Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1)(55)

"Okie dokie. Later." Del a leaned in. "By the way, no one knows he's here but me. So you're gonna have to sneak him out." Del a waved and then stepped out and shut the door.

Trey rubbed his arm one more time and stared at the door before he turned back to her. "That is one weird and strong bitch."

Kylie's shot her gaze to the door, afraid Del a would storm back in and defend herself. "She's not a bitch. She's my friend. What are you ... doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I came to see you."

Kylie shook her head. "You said it would be next week."

"Yeah, but I have a cousin who lives a couple of miles from here. I talked Mom into letting me come up early so I could see you." His gaze shot to the phone in her hands. "I cal ed you at least twice and left messages. Didn't you get them?"

Realizing what he'd done to see her, Kylie felt guilty for not taking his cal s or even checking his messages. "I ... it's been crazy." A few lingering tears slipped from her lashes. She blinked them away and just stared at him. His sandy brown hair hung just a little longer than before and his bangs brushed against his eyebrows. He wore a dark green T-shirt and jeans. Her gaze lowered to his chest. The place she always loved to rest against. Oddly, she remembered him as being buffer. Or was she remembering Derek?

"You're crying." He moved in and concern, honest to goodness concern, fil ed his green eyes. "Are you okay?"

The compassion in his gaze sent a wave of emotion through her. She stopped caring about what he looked like and just wanted to feel loved. She nodded yes, but the truth slipped from her lips. "No. Everything in my life is fal ing apart."

Trey moved in and before Kylie could stop him, he was doing what Trey did best, holding her. He'd joined her on the twin bed. Her cheek rested against his chest, and she listened to the steady pounding of his heart. Inhaling his familiar scent, she closed her eyes. She'd give in for a moment. Just a moment. Then she'd push him away.

"Is this about your parents' divorce?" His hands moved tenderly against her back. His touch felt good. Familiar. Normal. Life the way it should be. Like the way it was less than a month ago.

"That and everything else," she said, accepting that she couldn't tel him about the camp and what was happening to her.

"You mean your grandma?" he asked. "I know you two were close."

"Yeah." She pul ed back, wiped her eyes, and stared at him stretched out beside her on the tiny twin bed. Silence and sudden physical awareness vibrated in the smal room. They were alone. They were in a bed.

It wasn't as if they hadn't been in bed together before. He'd visited her several times when her parents hadn't been home. And they had met at Sara's house a couple of times when her parents hadn't been there. It was just ... those were the times that things usual y went too far. When tel ing him to stop had made him mad.

"My camp is right next to yours," he said.

She nodded and then blurted out what she needed to say to him before she lost her nerve. "You shouldn't have come here, Trey. I have no idea what kind of trouble I'l get into if we're caught." She did know the number one rule posted: no normals al owed on camp property without permission. And here she was with one stretched out in her bed. It felt wrong. But it stil felt right.

"I miss you, Kylie," he said, ignoring what she'd said to him. "Real y miss you." He reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She swal owed. "I miss you, too, but-"

He leaned in and placed a soft kiss beside her lips. Whatever she was about to say got lost in her head. She closed her eyes and even while a little voice inside her told her to stop him, she didn't want to stop this. She wanted him to kiss her, to make her forget. Oh, yes, she wanted to forget.

His mouth touched hers, slow at first, as if making sure she wanted it, and then he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She loved it when he kissed her like that.

The next thing Kylie knew, Trey had his hand up the back of her shirt and if she didn't stop him, she knew what came next. He would undo her bra. He would touch her breasts, and it always felt so good when he touched her. There was even that one time that she'd let him take her shirt off. She felt his hands on her bra hook. He deepened the kiss, as if to distract her. She decided to let him do it, too. But then what? The question bounced around her head. She would stop him, right? She always stopped him. That was the reason he'd dumped her, the reason he'd hooked up with that other girl.

That was when he'd broken her heart.

Opening her eyes, Kylie broke the kiss.

His eyelids fluttered open and she stared at his eyes, searching for a reason not to stop him this time. She wanted to lose herself in his eyes ...

to see the gold flecks sparkle.

Oh crap! Trey didn't have gold flecks in his green eyes. Derek had the eyes that pul ed her in. Shocked, she put a hand on Trey's chest and recal ed how good it had felt to lean against Derek's chest just this morning-how she had felt safe and accepted. "I ... maybe we shouldn't-"

"Shh. Please don't say it." He put his finger over her lips. "This feels so good, Kylie. And I want to hold you like this, I want to touch you." His hand shifted around to her front and softly passed over her bra, making her breast feel tight. "What's wrong with us being together if we love each other?