by Brenna Lyons
“All I want to know about is the current situation. Explain what’s going on.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“I don’t need to know the entire family history. This is isn’t that complicated.”
Katie smiled grimly. “How wrong you are. It’s the same thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just start with the small pieces,” she repeated.
“Do Kyle’s gifts have something to do with what is going on?” he asked.
The smile left her lips, and Katie gaped at him. “Yes. What do you know about Kyle’s gifts?” she asked urgently.
“I know he reads minds. I know you do, too.”
“No. You’re wrong. I don’t.”
He looked at her closely. “I was wrong.”
“Thank you,” she breathed in relief.
“Don’t thank me. I’m calling you a liar.”
Her head swiveled up to meet his glare. “No, Keith. I assure you that I don’t read minds.” She sighed. “Anymore,” she admitted grudgingly.
“You know when Kyle needs you.”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different?” he prodded.
“Because it’s Kyle,” she exploded.
“So, you’re saying you can’t read my mind?”
She shook her head. “I don’t do that anymore,” she whispered.
“Hmm. Not you can’t. You don’t. Maybe I was wrong after all. You’re not lying to me. You’re avoiding questions beautifully.”
Her face darkened. “It’s not an option, Keith. I just don’t.”
“Why?”
“There’s a word for people who hear voices. Crazy. A person can’t live like that and stay sane.”
“Is that what’s happening to Kyle? Are everyone else’s voices driving him crazy?”
Katie started to speak then stopped to think about her answer. “Not everyone’s,” she admitted.
“Whose?”
“I’m not sure yet. When I figure that out, I’ll stop him,” she answered a little too quickly,
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. Until I’m sure who he is, how I’ll take care of it is a moot point.”
“Obviously, there’s a way to turn it off. Can you teach Kyle to do that?”
“Yes, but it won’t help. It’s more complicated than that,” she answered distractedly.
“Tell me how.”
“I can’t. There’s—no common frame of reference.”
“Does it have to do with how you block everyone else out but Kyle still gets in?” Keith prodded, sure he was onto something though he had no idea what.
Katie looked at him in shock. “Yes. It’s very much like that.”
“Are you telling me there’s a rogue psychic tormenting a four year old child?” he asked in disbelief.
“Not exactly.” She rubbed her forehead roughly. “There’s no common frame of reference here.”
“Dammit, Katie! Quit sidestepping me. The one chance I have of helping Kyle is what you know, and you are breaking your promise to help. Why can’t you be straight with me?” he demanded.
“People who hear voices in their heads are crazy,” she reminded him.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
She rubbed her forehead again and grimaced.
“Problem?” he asked in concern.
“Headache.”
“I have Tylenol,” he offered.
She laughed lightly. “I’m a little beyond Tylenol. I have stuff at home that I should have brought with me.”
“What are you taking?”
“Fioricet and ibuprofen.”
“Together?”
“Problem?” she mimicked.
“Must be some headache,” he noted. Keith shook himself mentally and tried to reason his way out of the deep concern he felt for her.
“Always are,” she drawled, as she pulled out her sunglasses and settled them on. “As to what being crazy has to do with it,” she changed the subject smoothly.
She doesn’t want to discuss her headaches, he realized in confusion.
“I’m not sure you can find him, but I can. Even if we figure out who he is, what can you do about it?”
“You call the person he regularly. Is that the every man he or gender?”
“Gender.”
“You know it’s a man, then. What else do you know?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, yet.”
“How do you intend to find out?”
Katie blushed deeply and stared her hands. “I’ll find him. That’s my problem.”
“You’re right, you know? Listening to voices has driven you insane. Now, tell me what you intend to do,” he ordered.
“Or what?” she answered coldly. Katie met his eyes, and Keith was surprised to see her tense jaw jutting out from beneath the impenetrable dark glasses. “You’ll call Mac on me since you’re such good friends? Why not? Go ahead. I’d love to hear you try to convince him to go hunting—” She cut off her tirade and growled in frustration. “This was a mistake,” she decided. “I should have known talking to you about anything was a mistake.”
“From my point of view, the only mistake you’re making is not trusting me. I need your help with Kyle, help you promised, and you’re stonewalling me.”
He expected her to make a crack about his plea for her trust, but instead she simply stared at him for a minute before she spoke.
“I don’t have the answers you want yet. Can’t you look on this as a subcommittee? When I have the answers, you’ll have the answers.”
“No, because I don’t think you’ll give me the answers. After all, what can I do about it, right?”
“This isn’t an attack on your masculinity or your competence. Just because something is my ball of wax instead of yours—”
“Just because you’re so damned independent that you’d take on a man you admit is dangerous alone rather than accept help,” he countered. Keith sobered at the thought that Katie would, that she intended to, and that it scared him to death that she would.
“If I promise you that I’ll let you and Mac go after this—person once I find him, will you get off my back?” she asked quietly.
Keith tried to gauge her expression. “No, I won’t. You know something you’re not telling me, something important. You won’t let us handle him, and you already know why you won’t.”
“Do you have to do that?” she exploded.
