Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(83)

I groaned, louder than before and my hand strayed to the edge of my underwear. “God, Kellan, you’re perfect…so perfect.” My voice gained in strength as some of my inhibitions started leaving me. I wanted him. I 230



wanted to do this. I wanted to finish this…together. “Yes, yes, take me…”

“Oh my God, Kiera, I’m almost there…come with me…”

“Yes, Kellan, do it…come for me…” Not believing I said that, I finally tucked a finger on the inside of my underwear.

That was when I heard something that dashed some cold water on my hot little moment. Kellan stopped breathing heavy and the phone muffled. Quieter than he’d been, but still loud enough to hear, I heard him say, “I’ll have a Denver omelet…thank you.” I sat up in my bed, covering myself with my hands like we’d just gotten walked in on. Before he spoke to me again, I snapped out, “Kellan Kyle! Are you in a restaurant?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call this a restaurant…greasy spoon maybe.” His breath was still a little fast, but way more calm than it had been.

I closed my eyes, running my hand down my face. “Please tell me you are not about to be arrested for indecent exposure.” He laughed a little. “No, I’m not.”

I dropped my hand to my knee, floored. “You faked all that? Why would you do that to me?” I brought my knees to my chest, feeling sort of weird. He’d told me before when he’d faked a sexual act that it hadn’t been his first time, but, damn…

Kellan sighed. “I never expected you to go along with it and when you did, well, I wasn’t about to stop you from having your moment.” In a whisper he added, “Even if I can’t come right now…I want you to.” I bit my lip, feeling a little bad. I’d been faking it, too. “I may have been exaggerating my part in it…but I was thinking about it.” Kellan laughed. “Well, we’ll call that a practice round then. Next time…I’ll be somewhere private and you will actually touch yourself.

Deal?”

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I flushed, feeling that embarrassment creep back up. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

I heard a voice in the background that sounded vaguely familiar. Sitting ramrod straight, I whispered, “Oh my God, please tell me that you’re sitting alone.”

Kellan paused. I could almost hear him debating on whether or not to answer me. “Um, well, no…the guys are here…and Justin. He says hey, by the way.”

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed, disconnecting the phone in my mortifica-tion. Not only had he faked that little moment, but he’d faked it in front of his friends and the celebrity that I knew I’d never be able to look in the eye again. God…men…

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13





Chapter


Home for the Holidays


A week later, I was at my parents’ place, staring at their Christmas tree, ticking down the minutes in my head. Ever since arriving in the town of my birth early in the week, I’d been hoping that Kellan could join me.

Sure, I’d have to do some fanciful fast talk to get my dad to concede on letting him sleep in the house, but even if he had to stay at a nearby motel, at least he’d be with me, and not…who knows where.

But the guys were being kept busy right up until nearly the end. Just last night, the eve before Christmas Eve, he’d played a show in New York. It had been their largest show to date, and Kellan had been all excited energy when he’d finally called me…at four in the morning. Now that our time zones were closer together, he was calling me after I was asleep. I didn’t mind though, groggily murmuring some sort of response to his stories.

My sister came out and joined me on our mom’s plastic-coated couch.

It squeaked a bit when she sat down. Looping her arm over my shoulders, she handed me a cup of spiced coffee. I took it, smiling as I watched the blinking Christmas lights reflecting in the white ceramic.

The scent of cinnamon wafted up, reminding me of multiple things—baking with my mom, the candles my grandma burned nonstop, and of course, Kellan. Anything with coffee always reminded me of Kellan.

Clinking our cups, Anna smiled brightly. “Merry Christmas, Kiera.” I tilted my head at her as I took a sip. “Merry Christmas, Anna.” 233



Looking outside, to the light snow that was starting to fall, Anna shivered. “You excited to finally see Kellan again? It’s been what…almost two months?”

I sighed and leaned back into the couch. “Yeah.” It had actually gone by quicker than I thought it would. Kellan’s little scavenger hunt had eased the time passing, along with his phone calls and periodic texts. If anything, Kellan was good at keeping in touch. It helped. It let me know that he missed me, too.

Anna sighed and leaned back with me. “Yeah, I miss those guys.” She frowned after she said it and I leaned into her side. Other than a few phone calls and quite a few snapshots of Griffin’s junk, Anna hadn’t gotten much out of her pseudo-boyfriend. He wasn’t even coming out to see her for Christmas, which I was sort of glad about. He and Matt were visiting their family in California, while Evan was going home to see Jenny.

Rachel was flying out to seeing Matt in L.A., but Anna hadn’t shown any interest in flying out to meet up with Griffin. Plus, I was pretty sure Griffin hadn’t asked her to.