Chapter Seventeen
“Ouch!” Kate cried as her elbow slammed into the car window. She winced and began to rub at it.
“Sorry, but I’m going to have to remind you that this was your idea.”
“It was meant as a rhetorical question,” she responded and began to giggle as Jared kissed her neck.
He caressed her cheek and then planted several soft kisses on her lips. The kisses grew more heated and she gripped him tightly. His lips were seductive as they moved against her mouth expertly. Within seconds, she literally felt like she was melting. Without a word, his lips had told her everything she needed to hear. His need for her was obvious by the way he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. It was apparent she hadn’t been the only one harboring feelings this entire time. The idea of breaking away and not kissing him was unimaginable. Nothing else seemed to matter but this moment between them.
Gently, he pushed her back into the leather seat of his car and began exploring her body with his hands. She put her hands under his shirt and kneaded his back. His body was perfect and Kate swore she would have to ask him for some workout tips if she could ever pry her body away from his.
Her lust grew as he covered her with more intense kisses and began to nuzzle her chest. His hands rested on her thighs and were slowly inching up. She wanted him more than she wanted anything in her life. However, once his fingers made it around the sides of her panties, she grew anxious. In a broken whisper, she stammered, “Um…maybe we should talk.”
“Yes?” he smiled down at her. He was completely sexy, even after a backseat make out session. His shirt was scrunched up around his belly and his jeans hung low revealing the top of his boxer shorts. His lips seemed swollen from their kisses and his eyes gave her a tender look. It was almost impossible to say what she needed to when he was looking entirely too delectable.
“I’m not sure what your….um, expectations are. I mean I’m not well versed in any sort of sexual gymnastics,” she confessed. Thankfully, the car was dark and he wouldn’t likely see her blush.
His eyelids lowered and he gave her a lustful look. “Sexual gymnastics? I’m intrigued, tell me more.” He nibbled at her earlobe and starting working on the zipper at the rear of her dress.
She pulled back with a concentrated effort. “I’m being genuine with you. It’s pretty embarrassing to admit, but I’m like seriously inexperienced.” He gave her a questioning look and she continued, “Like practically a virgin.”
He climbed off of her and planted himself down in the seat. He straightened out his shirt and said resolutely, “Well then, we better stop…”
Kate crawled over and sat on his lap. Turning to face him, she said, “I didn’t say we couldn’t do it. I only wanted you to know I might not be that good at it. Simply a pre-sex advisory.”
His grin was devastating and she thought it should be a crime that someone would be this good looking. Also, the way he was staring at her was making her all lightheaded as if he thought she was beautiful as well. He ran his thumb across her lips before cupping her face in his hands. “Well, if you’re practically a virgin, we should make it special, not a quickie in my backseat.”
Kate gave him an uncertain look. “I mean you want to, right?”
“Even though we’re not going to do it right at this moment, it doesn’t mean I don’t have plans to ravish you in the near future.” The way his eyes were undressing her, she had no doubt he meant it.
She was about to argue, but figured he probably had a good point. Not to mention, if they waited she could start doing some sit-ups or something in the meantime. Her poor eating was definitely catching up and making her feel flabby. She wanted to look extra sexy if he was planning to ravish her. She pressed up against him and asked, “What am I to you?”
Jared seemed slightly amused by the question. “Not sure what you mean.”
“Am I your quarter-life crisis? Nikki came by and told me that’s what I was to you. Is it true?” she questioned and began chewing on her lower lip as she waited for his reply. She knew it was completely against dating rules to ask a guy from the get go what his intentions were, but Kate didn’t want another bout of emotional torment in the near future.
“When did Nikki see you?” he countered.
“The day after you drove me home from the bar. You still didn’t answer the question,” she reminded him.
His amusement seemed to build. “What do you want to be?”
She pulled away and huffed. “Well, I definitely don’t want to be your girlfriend. You would make a terrible boyfriend. Probably go around to weddings and accost poor girls outside and seduce them into your cars. Perv.”
He grazed his fingers down the length of her arm. She quivered under his touch and again began to rethink their decision to not go all the way right then and there. “Forgive me. I thought you were enjoying being seduced.”