“Call you on it when you lie to me? Absolutely. Tell me something,” he changed tack slightly. “Kyle won’t co-operate with me. What other gifts does he have?”
“I don’t know,” she answered comically. “I haven’t looked yet.”
“What other gifts do you have?”
She clamped her jaw in anger.
“Kyle probably has the same gifts.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t use them,” she replied simply.
“Kyle might,” he countered.
“He won’t. Besides, that’s my problem, not yours.”
Keith ground his teeth and tried to control his temper. “Why won’t you be straight with me?” He cursed under his breath.
“Because, it’s none of your business. You don’t need insight into me. Kyle is your only problem—and mine.”
“I don’t think so, Katie. Whatever this is, you are smack dab in the middle of it. That means you—whatever your involvement is or will be – are my business.”
She shot him a look of challenge.
“Kyle wants you here so badly that he claims Ty wants you here. What does that mean, Katie? Does Kyle have the ability—”
“No!” she cut him off.
Keith startled at the response. He struck a nerve, one that he didn’t like having struck if he was reading her reaction correctly. Katie had paled considerably and was white-knuckling the arms of the chair.
“Kyle is a victim in this sick game. Don’t forget it, and don’t ever sugg
est otherwise,” she warned him.
“Game? That’s an interesting word to use. Who are the players in this game? Our faceless man and—you?” He raised an eyebrow.
Katie launched to her feet and started to pick up her things. “I should go,” she began.
Keith was abruptly across the desk, removing the jacket and purse from her hands gently but insistently. “No, you’re not running out on me again,” he decided.
“Again? What are you talking about?” she asked in confusion.
He stared at her in disbelief. “You know what I’m talking about. I’ll get to the bottom of one issue with you today. If it’s not this mysterious game, then it will be what I did to deserve the way you treat me and the way you avoid me. Which is it, Katie?” He issued the ultimatum out of the blue with no planning or forethought. Forget taking it slowly. Let her avoid this one, and I’ll know.
She stared at him in shock, and Keith felt his patience slipping away. He dropped her purse and jacket into the chair at his back without taking his eyes off of her then closed the distance between them smoothly. Katie gasped when he invaded her personal space, though he wasn’t touching her.
She feels it, too. She feels the connection after all this time. He leaned toward her until her breath was on his cheek and suppressed the urge to close the remaining distance that gripped him. “Which is it?” he whispered.
This close, he could see her eyes through the dark lenses. They darted back and forth between his mouth and his eyes, and her breathing quickened. Just as Keith felt the last of his control melting away, she sucked in her breath deeply and backed away, shaking her head.
Breaking the connection like that was like pouring ice water over his head. Stupid. She will never trust me, never answer me. I am chasing a dream. Keith stormed to the door and yanked it open. When he glanced back, Katie was looking at him miserably.
“Talk or don’t,” he challenged her, “but don’t play your games with me. I don’t want to be part of it. I won’t be.”
She nodded, and he turned to leave.
“What are you going to do?” she asked quietly.
Keith looked back in disbelief. His anger won out in his warring emotions. “What do you care?” he spat. “As far as I can tell, you’ve never cared. I’ll tell you what. You read minds. Read this.” He slammed the door, shaking the frame with the force of it and started down the hall. Where the hell was he going, anyway? He stopped at the restrooms and swung inside, slamming that door as well.
Home. He’d pick up his coat and his bag and go home. What did it matter? She’d be gone by the time he got back to his office. She’d take off the first chance she got. Katie was good at that. The thought took the wind out of his sails. He gripped the sink and stared into the mirror miserably. Gone again. What else had he honestly expected? She was like the wind.
And, she could be just as destructive when she got in a blow. Every time Keith let her into his life, Katie ripped him to shreds. The worst part was that he kept asking her to do it. “No more.” He wasn’t letting her in again. He couldn’t.
Keith glanced at the urinals in the mirror. He might as well. If he had gone at four thirty, traffic would have been manageable. As it was, it would take him well over an hour to drive the few miles home.
He sighed in resignation as he headed across the room. Why not? It was just one more inconvenience in dealing with Katie. Damn whatever this lack of self-control and self-respect was where she was concerned. Keith couldn’t live this way anymore.
* * *
Katheryn stared at the closed door in shock. He resorted to hiding in the men’s room? She seethed at it. How childish could Keith get? Damn him. He wasn’t dumping this whole thing on her. He said it himself. He deserved every minute of this, and she had to stop forgetting it.
A wicked thought flashed through her mind. Katheryn looked around the empty hallway and squared her shoulders. The building was all but deserted, maybe a few public safety officers patrolling around but almost no chance of anyone else being in that restroom or even coming near that restroom in the next few minutes.
She pushed the door open before she could talk herself out of it and marched around the partition into the open area beyond. Katheryn froze. He really had come in for a reason after all. Before she could retreat, Keith looked over his shoulder, and his mouth opened in silent protest.
“Sorry,” she stammered. “I thought—” Katheryn blushed deeply and tried to will herself to walk away—or look away.
