Accidentally Yours (16 page)

“I can do this,” she told herself. “I have powers. The power of love for Cody. The power of belief. I can do this because he needs to see me do this. I’m fine. It’s easy. I can fly.”

She drew in a breath and squared her shoulders. Then she began to run.

The edge of the roof seemed to race toward her. She timed her mark okay and started to jump. From the practice sessions, she was prepared for the sense of falling and refused to look down. She leaned forward and, at the last second, remembered to bend her knees.

When she landed on the other roof, she was so stunned, she nearly fell. Then she regained her balance, hurried forward a few steps, looked up and caught the beam. She raised the Hollywood-constructed piece above her head in victory, then set it on the roof and spun in a circle.

“I am Wonder Mom,” she yelled. “I can fly!”

Five minutes later, minus the harness and the lines, she walked into Cody’s classroom. The kids there clustered around her.

“Mrs. Sullivan, that was so cool. How did you do it?”

“Did you really jump between the buildings? Can you teach me to do that?”

She crossed to her son, in his chair in front of his desk. “So what did you think?”

He ducked his head. “Mo-om, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I kind of did. If that beam had fallen, it would have crashed through the roof and possibly hurt students in their classrooms.”

He looked at her and rolled his eyes. “It didn’t look that heavy.”

“Trust me, it was.”

“Uh-huh.”

But he was smiling as he spoke and there was a light in his eyes she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Cody, you’re so lucky,” one of the kids said. “I wish my mom was Wonder Mom.”

“Me, too. Mrs. Sullivan, can you do that again?”

She doubted she was up to an encore. “Everyone is safe now. I think I’ll head home.”

She turned to leave. Cody grabbed her hand. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll pick you up at eight at Brandon’s. Have fun.”

“I will.”

“Maybe when you get home tonight, we can pick out a theme song. Or I could just borrow the one from Wonder Woman. What do you think?”

“That I’m lucky to have you.”

Kerri had been worried about falling or failing or making a fool out of herself. She hadn’t thought about crying.

Still, she managed to hold back the tears. “Me, too,” she said, then waved at Cody’s teacher and left.

Hope, she told herself as she leaned against the school hallway wall. She’d given him hope. Sometimes that was enough for a miracle. Pray God it was this time.

A
BRAM WALKED
into Bill’s Food and Feed late in the afternoon. “I’m here for my order.”

“Sure thing, Professor. I had it ready last night.”

Had he ordered it for last night? It was possible. He was attempting to take care of more of the details in his life himself, rather than depend on Linda. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her help—it was more that
he needed to prove something to her. And possibly himself.

“You can check that I have everything,” Bill told him.

“Not necessary. I wouldn’t know if something was missing or added.”

Bill grinned. “You really are the absentminded professor, aren’t you?”

Doctor, Abram thought, less annoyed by the title than usual.

“Hello, Dr. Wallace,” a woman said as she came into the store. “Aren’t we having a nice summer?”

“Ah, yes,” Abram answered, not sure he’d ever seen her before. For all he knew, she was employed at the lab. Except for the researchers he worked with, he didn’t pay much attention to staff.

Two more people spoke to him before he could pay for his order and escape. Because the lab was back in business, he thought as he picked up the box. They appreciated the work he brought to the town. Did that mean they’d forgiven him for what had happened before? Was it possible?

He turned to leave, then spotted a display of floral bouquets all wrapped up in plastic and sitting in a bucket.

“I’ll, ah, take one of those, too,” he said.

“Sure thing, Professor,” Bill told him. “I’ll put it on your tab.”

He shook off the flowers before adding them to
the box, then walked out to his car. When he’d put everything in the backseat, he turned and looked at the storefront.

He’d redeemed himself in their eyes. A foolish sentiment. All he’d done was unwillingly accept a grant and make use of Nathan King’s money. He had yet to find a cure for Gilliar’s Disease.

But he would, he told himself firmly. He would.

