Effortless (48 page)

Kellan blinked, his expression relaxing. “A girl?” Twisting his
brows, he searched my face. “Really?”

Sighing, I shrugged. “Yes, a girl. Denny and I haven’t done
anything wrong. You stepped into a situation that was easy to take
out of context.” Stroking his cheek as I watched his face relax, I
murmured, “But I didn’t kiss her back. I haven’t kissed anyone…but
you.”

His dark blue eyes searched mine for what felt like an eternity,
then he gave me a small, crooked smile. “You got kissed by a girl,
and I missed it?”

Shaking my head, I thumped his chest with my hand. Clearing his
throat, Denny took the small moment of levity to make his escape.
“I’ll let you two work this out.”

Maybe remembering that Denny was here, Kellan shifted his
attention back to him. “What are you doing here?” he asked,
slightly calmer than before.

Denny sighed, shaking his head. “Look, I don’t want to be
involved with this. I’m here for work, nothing more, I told her to
tell you way back in February that I was here, but she was scared
to…” He sighed, looking uncomfortable. “But that’s between the two
of you and I don’t want to be here to watch you discuss it.”

Kellan straightened, then nodded at Denny, apparently respecting
his honesty. Denny inched by him, never breaking eye contact. Once
clear of him, Denny looked back at me. “Thanks for listening,
Kiera. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He glanced back up at Kellan, then twisted to get his jacket and
quietly left the apartment. Exhaling the knot of tension, grateful
that at least another blowout hadn’t happened, I waited for Kellan
to twist back around and face me. When he did, his face was tight
again.

“He’ll call you tomorrow? What? Are you guys…buddies now?”

Shaking my head, knowing I’d messed up, once again, I trailed my
hand down his chest. His stomach tightened as my fingers drifted
over his abs, but his face showed nothing but irritation. “Yes, we
are…and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you he was here.” I shrugged. “I
didn’t know how you’d react.”

Bringing his hands to his hips, his jaw tightened. “You didn’t
know how I’d react, or how
you’d
react?”

Tilting his head, his finger came out to touch my chest. “Maybe
you thought you’d start back up again.” He leaned into me, his face
furious again, and his lips so close it was tantalizing. “Maybe you
were
hoping
for it to start back up again?”

I tried to push him back from me, but only ended up pushing
myself down onto the couch. Kellan stood before me, seething in
anger as he stared down at me. Even though I hated the situation as
I looked up at him, he’d been gone for so long that I was
momentarily blown away by how attractive he was, especially when he
was angry.

Licking my lips, I murmured, “Nothing happened, Kellan, and I
didn’t want anything to happen. Denny and I are just friends…I
promise.”

He studied my reaction, then leaned down and pulled me back to
my feet. Every part of my body pressed against him when I was
standing again. After so many months apart, it made me ache to
touch him again, to be with him, to think about making love to him.
I knew that it was a weird thing to feel when he was so angry at
me, but I couldn’t help feeling it. His hand firmly holding my
backside didn’t help either. I was nearly panting at him as he
stared down at me.

“Don’t lie to me, Kiera,” he slowly enunciated, his lips coming
down to hover right in front of mine.

My heart racing, I shook my head. “I’m not, Kellan…I swear. I
never touched him like that. I gave him a hug because he was sad,
because his girlfriend got stuck back in Australia, but there’s
never been more than friendship between us while you’ve been gone…I
promise.”

I leaned towards him while I spoke, my body unconsciously
pressing into his. My hands drifted to his chest and I could feel
his heart racing too. He lowered his head to mine. “Kiera…don’t,
don’t lie to me…please.”

I groaned as his other hand shifted to my waist, his fingers on
my bottom squeezing. “I’m not, Kellan…” My fingers heading up to
thread in his hair, I whimpered into his parted lips.
“Please…believe me…”

His lips parted more as he breathed on me. His hand slowly slid
up my chest and he closed his eyes and groaned when his palm ran
over my breast. I hissed in a breath, clutching him tight. “Kellan,
please…take me…”

He groaned, crashing his lips the short distance down to mine. I
moaned between our mouths as his tongue slid into mine,
possessively claiming me. I loved it, and tightened my fingers in
his hair. His hands shifted to grab my thighs, lifting me up to
carry me. I clenched my legs around his waist. Our breaths frantic,
our mouths furious, he turned us around and started walking us to
my room.

