~ A Kiss So True ~

by

Cheryl Periera

A pin could have dropped and had the same effect as a bomb exploding in the room. Not a word passed between Joshua and Kaelin. He waited, staring at Kaelin, whose gaze wandered all over the room but toward him. The click of Amanda’s bedroom door broke the simmering silence. She flinched and turned her back on him, her shoulders straight. Joshua grit his teeth and poured himself some more scotch.

Now she ignores me.

He swirled the liquid around in the glass and brought the crystal tumbler to his lips but slammed the glass down on the polished wood surface of the bar. The glass broke. Kaelin spun around at the sound of breaking glass. Fine scotch spilled all over the bar and dripped over edge.

Joshua could feel the heavy throb of the vein at his temple. He braced his arms on the bar and glanced at her. She tightened her lips and narrowed her eyes. He swore and strode toward Kaelin, fed up with her silence. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t back away. It made him madder. He stopped inches away. Defiance shone in her robin egg blue eyes. The pouty lips tormented him, mocked him with their succulence. His hands curled into fists. “You have nerve, lady.”

“You don’t intimidate me, Joshua.”

“I don’t plan to, Angel, but I am determined to get some answers, so get ready to shoot your mouth off.”

“I don’t think so.” She glared at him. “I owe you no answers.”

“You do when you lie.”

“I don’t lie.” Her cheeks flushed red.

He stepped closer much like a predator stalking his prey. “You lied, Kaelin. You lied to me and now, you dare lie to Amanda?”

She ignored his accusation. “I didn’t lie to Amanda. I just told her--”

Don’t touch her! Don’t touch--He ignored the voice and his arm whipped out and caught her around the waist. His fingers trailed up her back and sank into the silken warmth of her hair. “You were planning to stay?” he asked softly.

She refused to budge even as he tried to propel her forward. He smiled and stepped closer. Heat speared his gut. He drank in the honey-gold cream of her skin. The heavily lashed eyelids swept down to hide her expression. His lips parted. Desperation to taste her gnawed at him. Her breathing changed. The rapid rise and fall of her chest signaled her awareness of him. His hand flexed against her scalp as the fiery warmth of her hair teased his fingers. His manhood swelled and pressed painfully against the zipper of his jeans. His nostrils flared as her feminine scent teased him.

“Let--let me go, Joshua.” The slight tremble in her voice pleased him.

“I don’t think I can.” He bent his head low and nuzzled the delicate shell of her ear. His tongue whipped out and lapped hollow of her ear.

“Don’t do that.” Kaelin wrenched herself out of his grasp.

Joshua smiled. “In my house I usually do what I damn well please. Besides, I didn’t hear you complain before.”

Kaelin backed away. “Things have changed. You’re with Amanda now.”

Joshua slid his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Oh! You know something I don’t?” He quirked his eyebrow at her. “Fill me in, would you?”

“Don’t mock me, Joshua. You know as well as I do that you have something going on with Amanda. How can you stand there and pretend otherwise? In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t asked her to marry you.”

He moved like lightning. One minute she stood a safe distance away and in the next she found herself imprisoned within the hard cage of his arms. “Listen here, lady. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing or who you are, but make no mistake--I will find out.” He tightened his arms as she began to squirm and push against his chest. “Don’t try and steamroll me into a situation I’m not in. Don’t second guess me and don’t try and protect yourself from me by hooking me up with Amanda.” Frustration boiled over inside him as her blue eyes grew cloudy with fear.

“Let me go, Joshua--I don’t play games.”

“Yes, you do. I don’t get it right now, but I will figure it out soon. In the meantime, you’re going nowhere.”

“You can’t make me stay,” she replied with a mutinous twist to her lips.

“Try me, Angel. My life has not been the same since you flew into it and I’m damned if I’ll let you go now, especially since you know more than you’re letting on and Mandy and the baby’s life are in danger,” he answered.

“I--you can’t make--I will...”

He let go of her and she stumbled backwards. “You will.” He ran his fingers through his hair. His bones refused to support him. His sleepless nights and tonight’s excitement had taken its toll. Bone-tired, he held on to the settee as a wave of weakness flooded his bones. “You’re staying, Kaelin. Amanda needs you. It’s obvious you know your way around guns and have some knowledge of investigations by the questions you asked the police while they were here.” He held out his hand to her. “I can’t spare anyone from the office to keep an eye on Mandy and the baby and, surprising as it may sound, I trust their life in your hands only. Twice now, you’ve saved Amanda. You’ve got to stay.”

Kaelin bit her lip. “I don’t--I can’t.”

Joshua clenched his hands into fists. “What is it about you?” He stalked toward her. “I ask you to help protect Mandy and the baby and you refuse, yet every time they’ve needed you, you’ve come to their rescue.” He backed her into the window and ignored her glare. “You’re not leaving.” He caught her by the shoulders and pulled her close. Their lips almost touched. Flash fire rushed through his veins. His manhood swelled and her nipples branded his chest, “I said I wouldn’t but I can’t stop myself,” he moaned and slammed his lips on hers.

She gasped, and his tongue swept into her mouth owning her. Restating his claim. Her nails dug into his shoulders and Joshua groaned. The sweet pleasure of her nails digging into his muscles only heightened the feel of her body. The softness of her lips, the hot, wet cavern of her mouth and firm curve of her butt brought his desire to a boiling point. Her fingers grasped his hair and he braced her against the huge bay window. His hands explored her back even as she jerked his head closer and bit his lip before soothing it with the velvet brush of her tongue. Her cheeks flushed with heightened passion. Her hips pressed into him. Heat rolled off her in waves. He couldn’t take the heat or the pleasure. He swung her around and leaned against the glass pane of the window. “Oh, baby! You’re so hot, so sexy,” he groaned, sliding his thigh between her legs.

“I... oh, Joshua! I--we...” she moaned as she straddled his rock hard thigh.

“Don’t say it, Kaelin. Shh! Don’t say anything,” he muttered and bent her over his arm. His hand cupped her breast and squeezed gently. Her moan washed over him and made him dizzy. He wound his hand in the luxuriant warmth of her hair and sucked the sweet, pebbled nipple of her breast through her shirt. They both moaned as she squirmed in his arms and pulled him closer.

“Joshua...”

“Oh, baby! I need to feel you.” He undid a few buttons of her shirt and nuzzled the lapels aside with his mouth. In the shadowy darkness of the room and with only the moonlight streaming through the window, her skin shone luminescent. His hard shaft burned with desire and he bucked against her crotch. She gasped and moved in counterpoint to the subtle movements of his hips. Her heat scorched him. He couldn’t take anymore. He was ready to burst. “I need you, Angel. I need to be inside you... to feel your heat around me,” he panted against her mouth as she squeezed his butt.

She stilled for a moment, then began to push against his shoulders, “Let me go. Let me go, dammit.” The fear in her voice penetrated his passion-fogged senses. “We can’t do this. It’s wrong... it’s wrong.”