Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(43)

Chapter Fourteen

"Derek?" Her heart pounded. She followed the trail of blood, through the living room, down the hall. It led to a closed door. She grabbed the knob. Locked.

She heard a noise on the other side. "Derek?" she yelled. Again no answer.

Not thinking, driven by raw panic, she took a couple of steps back and rammed the door with her shoulder. Part of the door ripped off with the hinges; the other part splintered into two or three pieces and crashed on the bathroom floor. She crashed on top of it. Facedown.

That's when she realized the noise she'd heard behind the closed door had been the shower. That's when she saw a very naked and very wet Derek yank back the shower curtain.

His body was hard, corded with muscle. Defensiveness glinted in his eyes and his posture. He looked prepared to take on an intruder. Which would be her, by the way.

He stared at her sprawled on top of the splintered piece of his bathroom door. She stared at him ... naked with the shower curtain still clutched in his fist.

"Uh, I ... I saw blood and thought..." What had she thought? Rogue vampire, ax murderer, serial killer on the loose. She hadn't put a villain in her fears. Her concern had just been for Derek's safety.

"You knocked the door down." Disbelief rang in his matter-of-fact tone.

"I know," she answered, unable to say anything else. Unable to look away from his body.

"But it's solid oak."

"I know." She felt the solid oak beneath her and was a little shocked that she'd done it, too. If it mattered at all, her shoulder felt a little bruised. And it was the slight pain that brought some reality back into the moment.

"You don't have any clothes on." Oh, God, did she really say that?

"I know. I usually shower that way."

Her face began to burn.

When he didn't seem to worry about his lack of clothes, Kylie decided that maybe it was her place to worry. After all, she had been the one to storm into his bathroom and break down his door while he'd been showering.

She turned her back on him. A totally useless, unproductive move. It didn't stop her from seeing him. The mirror hung over the low counter, which she now faced, offered her the same view.

A really awesome view, too. She'd seen naked men in the movies.

Well, almost naked. And she'd seen naked statues. Beautifully posed, carved-in-stone statues that left nothing to the imagination. In person was definitely better. Oh, goodness, he looked good wet and without his clothes on.

Then she realized that while she'd been enjoying the view, he'd been watching her enjoying it. His gaze from the mirror locked with hers. That rush of blood returned to her face. She glanced away from his reflection in the mirror to her shoes just as he grabbed for a towel.

That's when she decided to explain again. "I ... I saw blood and I panicked."

"Yeah," he answered. "Chris gave me a bloody nose when he elbowed me in the face playing basketball."

She looked up to the mirror to check out his face. "How bad was it?"

"Just a bloody nose." Holding the towel around his waist, he reached for his jeans on the floor, and then he met her gaze back in the mirror.

"I'm gonna put on some pants. So you might want to look down again."

She did, and she blushed again, too. Only when she heard the zipper did she look up. He stood closer, right over her in fact, holding out his hand to help her up. She took it.

"Are you okay?" he asked as soon as she came to her feet. She rubbed her shoulder. "Just a little bruised."

"I would imagine."

She saw him look back at the door. "I'll tell Holiday I did it," she said. "It's okay." He picked up a piece of the wood and tried to bend it. When it didn't move, he looked back at her. Then he reached out and touched her arm and his touch shifted slowly up to her elbow.

His touch felt warm and moist, much like the air in the bathroom.

Tingles climbed up her arm and filled her chest. Her gaze went to his broad shoulders and she wanted to kiss him there, in the place where she had rested her head so often.

"You're still warm," he said. "Normally, a vampire doesn't gain strength until after they've turned."

Disappointment shattered the mood. His reason for touching her had been to check her body temperature, not because ... because he just felt compelled to do it, the way she felt compelled to touch him.

"I think that's the problem," she said. "I'm not normal." She bit down on her lip and then decided to just tell him. "Holiday said ... she said some female werewolves have"-she glanced down at her breasts-"growth spurts around this age."

"So she thinks you're werewolf?" he asked.

"No, not really. She said that ... nothing else seems to point to werewolf.

So we're back at square one."

"Sorry," he said. "I know you want to figure it out." He ran a hand up her elbow again, and this time she knew it wasn't to check for temperature.

The tingles and mood came back.

Letting go of a deep sigh, she met his beautiful green eyes. "That's why I came here."

"What's why you came here?" he asked. He moved out of the bathroom and to the first door on the right. She followed him and stopped when she realized it was his bedroom. She watched him grab a shirt from his closet. He held it to his flat stomach but didn't put it on. She had the craziest feeling that he'd left it off because he knew she enjoyed looking at him. He stepped closer to her. "Why did you come here?"