I couldn’t care about anything but feeling more of the hardness
that was pressed against my abdomen. I tried to rub against it
while we walked, and Kellan whimpered, leaning against the wall as
he stumbled in his step. “God, I want you so bad…”

I mumbled something back that was along the same lines, then
found his mouth again. I’d missed his mouth for weeks, I couldn’t
miss another second.

He set me down and slammed my bedroom door in almost one
movement. Then our frantic kissing shifted to frantic stripping. I
ripped his jacket off, he ripped my shirt off. My bra was
practically torn in half as he jerked it off of me, his mouth
instantly suckling. It sent a jolt straight through me and I cried
out, fiddling with my pants. Pausing, he jerked those off, then
worked on the rest of his clothes.

I was drenched with need by the time he was pushing me onto the
bed. Our mouths still attacking each other, he moved over the top
of me. Breathing heavy, he paused his body against my
entrance.  Writhing beneath him, I cried out for him to do it,
for him to take me. Gritting his jaw, he plunged into me, taking me
hard, like he really did want to claim me.

Pushing hard and fast against each other, we were both climaxing
in no time. Legs clamped tight against him, I shook as the
explosion hit me. He shook as his body poured into mine. Slightly
sweaty, we rode out the intensity, moaning after each level passed
through us.

When it was over, he sagged against me. I panted, my hand
covering my eyes as I recovered. Slowly pulling out, he shifted to
my side. “I’m sorry, that’s not how I wanted our first time after
so long to be…”

I twisted to look at him as he moved to his back and stared at
the ceiling. After a long moment of silence, I asked, “Do you
believe me? About Denny?”

He sniffed, and didn’t look at me. But then sighing, he finally
looked down and met my eye. “Yeah, I believe you.” He didn’t look
happy at believing me, but at least he believed me. I nodded, then
leaned over to kiss him.

We lightly kissed and when I broke away, I whispered, “I’m glad
you’re here. I’ve missed you…”

He smiled, warmth in it for the first time since his surprise
appearance. “I’ve missed you, too…if you couldn’t tell.” He laughed
a little and indicated his naked body with his hand.

I bit my lip as I examined the expanse of flesh before me, then
gave him another quick kiss. I’m gonna brush my teeth and get ready
for bed. I’ll be right back.” I sat up, then looked back at him.
“You won’t leave, right?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be here, Kiera.”

I smiled, quickly stood and rummaged through my drawer to pull
on pajamas, then dashed out of the room. I felt Kellan’s eyes on me
as I left the room. Feeling dazed, nervous, euphoric and guilty, I
hurried to finish up in the bathroom.

After brushing my teeth, I leaned against the counter and took a
long, calming breath. That had been too close to being something
awful. And even though Kellan had said he was fine with it, that he
believed me, he didn’t really seem that way. He seemed…hurt. And
I’d never wanted to hurt him again. That promise had even been one
of my New Year’s resolutions.

But I’d done it. By not telling him the truth from the
beginning, by concealing a fact that I knew would bother him, I’d
hurt him again. And just when I was starting to believe I didn’t
suck.

Closing my eyes, I pushed out the vision of his face when he’d
caught me. He’d been so mad… And even though he’d said he was
surprised, he hadn’t really looked surprised, like he knew I’d
cheat on him, eventually.

My eyes popped back open when I heard a door slam. My head
snapped around when I registered that it was my bedroom door that
had been viciously shut. Throwing open the bathroom door, I stepped
out into the hall. Kellan’s back met my vision as he walked…no,
stormed away from me.

“Kellan? What are you doing?”