Wrapping her arms around him, Kate surrendered to his kiss. She felt breathless when she dragged her mouth away from his. He held her face between his hands and his expression grew serious. “Kate, I am sorry about hurting you. I hope you understand if anything had happened last week it would’ve tainted anything that might develop between us.”
“It doesn’t matter, you’re here now,” she whispered and moved in for another kiss. Kate swore under her breath. “And so is my mom apparently.”
Out of the rear window, she spotted her mom exiting the doors of the reception hall and glancing around. While pushing Jared’s head down, she simultaneously ducked further down in the backseat. Kate poked her head up and saw her mother seeming to give up on her search and reenter the building. “This feels like a prom night or something. We snuck out of the dance to make out in your car and now the principal is going to catch us,” she joked.
“Now I do feel like a perv,” he responded. “My prom would’ve been ten years ago.”
“Would’ve been? You didn’t go?”
“No,” he replied. “I didn’t have a date.”
“You didn’t have a date? How is that even possible? I figured you for the player in high school who would’ve had to beat the girls off with a stick,” she laughed as they both sat up again. Leaning over, she rested her head against his shoulder. It felt painful to not touch him now that they were together again. Spotting her mother clued her into the requirement to return to the wedding straightaway, but it was the last thing she wanted to do.
“Not at all. When I told you I get you, I meant it. I felt like an outsider in middle school and high school. My aunt was gossiped about and called the town witch. I was tall and gawky, with barely any friends,” Jared confessed.
“I would’ve never guessed it,” she admitted. “I bet you can’t wait to go to your high school reunion and tell everyone to suck it.”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
“As much as I hate to cut this short, I probably should go in before my mom has a meltdown looking for me,” she sighed. Opening the car door, she climbed out and smoothed out her dress. He followed her out. She turned to him expectantly. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Well, are you going to ask me to dinner or something? Or is the backseat of your Beemer the only place you plan to take me?”
“Sure, dinner works. I know your fondness for fast food, so I imagine you’ll be a pretty cheap date.” He leaned against his car and a slight smile played on his lips.
Giving him her most withering gaze, she socked him in the arm. “Better watch it, buddy. I’m going back into a wedding with plenty of hot and single guys who are dying to wine me and dine me.” She did a little hip shake and head roll which almost made her lose her balance and fall flat on her butt. He had the grace to stifle his laughter.
“Hope this helps put any of those guys out of your mind.” He grabbed her around the waist and pressed her body against his.
His hand worked its way through her hair as his mouth moved in rhythm with hers. Kate tilted her head and p
arted her lips. The intensity of the kiss deepened and she felt dizzy from the heat between them. When he finally pulled away, she felt a physical pain.
“Call you tomorrow. Now you better go before I refuse to let you out of sight and take you back to my apartment and have my way with you,” he whispered and gave her a playful nibble on her ear.
“Ok,” she mumbled, dazed.
Stumbling away from him, Kate tried to regain her composure. Daring a glance back, she saw him watching her closely with an affectionate smile. He met her eyes and gave a small wave. She had no idea how he could maintain his cool while she felt completely weak in the knees. If he wasn’t so damn hot, his confidence would almost be infuriating.
Once in the foyer, Kate dared a look in one of the decorative mirrors. Her face was completely flushed and covered in smeared lipstick. Her previously coiffed hairdo now looked like a hair don’t. Hastily, she made a beeline for the bathroom and did her best to pull herself together. She tried to work out the hair knots with her fingers and wiped off the lipstick with the help of several sheets of paper towels. Her coloring seemed to refuse to return to normal. She guessed because her head kept replaying Jared’s parting kiss and she couldn’t stop blushing.
Her mother did not look pleased in the slightest when she made her way back to the table. “Where have you been? They already did the bouquet toss and cake cutting, it’ll be over any minute.”
“I needed some fresh air,” she said and hoped she was keeping a straight face. She felt like Jared was embedded inside of her and anyone would be able to discern she had just been kissing him.
“I looked outside, I didn’t see you,” her mother accused.
“I took a walk around, wanted to see the gardens.” Even as she said it, she knew how lame the lie was. It was pitch black outside, she wasn’t likely to even find the gardens, no less admire the flora.
Her mother looked like she wanted to continue the conversation, but Kate was quick to cut her off. Looking at her empty dessert plate, she demanded, “Hey, where’s my cake?”
