Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2)(7)

A pretty redhead stepped in front of him. He blinked and looked down at her as she spoke.

My body moved forward and Veronica squeezed my hand, keeping me grounded.

“Want us to come with you?” Jay asked.

I shook my head.

The store manager announced it was closing time. People got louder as they said their good-byes. The redhead made no move to leave.

On either side of me, Jay and Veronica gave my hands encouraging squeezes before they left. I was surprised Jay hadn’t wanted to greet the band, but tonight was business for him. The business of helping me.

I moved forward, watching as the band guys gave Kaidan fist bumps and exited through the back of the store. The redhead smiled the whole time she chatted.

He exhaled when he saw me, and that dang girl never paused in her storytelling, taking his elbow in her hand.

I came around the table and paused behind him, just a few feet away. His shoulders were larger, and the muscles appeared to twitch under his shirt as I drew closer. I knew he could sense me. The old energy was alive between us. I was aware of him, of every detail about him, just as I’d always been. And I could tell by the tightness in his body that he was hyperaware of me, too. Now if I could only get rid of the girl. She typed her information into his phone and then he tucked it in his back pocket.

“It’s listed under Red,” she said.

My blood rushed wildly.

“Excuse me,” I said to the redhead as politely as I could.

The girl stopped talking and peered at me. “Do you mind?” she asked me.

Kaidan opened his mouth as if to diffuse the situation, but I stood my ground.

“Yeah, actually,” I said to her. “I do mind. I need to talk to him.”

Kai pressed his lips together as if suppressing a surprised grin, and the girl’s eyes popped at my nerve.

Kaidan turned to the girl. Her cocked knee brushed his thigh and her aura burst red.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” he said.

She beamed and put her thumb to her ear like a phone. I wanted to escort her out of the store myself. Finally she left with a flutter of eyelashes and a red-hot aura.

I took a breath to compose myself and leaned forward to grab a pen and paper from the table. He read the question as I wrote: Is your father in town?

“No.” His voice was smooth as he crumpled the paper in his fist. “Is yours?”

The intensity of his sudden stare was an assault on my senses. I’d forgotten the force of those blue eyes, even brighter as they reflected the azure of his shirt.

Shaking myself out of it, I registered his words. Why was he asking about my father? My dad wasn’t a threat.

“No.” I couldn’t look away from his eyes, which held overwhelmingly intense emotion.

Yeah, well, two could play that.

“Give me your phone.” I held out my hand.

His lip quirked up and he fished out the cell, placing it in my open palm. Holding his eyes, I scrolled to “Red’s” entry and deleted her contact info before passing the phone back. He stepped closer, warmth radiating between us.

Like a heat lamp, his eyes traveled down the length of my body. I stood very still to let him browse. The sleeveless cream shirt was lower cut than anything he’d seen me wear—it might’ve showed cleavage if I had any. The short brown skirt and cute wedges made my legs appear longer. Watching him look me over, I flushed. Nobody else could make me hot like that from a single look. Nobody. His eyes reached my face again, traveling to my ear and the double forward helix piercings, then across to the freckle above my lips.

I swear a growl came from his throat.

I opened up my sense of smell and breathed deep. Kai’s invisible cloud of pheromones went straight to my head, threatening to buckle my knees. Zesty and sweet. Alive and healthy. A wave of nostalgia blanketed me. As my hand touched his shoulder he grasped my wrist and held it.

He stepped closer, not letting me go. “You shouldn’t have come.”

I nearly faltered from the sting of his words and the fire in his eyes. “I know.”

He still held my wrist at his shoulder, and I felt his thumb caress the tender skin beneath my palm. I shivered and he set my hand on his shoulder, running his fingers down the length of my arm.

When his fingers reached my shoulder he slowly dropped his hand to my hip and asked in a low, conflicted voice, “Then why are you here?”

“Because we need to talk.”

“Talk is overrated.”

The way he soaked in every detail of me dazed my wits. Now he took my other wrist and raised it. He stopped and ran his thumb across a freckle on my wrist, so tiny I don’t know how he noticed it. He kissed the spot, his lips soft and hot, making my heart splutter in my chest.

I tried to pull my hands back, but he grasped my wrists and pulled them even higher, draping them around his neck. The look in his eyes dared me to pull away again. I sunk my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck.

“I’m trying to talk to you,” I said.

“Yes, I know. But I’d rather not.”

In one step he had me against the table, the back of my thighs hitting the edge as he pressed his body flush against mine.

A whimpering gasp sounded from my lips.

I tried not to stutter, grasping his hair tighter. “I need you to be serious.”

His blue eyes scorched me. “Oh, I’ve never been more serious.” He leaned his face down to mine, and I wrenched my head to the side.