

“Is that her?” Anna asked. She was being quiet, and I was totally eavesdropping again.

“Yes,” Kaidan answered.

“You could have freaking warned me she was coming.”

“I didn’t know until today. And you don’t usually come to practices anyhow.”

“So . . . what? Now you’re, like, suddenly with her? After you were just with me?”

“I was never
with
you, Anna. I explained everything, which you seemed to understand. Now’s not the best time to chat.”

“Nice.” She huffed. “Real nice.”

Kaidan ran a hand through his hair, appearing frustrated.

Michael spoke up from his spot at the mic. “Yo, Anna. We’re trying to practice here.”

She shot him a no-crap glare and then turned and walked briskly from the room, wiping her eyes and not looking back.

So, this is what it was like being with Kaidan, huh? I did believe that he’d been honest with her, but even if she’d pretended to accept it, she’d obviously been holding out hope in her heart that they’d get together. I felt bad for her—just another victim of our screwed-up circumstances. But still, I was glad she was gone now.

The relief in the room was palpable, even though a few people continued to whisper as the band started the next set. It was hard to get back into the music after that bit of drama. I was glad when practice ended.

He came straight down to me after they’d packed the band equipment. I ignored the few starers around us.

“I didn’t know she’d be here,” Kaidan whispered. Guilt shrouded his face.

“Let’s just go back to your place and not think about it. Please.”

He reached for my hand and held it as we walked through the building. But out in the open we instinctually let go and searched the darkened skies for something much worse than angry exes.

When we got back to his apartment we didn’t talk about it. In fact, we didn’t talk about anything. When the door shut behind us, he took my face in his hands and kissed me as if he wanted to prove there was no one else for him—as if the harder we kissed and grasped, the more we could erase all memories of other people from both our minds. We were more ravenous
for each other than ever, sliding against walls and running into furniture on our way to his room.

I had no plans for sleep that night, because that meant I couldn’t be consciously touching him and kissing him and soaking in every second of this time with him.

For hours he kissed me. And I kissed him back.

At nearly three in the morning sleepiness weighted my body as we lay there together so still. I heard his breathing even out as we both hovered in that place between wake and sleep. And then his hand wandered lazily down my back and over my hip until he was cupping the full curve of my behind, part of me that he’d actively avoided touching all night.

Scratch that
sleepy
thing.

His firm hands clutched me closer and I breathed a heady gust of air at his throat. I’d been careful all night not to be too vocal about how good his touches felt. I knew each noise would act as fuel, making it even harder for him. He rolled to his back, pulling me on top of him with both hands fully on my backside now.

“Kaidan,” I whispered.

Looking half-asleep, he shushed me with a hot kiss, pulling my hips to crush us together. I whimpered into his mouth.

“God, those little sounds,” he said against my lips. “I want to hear how you sound when I make you—”

“Kai!” I practically leaped off him, and he sat up, eyes blazing, licking his lips. I was breathing hard. He had to be as tired as me after our long day, and it was starting to weaken us big-time. Oh, how I’d love to indulge that weakness.

I scooted farther away.

“Maybe we should try to get some sleep,” I suggested,
though I was feeling wide-awake now.