He ignored me. The only reaction he gave that he’d even heard me
was his hands at his sides squeezing into fists. Completely dressed
again, he headed to my bag and started rummaging inside it. Pulling
his hand out, I saw the flash of his car keys in them. Shoving the
keys in his jacket pocket, he started heading for the front door.
He was leaving? The very thought got my feet moving and I scampered
down the hallway.

I managed to get to the door first, standing in front of it so
he couldn’t escape me, not without an explanation. “Are you
leaving?”

He stood in front of me, staring right through me as his jaw
tightened. I think if I’d been anyone else, he’d have grabbed me
and thrown me to the floor, physically removing me from his path.
His eyes were narrow, his breath heavy. He was pissed…again.

Leaning back into the door, I shook my head at his complete lack
of a response to my question. “Why? Because of Denny? I already
told you nothing—”

His eyes snapped up to mine, cutting me off as effectively as
shouting. In a tight, cold voice, he sneered, “Nothing? You must
think I’m an idiot.” Narrowing his eyes even more, he shook his
head. “I may not be as ‘brilliant’ as Denny, but I’m not stupid,
Kiera.”

He put his hand on my arm and harshly tugged me. “Now, get out
of my way!”

I resisted his pull and shook my head again.  “Not until
you talk to me. Why are you so pissed?”

His mouth dropped open and he took a step back. “Are you fucking
kidding me?” Frustrated, he took another step back, bringing his
hands up to run them through his hair.

Feeling confident that maybe he’d yell at me instead of just
making a run for it, I slightly moved away from the door. “Okay, I
should have told you about Denny, I know that, but we didn’t do
anything!”

Kellan closed his eyes, his body shaking a little as pure anger
flooded through him. Keeping them rigidly squeezed tight, he slowly
said, “I need to get away from you. Please move, so I don’t do
something really stupid.”

Then
I
did something really stupid. I grabbed his face,
making him look at me. Touching him forced him over what slim edge
he had been holding on his control. He knocked my hands away and
pushed my shoulders back, until I bumped into the door. Seething,
he attempted to dial down his temper as he stared at me.

Ignoring that his fingers were digging into my arms, I shook my
head. “No, talk to me!”

Clamping his jaw shut, he shook his head and took a step back.
That brought my temper to the surface. He was hiding something from
me. He was keeping secrets from me. How dare he get mad at me for
not mentioning Denny, when he was outright lying to me! At least my
secret hadn’t involved cheating. Kellan’s, I was sure, did.

Anger bursting to life in my chest, I shoved his body away from
me. “You son of a bitch! No, you don’t get to run away from me.
You’re always trying to run away from me!” I shoved his chest again
and he took a step back. “But not this time. This time…you
will
talk to me! We talk things out, remember?”

He batted my hands away and successfully grabbed the doorknob
behind me. Twisting it, he managed to partly open it. With my
shoulder, I body slammed the door closed. Glaring at me, he left
his hand on the knob. “I’ve got nothing to say to you. Get out of
my way!”

Anger and hurt mixed in my heart, turning into tears in my eyes,
clouding my vision. I sniffed them back, refusing to cry. “Nothing
to say? After everything you’ve done to me?”

His eyes widened in disbelief. God, he was such a good actor.
“Me? What I’ve done to you?” His face hardening back up, he stepped
into my body. “You’re fucking your ex and
I’m
the bad guy?
Is that how you want to play this, Kiera?”

I shoved him away from me, hard. His hand dislodged from the
doorknob and I moved to stand in front of it. My own hands clenched
into fists now, I shook my head. “I…am…not…sleeping with Denny! And
yes, you—”

Just as I was about to accuse him of everything I feared, he
reached down and pulled me away from the door. Arms looped around
my waist, he twisted his body and plopped me down on the other side
of him. Once free of me, he opened the door again.

Seeing that he really was going to leave, I grabbed his arm with
both of mine and tugged with everything I had. His head snapped
back to mine, his eyes enraged. “Let me go, Kiera. I’m done. I
don’t want to be here anymore.”