K
ERRI POURED
from the bottle of wine Nathan had brought over and wondered how much it had cost. Fifty dollars? A hundred? If it was the latter, it was her food budget for the week. Ah, to have spare cash.

“To a successful flight,” he said, taking the glass she offered.

She picked up her own. “Because of you. Is there any way I can get you to tell me what my stunt cost?”

“No.”

“I had no idea how complicated it would be or what was involved. You should have told me. I would have found a different way.”

“Why? This one worked. Like you said, Kerri, I got one of my assistants to take care of the details. Don’t give me too much credit.”

“What happened to the heartless bastard who got me fired from my waitress job several months ago?” she asked.

“He’s still alive and well and pissing off the world.”

She wasn’t so sure. Nathan had been more than
kind to her, more than generous. He’d been patient, been a friend.

“I’ve never had anyone to lean on before,” she told him. “I’m afraid to get used to it.”

“Don’t be. You don’t always have to fight the battle alone.”

Didn’t she? Wasn’t that what made it work? Her sacrifice?

But sometimes it was hard to be the only one. To never be able to depend on someone else. Sometimes she wanted to have a strong shoulder to lean against.

She put down her glass of wine and leaned toward him. His eyes were dark and mostly unreadable, except for the fire flaring there.

She felt an answering heat inside—one that made her tremble and want and wonder.

There was danger in desire, she told herself. But he was so much more than she’d imagined a man could be. She didn’t just like him, she admired him.

She put one hand on his shoulder and shifted so she could press her mouth to his.

For a second he didn’t react, then his mouth moved against hers, claiming her. There was heat and a familiar living need that consumed her. Rex’s kiss had left her unmoved, but Nathan’s kiss made her want to melt into a puddle. Except a puddle couldn’t really appreciate the nuances of a man’s mouth.

He set down his wine and grabbed her upper arms.
After hauling her against him, he tilted his head and licked her bottom lip.

Jolts of desire shot through her, making her belly clench and her toes curl. She opened for him, then had to hold in a gasp as he claimed her with passionate, heady strokes of his tongue.

He explored her, teasing her, arousing her. She kissed him back, closing her lips around his tongue and sucking. He stiffened, then groaned.

“Dammit, Kerri,” he muttered, his voice low and thick.

His hands were everywhere—on her back, her arms, down her sides. She wore a shirt and jeans, and hated when his palm slid from bare skin to fabric. She wanted to feel him touching her everywhere.

But instead of reading her mind like he was supposed to, he pulled back.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“What?”

“Is this about the money? Are you paying me back?”

She supposed she should have been insulted, but a voice in her head told her that Nathan was asking because he was afraid of getting hurt.

Not possible, she told herself. Her hurt Nathan? No one got close—he made sure of that. Or did he?

“It’s not about the money,” she said firmly.

“How do I know that?”

Good question. She tried to think of some way to convince him, but there weren’t any words.
Finally she simply smiled and said, “You’re going to have to trust me.”

“Not my style.”

“New things can be exciting.” She eased forward until their bodies were touching. “Believe me.”

“Because you want me?”

No one had ever asked her that before. Brian had been her first, her only, and they had eased into love-making slowly. They’d dated and fallen in love. Their times together had been tender and sweet and all about discovery. They’d never talked about wanting or needing.

But Nathan was an experienced man who probably expected the same from his partners. Which was a really good reason to panic, she thought.

“Kerri?”

“Yes,” she said, and covered her face with her hands. “Don’t make me say it again.”

“You’re not convincing me.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

“Why?”

She dropped her hands. “I’m not like them. Those other women who are so practiced. I haven’t been with anyone since Brian and I sort of wasn’t with anyone before.”

He stared at her so long she felt herself blushing. The need to squirm was powerful, but she resisted. She could at least pretend to be mature.

“I really do want this,” she told him.

“I believe you.”

“Good. There’s just one other thing.”

He raised his eyebrows.

She drew in a breath. “It’s different when your partner has superpowers.”

“I’ll just bet.”