Keith’s jaw tightened in anger and he shifted further into the urinal. “What Katie?” he demanded. “You thought I was running away from you? Rest assured, I’m done running away from you,” he promised.
Katheryn swallowed painfully. Great. I’ve done it now. He’ll never stop trying. What the hell is the matter with me? Besides the fact that I still love him? Everything is wrong. Absolutely everything.
She nodded stiffly and backed away. “I should go,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you should go,” he spat.
Katheryn stopped and looked at him in confusion before the miserable expression on his face sank in. Her eyes flicked to where his cock would be hidden by his hips within the urinal, suddenly certain that it was hard and throbbing. She nodded in understanding. Keith was in a precarious position. He couldn’t finish while she was there. He couldn’t even arrange himself inside his clothing with the bank of mirrors across the room for him. She turned and left without saying anything to make it worse.
Cursing herself, she opened her mind to his thoughts and gasped at the instant course of arousal it brought. Keith was hard, and what fantasies his mind concocted for them made Katheryn groan in a deep-seated need. The desk in his office— She shut off the flow abruptly, shaking in wanting it and cursing audibly that she opened up to what she knew was there.
She went back to his office, and her eyes locked on his desk. Katheryn licked her lips and ran her hand over the desktop, replaying the vision of them in her mind. What would Keith do if he came back to find her sitting on the desk suggestively with a few more buttons undone on her shirt?
Katheryn shook herself mentally. What then? Unprotected sex on the man’s desk? She wasn’t prepared for what would happen, and she prayed that he wasn’t. Would it be mindless groping that left them both aching for more and Keith angrier than ever? Was she ready to prove him right after all these years?
The answer shocked Katheryn to her core. Yes. She was ready, willing, and far more than able to do just that. That certainty stopped her cold. Katheryn snatched up her purse and jacket and sprinted down the hall to the stairs. She couldn’t be there when he came back, or she would prove him right, on his desk without a backward glance, protection or no protection.
She knew she was running just as he accused, and Katheryn hated herself for it even as she did it. Her head throbbed, and she groaned in a combination of pain and loss. It was going to be one hell of a headache.
* * *
Keith groaned and dropped his shoulders in defeat. Why did he send her away? Katie was going to say something, and he blew it. Why? Well, that was the simple part. He was angry and embarrassed, and Katie was the obvious target. Despite his promises to himself, Keith couldn’t stifle his reaction to her.
When he saw her standing there, his mind’s shock and anger stopped at his neck. Her blush and the uncertainty in her eyes touched the non-rational part of him. Touched him hell! It hit Keith full force, and he hardened in response. His lack of self-control sent a spike of pure fury through him that didn’t abate until she stopped questioning his order to leave with a blatant glance.
Something changed in her. Some deep emotion crossed Katie’s face that penetrated the haze of fury Keith was engulfed in and replaced it with an image of himself crossing the distance between them and capturing her mouth like he had when they were still hormone-driven teenagers.
No, not here, some semi-rational part of his mind supplied. In his office, no
one would disturb them. His desk was not his first choice for her, but it was close and Keith needed her on some base level that he wasn’t ready to examine too closely yet. The force of that realization humbled him. He needed her, but he couldn’t have her—not that way. Could he?
Keith turned to look at Katie, but she wasn’t there. He scrambled to tuck himself back into pants that suddenly felt two sizes too small. He cursed himself for wearing a tight pair of pants as much as for telling her to leave.
Once he was in no danger of being arrested for a public decency offense, Keith bolted down the hall to his office. Too late. Her jacket and purse were gone, and so was she. He was left staring at his empty office with a whole new ache to nurse. The last time he wanted Katie that desperately, she walked away from him. This time, he sent her away.
“I must be an idiot.” More like a fool, his mind corrected him. Even if Keith hadn’t shot off his mouth, even if he’d kissed her—and she let him—and brought her back to his office—He groaned. What happens then, Einstein?
Well, Katie might have said what she followed him to say. The rest of that fantasy would have been a mistake. Keith knew how hard it was to put on the brakes with Katie, and simply put, he was sure she wasn’t any more prepared to follow through than he was.
He laughed harshly at that one. Keith was prepared, all right. He was prepared to play the ultimate fool and take her without a thought about the consequences. Somehow, he knew if Katie walked away from him then, it would be a thousand times worse.
Keith turned off the lights and snagged his coat from hook by the door. He resisted the urge to slam the door in frustration again. It had seen enough abuse from him today, he decided.
As he turned onto Smithfield Street and hit the crush of traffic, his mind turned back to the subject at hand. Obviously, self-control was out. If Keith learned anything from what just happened, it was that he possessed no such thing when it came to Katie. That left him one option. He had to get close to her, in her space. Katie felt the connection. She almost acted on it. Sooner or later, she’d either speak her mind or give in to that connection between them.
If she spoke her mind, they’d at least be on even ground. If she gave in to the connection— Next time, he’d really be prepared. Obviously, nothing would happen at Carol’s place, but if he got her to agree to go somewhere else with him, anywhere else—