Her mom gestured over to her preteen nemesis. “Logan was still hungry and asked me for it. And since you were nowhere to be found…” Her mother trailed off with a shrug. Logan looked at her smugly and she wondered if she could get away with throttling him. Her body was really craving the sugar after her hot make out session with Jared.
She still couldn’t wrap her head around what had happened between them. The idea that he had shown up here for her seemed like such an implausibility before. Although she had tried to exude confidence during their encounter, she was a mess inside. She never craved someone like this before and wasn’t positive how to get a handle on her feelings. Instead of gazing at her like she was some sort of science experiment, he looked at her as if she was beautiful and he wanted her as his own. She still tingled with the memory of his hands and lips on her. Drawing in a deep whiff of her hands, Kate found his clean scent of soap and aftershave lingered. With little control over her raging emotions, she knew a huge goofy grin erupted on her face.
The smile slipped when she noticed Logan looking at her like she was an escaped mental patient across the table. “Wow, someone needs to lock your cray cray ass up and throw away the key.”
Thankfully, the wedding soon ended. Kate found herself completely mentally and physically drained. She couldn’t wait to go home and overanalyze the Jared situation. She was unsure about sleep since Jared had penetrated her brain. It was definite she’d have a vision of him that night. She only desired it would be a good one and not another traumatizing one like the previous mental picture of him and Nikki.
After pulling her car in front of their house, Kate turned to her mother. “Since you let that juvie wannabe steal my cake, I’m having a major low blood sugar attack. Think I’m going to the convenience store and buying a box of Tastykakes. Maybe a coffee, too. Want anything?”
“Kate, it’s awfully late for you to be driving around town alone. You should’ve simply stopped before we got home if you were that hungry. Why don’t you just come inside and find something to snack on?”
Kate checked the time on the dashboard; it was a few minutes after eleven o’clock. The convenience store was only a few blocks away and the round trip would probably take less than fifteen minutes. In addition, she had pent up nervous energy and wanted a few minutes alone before her mom started grilling her about her disappearance at the wedding.
“You only buy health food and we have nothing good to snack on,” Kate accused and then added, “I’ll be right back.”
“Fine, I’ll wait up for you. I’m dying to hear all about those gardens you were exploring for more than an hour,” Darlene said, giving her a pointed look.
Kate gave her an innocent smile as her mom exited the car. She wasn’t sure how much of the night she intended to disclose to her mother about Jared. It seemed too new to share and she didn’t want to jinx anything by gushing about him. For all she knew, he could have a crisis of conscience and be thinking what happened between them was a huge mistake. However, if his parting kiss was any indication, he was likely fantasizing about her as well at that moment.
Entering the convenience store, she grabbed a couple of candy bars and a box of Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes. Looking down at her stockpile, she sighed and returned them to the shelves. Instead, she picked up a single package of the Kandy Kakes. If she was going to get all hot and bothered with Jared, she had to cut back on the junk food. After preparing a large coffee, she brought up her purchases. The clerk took in her disheveled wedding attire and shook his head while ringing her up.
She barely made it to the car before devouring the entire package of Kandy Kakes. Taking a long sip of coffee, she drove her Toyota out of the parking lot. Besides daydreaming about Jared, she was anticipating the moment she’d be getting out of her dress and shoes. Unlike her skanky bar outfit though, she would unquestionably be saving this dress. If things progressed with the detective, it would serve as a reminder of their first kiss. Kate laughed at herself. She was practically already imaging them married with a couple of hell raisers with gray eyes.
Her mood shifted dramatically as she parked her car curbside in front of her house. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she immediately felt uneasy. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she had the strongest sensation of being watched. The night was still, but something felt off and she couldn’t put her finger on what it could possibly be. Her stomach knotted up and she knew if she didn’t do something fast, she was in danger. Panicked, she slammed the car door shut and began to hurry towards her house.
The silence was shattered by a quick movement and the sound of someone rushing towards her as soon as her feet hit the sidewalk. She swung around to react and fight off her would be attacker. Her mouth snapped open to cry out, but Kate did not have the chance. Something slammed against her skull and her body collapsed.
First Visions: Second Sight Book One Page 33