He pulled her close and kissed her. Even as his tongue teased her into playing an erotic game of chase, he slipped his hands below the hem of her T-shirt and ran his fingers down her spine.

She felt shivers and heat and an aching in her breasts. Her thighs trembled, as did her knees.

When he moved his hands to her waist, her breath caught. When he slid them up and cupped her breasts through her bra, she exhaled. When his thumbs brushed her hard, sensitive nipples, she forgot to breathe.

While his fingers worked their magic, he broke their kiss, then nibbled his way along her jaw. He licked the sensitive skin below her ear, then blew on the dampness. She did her best not to groan, but it was too hard to hold in the passion.

Heat sank down to the apex of her thighs, where she melted for him. She put her hands on his shoulders to keep her balance, then had to lift them as he tugged off her T-shirt. Seconds later her bra followed. She was so startled that he could unfasten it more quickly than she could that she nearly forgot to be shy.

But before she could cover herself or worry that
he wouldn’t like what he saw, he leaned in and drew her left nipple into his mouth and sucked.

The combination of warmth and wetness and lips and tongue sent her heart racing. It was the most exquisite sensation, outside of orgasm, she’d ever experienced in her life.

“Don’t stop,” she breathed before she could stop herself. She clutched his head, determined he do that forever. She needed his touch, his tongue, the sensations shooting through her.

It was as if there was a direct line from her breasts to the center of her body. With each tug on her nipple, she felt an answering tension between her legs.

He shifted to the other breast, sucking and licking and taking her higher and higher. She ached for more, for him to touch her everywhere. She was both hot and cold, trembling with need and yet wanting to make the moment last forever.

When he reached for the button at the waistband of her jeans, she found herself frantically trying to help. Naked, she thought, burning with an unfamiliar need to take and be taken. Naked would be good. She wanted naked. Now!

The good part was after she kicked off her sandals, they managed to push down both her jeans and her panties. The bad news was he stopped touching her breasts to do it.

Then she was naked in her living room, which seemed awkward. But before she could try to fig
ure out what to do next, Nathan urged her to sit on the sofa.

“We’re going to do it here?” she asked.

He knelt between her thighs and gave her a smile that spoke of a man who was very comfortable with his skill set. “Why waste time traveling?”

Good question, she thought as he reached between her thighs and parted her skin. Then he bent forward and gave her the most intimate kiss of her life.

His tongue was soft and warm and wet and he used it to explore every inch of her. He found the places that made her squirm and sigh and that one spot that made her want to beg.

He went slowly at first, setting up a rhythm that seemed impossibly leisurely, especially when all she wanted was more. But then she relaxed and forced herself to accept his pace. After a while she even started to like it.

He moved over that one sensitive place at first. Slipping around it, ignoring it, then brushing it again. She tensed in anticipation before relaxing again. Wasn’t the journey supposed to be the best part?

She kept her eyes closed, all the better to feel what he was doing, and did her best to ignore the fact that she was naked, with a man between her legs in her living room.

Over and over he touched her, patiently driving her higher and higher. Tension pulled her muscles
tight. He circled again, this time brushing that spot more firmly, more regularly. Her breathing quickened as she moaned her pleasure.

Nothing was supposed to feel this good. Nothing ever had. She had forgotten her body was capable of this kind of sensation.

She spread her knees farther apart, wanting more of what he was doing. As she grew closer and closer to a release that would probably cause her to explode from the inside out, she began to pulse her hips. Tremors claimed her. She clutched at the cushions, wanting the crash.

Pleasure heightened, pushing her until she didn’t have any control. “Don’t stop,” she begged, needing what he was doing more than she’d ever needed anything.

Unexpectedly, he began to suck on that swollen center, while flicking it with his tongue. The sensations became so intense, she knew she was about to lose control. Pressure built as release became inevitable. She was hurtling toward that perfect moment and there was nothing anyone could—

Her orgasm crashed through her with the subtlety of a train. It knocked her back, made her shake and shudder and scream. Every cell got involved; every inch of her skin quivered. Her entire body found bliss as her release flowed through her.