Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(146)

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 411



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.

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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 413



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.